Services

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed our interconnectedness and vulnerability, as well as demonstrating the precedence of the everyday economy over the financial economy and of the absolute indispensability of essential workers and the local state. Prior to the pandemic however, Community Wealth Building (CWB) emerged in the mid-2000s, to challenge the underlying logic of neoliberalism and the failing national and local economic model that has produced such negative outcomes as ingrained poverty, inequality, ecological degradation and accelerating wealth extraction. CWB seeks to shift the dial on economic development strategies by demonstrating a way to build collaborative, inclusive and democratically controlled local economies through the reconfiguration of local institutions to produce more equitable and sustained outcomes as a matter of course, rather than relying on redistribution “after the fact” in a lopsided economic model. Traditional economic development practice and developer-led regeneration (supported by traditional business law lawyers and approaches) are failing to address the economic challenges of our time. Community Wealth Building (CWB) is a new people-centred approach to local economic development, which directs wealth back into the local economy, and places control and benefits in to the hands of local people. It requires new legal approaches and more importantly, lawyers who are committed to social justice lawyering and open to using legal tools to help communities thrive.

George is a recognized expert in the field of community development law as it is applied to Community Wealth Building. He developed and taught a course in this emerging field of practice at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law.

George has been a leader in the field of CWB and Community Economic Development (CED) for over 25 years. He has a Master’s Degree in CED, and initiated the development of several Ottawa based CED organizations including the Ottawa Entrepreneurship Centre, the Ottawa Community Loan Fund, the Centre for Social Enterprise Development and the Ottawa Community Benefits Network. He has served on numerous Boards and Committees at the national, provincial and local levels dealing with CED and social enterprise.

Let George be your trusted advisor as you move your community forward!

Services include assistance with:

Federal or Provincial Co-operative and Non-Profit incorporation
Impact Investment strategy and implementation including community bonds, co-op Offering Statements
Social enterprise development & the Canada Revenue Agency… what all non-profits need to know!
Community/Social Infrastructure development and finance
Social Procurement/Community Benefit Agreements: Strategy and Negotiation

WILLS

The benefits of having an up-to-date Will in place are well known, however, we would like to remind you of a few:

An up-to-date Will instructs your executor (estate trustee) on how to distribute your estate in accordance with your wishes.
Drafting a Will provides you with the opportunity to review your funeral wishes, your life insurance policy, your wishes regarding charitable donations and plan ahead for your loved ones and dependants.
A Will permits you to choose the executor (and back-up executor) you trust to follow your wishes.
A Will can reduce the taxes payable by your estate.
When you die without a Will, you create more work for your loved ones and you require them to pay the necessary legal costs to go to court to appoint an executor and administer your estate. In other words, when you die with an up-to-date Will in place, there are substantial savings in legal costs and the administration of your estate is far less complicated for your loved ones.

POWER OF ATTORNEY FOR PROPERTY

A Power of Attorney for property appoints an individual(s) (usually with a back up legal attorney) who will make decisions for you regarding your property. A Power of Attorney for property can be very useful but must be drafted carefully. Otherwise, there is a risk that it could be used contrary to your wishes or your financial well-being. A well drafted Power of Attorney for property safeguards against misuse or abuse by your legal attorney and we would be pleased to provide this service to you.

POWER OF ATTORNEY FOR PERSONAL CARE

A Power of Attorney for personal care or health care appoints an individual(s) (usually with a back up legal attorney) who will make decisions for you regarding your care and personal well-being when you are unable to make decisions on your own. This Power of Attorney often sets out your wishes and intentions regarding life support systems. A well-drafted Power of Attorney for personal care reflects your wishes and safeguards against misuse or abuse by your legal attorney. We would be pleased to provide this service to you.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION TO REMEMBER

Your Will and Powers of Attorney should be up to date. Review your documents periodically to make sure they continue to reflect your wishes. As your personal circumstances change, your wishes as set out in your Will and Powers of Attorney may very well require amendments.

Your executor(s) and your legal attorney(s) must know how to locate your legal documents when the need arises.
Your Will and Powers of Attorney must be guarded and stored safely. Our fireproof vaults are available to our clients at no extra charge.
You must be careful to make sure your financial and legal documents do not conflict with one another. Documents such as Deeds for real estate, Wills, Life Insurance Policies, Registered Retirement Savings Plans, personal bank accounts, separation agreements and marriage contracts should be reviewed and amended if necessary to avoid a conflict with your wishes.
In addition, we strongly recommend that your Will and Powers of Attorney clearly indicate when and to whom your original Will and Powers of Attorney are released

LEGAL FEES AND DISBURSEMENTS

Please contact me to discuss your Estate planning needs.

Let George put his over 35 years of leadership and experience to work for you and your organization. George is certified as an Integral Associate Coach. He can assist you to become more aware of your current approach to situations, to see new possibilities, and then build sustainable new competencies to achieve outcomes that deeply matter to you.

What is Integral Coaching®?

Integral Coaching® is a discipline that enables clients to become more aware of their current approach to situations, to see new possibilities and then build sustainable new competencies to achieve outcomes that deeply matter to them. The coach and the client are dedicated to the unique developmental needs of the client.

This coaching approach is a developmental approach. It is distinct from instructive or consultative approaches that focus on giving advice and recommending new actions or strategies, or from inspirational approaches that focus on the power of insights and inspirational visions of a new possible future that then propel the client into action.

In Integral Coaching® the focus of development is two-fold:

• One dimension focuses on awareness building of how the client is currently seeing, relating to and approaching their Topic up to now, as well as on how to have a new way of seeing, relating to and approaching their Topic that opens a fresh path to realizing the goals of that Topic. This process is very powerful, personal, and unique to each client.

• The second dimension focuses on building new capabilities that enable the client to have greater internal capabilities and make some ‘new moves’ that support this new approach to their Topic. The exact new capabilities developed will depend upon the client and the Topic, as each human being is unique, so it is very customized.

By focusing on both of these concurrently, the client becomes capable of sustaining and embodying this new view and these new capabilities beyond the term of the Coaching Program, and this is what makes the Integral Coaching® approach so valuable.

George is certified as an Integral Associate Coach®. Please contact George for more information on coaching services.

Design your Integral Life Practice

For more information on the Integral coaching method please click here for 3 short videos.

George is a Legacy Fellow of the Earth Law Center. He is former Chair of the Region of Ottawa Carleton’s Environmental Services Committee, a co-founder of Ottawa Riverkeeper and a long-time environmental activist. He is a serious student of the emerging area of Earth Law and is committed to working with Nature and the community to “protect, stabilize, and restore the functional interdependency of Earth’s life and life-support systems at the local, bioregional, and global levels. Earth law is expressed in indigenous legal systems, as well as potentially in constitutional, statutory, common law, and customary law, as well as in treaties and other agreements both public and private.

*With Appreciation to the Earth Law Center

How is Earth law different from environmental law

Environmental law has many definitions, e.g. “A body of law intended to protect the environment, by regulating activities that cause pollution, such as fossil fuel emissions and the dumping of wastes; by prohibiting certain inconsistent uses of land designated as federal, provincial or municipal parkland; and by providing regimes of protection for endangered species.” Environmental law generally legalizes environmental harms by regulating how much pollution or destruction of nature can occur under law. Rather than preventing pollution and environmental destruction, these laws, instead, allow and permit it. Additionally, environmental law largely regards Nature as a resource or property here for urban benefit and use.

Earth law values Nature as a living being, a fellow member of the Earth community, and recognizes the intrinsic value of Nature in law. This requires decision-making to be ecocentric versus anthropocentric.

“Anthropocentric” means centred on human beings.

“Ecocentric” means centred on the ecosphere, which is comprised of the air, water and land; in technical scientific terms, the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biospheres.

Earth law looks at ecocentrism and anthropocentrism as endpoints on a spectrum on which the interests of nature and uniquely human interests are both considered in reaching legal decisions. It seeks to equitably balance these interests. By way of illustration, when the interests of a body of water use are at issue, a purely anthropocentric viewpoint considers only the human needs for the water, to drink, use for irrigation of crops, and/or to use as a place to discharge waste. An ecocentric viewpoint considers, in addition to human interests, the role of the water body in its ecosystem and the sufficient minimum flows and water quality necessary to protect, stabilize, and/or restore the functional interdependency of the community of life and life-support systems that comprise the ecosystem.

What does “rights of Nature” mean?

“Rights of Nature” as used in the context of Earth law, are legally enforceable rights. Legally enforceable rights of nature are distinguished from nature’s inherent rights, just as there is a distinction between inherent and enforceable rights in the context of human rights. Recognizing nature’s inherent rights in the law, at a minimum the right to exist, is one of the primary objectives of Earth law.

More information can be found on Earth Law and Rights of Nature at: https://www.earthlawcenter.org/

Interested? Contact us now!