Legal Protection

Homeschool Tip: Emergency Member Application Processing

A significant percentage of the emergency calls handled by our legal team are from non-member families seeking membership with HSLDA Canada. They did not previously have membership, developed a legal issue, and were referred to HSLDA.

When someone applies for membership with HSLDA and has an existing issue requiring immediate legal assistance the review process is quite different than a general application review. Many of these new applicants for membership have been referred by existing HSLDA members, and we’re grateful for that confidence in us! We want you to know when we can help the families referred to us, and when we may not be able to help.

When a non-member requests urgent processing of their application and an immediate consult with a lawyer, we aim to complete the consult within 48 hours.

These consults are generally between one and three hours in length. We offer comprehensive advice about the situation. Even if we cannot take on the case for the non-member, we consistently receive feedback that they found the consultation to be very worthwhile.

Why might we be unable to approve a family’s application for membership and take on their case?

Existing members have first priority, and depending on how many active cases we are handling at the time of the new application, we may have to prioritize their cases over a new applicant’s. The non-member calling us in crisis is often in a situation of substantial legal risk that requires our legal team to pause work on other matters and devote their resources to addressing it, which can impact our ability to serve existing members.

Where a non-member’s matter has progressed so far that they are already in a court case (such as a child protection case, for example), we are usually unable to accept the case.

It’s also important to note that much of the work we do is preventative, and when non-members call in crisis, they are often in a situation that could have been avoided — or at the very least mitigated — by following the advice we regularly give our members on reducing their legal risk. This advice can be found in the Legal Services and Preventative Advice section of the Member Support page on the Member Site.

Here are just a few of the situations new applicants have contacted us about and we have been able to approve the application for membership and assist the family:

Child Protective Services (CPS) is investigating a homeschooling family, or a school has threatened to contact CPS if the family withdraws a child to homeschool;
The applicant is in family court and homeschooling has become an issue. (We can provide advice on the issue of homeschooling in family law to the client and their family lawyer, but we do not get involved directly in family court.);
The new applicant has a strained relationship with a medical, mental health, or other professional and is seeking advice on how to deescalate the situation;
A child has significant special needs and the family has been unable to sufficiently address them, leading to a CPS investigation.

While some cases impact only the family involved, we accept other new applications with serious legal issues because the work we do for that family can have a major impact for other homeschooling families in the province.

Thank you to all our members for your membership and for your commitment to our work of advancing homeschooling freedom in Canada!

Written by Megen Zelinka, lawyer on-call for HSLDA members. Originally published in the 2024 issue of the HSLDA magazine, The Homeschool Review. Adapted for public publication.

Homeschooling Laws Across Canada

Each province and territory has its own set of laws, regulations, and policies for homeschoolers. Some even have free resources available. HSLDA keeps you updated on the latest legal requirements and resources for your area.