Elson Advocacy focuses on indigenous, environmental, civil rights, and non-profit law, especially in complex and challenging cases. We help clients with good causes we believe in.
Kent Elson
Kent Elson is a litigator, organizational problem-solver, and public policy geek.
Kent has achieved success for many clients in public interest litigation, charter litigation, class actions, energy and environmental law, inquests, human rights, indigenous rights, and equality cases.
Kent has acted in cases before many courts and tribunals in Ontario, including the Supreme Court of Canada, the Court of Appeal for Ontario, the Federal Court of Appeal, the Superior Court of Justice (Ontario), Divisional Court (Ontario), the Federal Court, the Ontario Energy Board, and the Landlord and Tenant Board.
He is a graduate of McGill University (Joint Honours BA, Economics and Politics, 2004) and the Osgoode Hall Law School (LL.B., 2008).
Kent is also a father of three, runner, swimmer, canoeist, back-country camper, and a pretty-nice guy.
Amanda Montgomery
Amanda is a litigator and long-time advocate for environmental protection and poverty reduction.
Prior to becoming a lawyer, Amanda spent several years working in Peru on organic gardening and environmental education projects and ten years working in Toronto on poverty reduction and food security programs. She previously worked for a litigation boutique law firm, completed her articles with the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA), and continued to practice with CELA as a lawyer prior to joining Elson Advocacy.
Amanda is a graduate of the University of Toronto (Honours BA, Major in Environmental Studies and Specialist in International Development, 2001), York University (Master in Environmental Studies, 2007) and Osgoode Hall Law School (JD, 2019).
Amanda is a mother, runner, birdwatcher, gardener, Toronto Football Club fan, and want-to-be historian.
Ongoing and past cases:
- Successfully certified the first prison strip search class action in common law Canada (see Farrell v. Attorney General of Canada)
- Successfully certified the first mass arrest civil rights class action in common law Canada and defeated the attempted appeals to the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court of Canada (see the decisions in Good v. Toronto Police Services Board at the Divisional Court and the Court of Appeal, leave to appeal to Supreme Court of Canada denied)
- Saved a homeless shelter from being closed down by a municipality in a judicial review appealed up to the Court of Appeal for Ontario (see River City Vineyard v. Sarnia)
- Saved portions of the ecologically important Sauble Beach sand dunes from being destroyed to make way for more parking in the first successful judicial review of a Conservation Authority decision on environmental grounds in Ontario (see Laforme v. Town of South Bruce Peninsula)
- Helped convince the Ontario Energy Board to order an end to a subsidy for developers to add methane gas pipelines to their developments (see Ontario Energy Board Decision)
- Helped convince the Ontario Energy Board to increase residential energy efficiency programming, add incentives for highly efficient heat pumps, and make other efficiency programming improvements (see Ontario Energy Board Decision)
- Helped convince the Ontario Energy Board to reinstate a $4 million dollar energy conservation program that will reduce carbon emissions equivalent to taking half a million cars off the road (see Ontario Energy Board Decision)
- Helped convince the Ontario Energy Board to require Hydro One and the IESO to research ways to conserve energy in the electricity transmission system (see Ontario Energy Board Decision)
- Sued a major Canadian bank on behalf of a bank clerk who was unjustly dismissed, and beat the bank three times in a row, before a federally appointed adjudicator, at the Federal Court, and at the Federal Court of Appeal
- Helped convince inquest juries to adopt important recommendations regarding on-reserve First Nations policing and equitable education, health, and other services for First Nations children
- Successfully defended numerous non-profits and First Nations organizations in employment and other legal cases
- Successfully represented co-operative and non-profit housing organizations in a variety of litigation matters
- Represent First Nations clients seeking equality in the delivery of public services in ongoing human rights cases (see Louttit v. AGC and MNCFN v. AGC)
Although Kent would like to think he accomplished those things on his own, he did not. Kent has worked on a variety of legal teams, in a variety of contexts, and for incredibly smart and dedicated clients. Kent works on his own and on bigger teams when needed.
Ongoing class actions
- Federal prison strip search class action
- Nova Scotia prison strip search class actoin
Contact
Elson Advocacy Professional Corporation
Kent Elson
kent@elsonadvocacy.ca
Telephone: 416 906-7305
Amanda Montgomery
amanda@elsonadvocacy.ca
Telephone: 647 250-7338
1062 College Street, Lower
Toronto, Ontario M6H 1A9
Fax: 416 763-5435