Thanksgiving Day, 2005 was the official launch of a province-wide multi-media public service campaign of the Saskatchewan Legal Aid Commission that hopes to raise awareness and provide information about legal issues facing their clients accused of crimes, as well as correct misconceptions about Legal Aid services.

Called Telling Our Story, the campaign reflects wishes expressed by clients for communication in a recent client satisfaction survey. Our clients told us they wanted us to write less and talk more, said SLAC CEO Jane Lancaster. They told us they wanted information given to them in culturally relevant ways. Storytelling was chosen as a universally recognized personal way to convey important information and show relevance.

The campaign focuses on six key issues: Plea bargaining, conditional sentencing, sentencing circles, quality of Legal Aid services, child protection and bail. Misunderstandings about these issues are prevalent among Legal Aid clients, their families and communities.

The campaign seeks to present factual information based on elements of real cases. It uses first-person story-telling as a medium. Each issue is told by a different character, based on real client situations, but is a composite of many similar cases. Project coordinator Laura Lacoursiere said We had to protect the identity of our clients and their families, but needed to tell real stories in real ways. Our solution was to engage the great talents of the Saskatchewan Native Theatre Companys Circle of Voices youth program as a partner.

SNTC provided the actors who recorded both audio and video recordings which are to be used in radio commercials, in a CD-ROM, and on the Legal Aid web site. Print ads will run in tandem with the radio commercials for the next six months. Commercials on MBC and on the CD have been translated as well into Cree and Dene.

Partnership was the cornerstone of the project, says Lacoursiere. We literally could not have done this project without the firm commitment of our partners, MBC Radio, CJWW, SNTC and Eaglefeather News. They have done countless small and large things to make this work.

The campaign will run from October, 05 to March, 06 and is the first of its kind for the Legal Aid Commission. Were very excited about the potential of this project to make complex legal aid information more easily understood by our clients and their families, and to respond to our clients expressed wishes for communication, said Lancaster.