Transcript The Telejustice Project

The Telejustice Project
A joint project between
Nishnawbe-Aski Legal Services Corporation
Company
and
LOGO
Agenda
1. What does it do?
2. How does it work?
3. Internal Infrastructure
4. Impact of the project
Nishnawbe-Aski Nation
What is the Telejustice Project?
 Launched in 2005, the Telejustice Project is an effort to provide for
the unmet legal needs of First Nations People living in remote or
rural communities.
 The project allows pro bono lawyers in Ontario to improve access to
justice for NAN.
 It is a “urban-to-rural initiative”, which capitalizes on the
concentration of legal resources available in the urban centers and
acts a compliment to services already provided by our Duty
Counsels and other pro bono service providers.
 The project uses a variety of communication platforms such as a
website, newspapers, newsletter and more to connect the members
of NAN with legal information, thus levering our existing services.
Our Volunteers
 We presently count with approximately 25
volunteers who are willing to take questions on
various areas of law.
 Our first batch of volunteers were from the
Ministry of the Attorney general, however, they
were limited on the type and topics of the legal
information they could provide.
 Our second wave of recruitment actually
resulted in both experienced and new lawyers
with a wide range of backgrounds that could
answer more questions, in a variety of topics.
They come from all over Ontario including
Toronto, Sault St. Marie and even Thunder Bay.
Legal Areas Covered by the Project
 Originally, the project covered the following
areas:






Wills and powers of attorney
Landlord/tenant issues
Employment contracts
Consumer law
Senior legal issues
Administrative law
 The project has now expanded to cover the
following areas:



Criminal law (including youth justice)
Family Law (including child welfare)
Aboriginal and Treaty Rights
Project Phases
Phase 1
•Ask-A-Lawyer
Website
An interactive online
tool that helps CLWs
answer client
questions in a timely
manner.
•Wawatay Advice
Column
Monthly column in an
Aboriginal Newspaper
Phase 2
Phase 3
• Information Sheets
•Web-conference/webcast Community Legal
Education
• Video-conference
Community Legal
Education
• On-line (chat room
style) Community
Legal Education
•Legal Info articles
housed on the
website
• Project Assessment
• Redeployment based
on feedback from
project assessment
Phase I: The Ask-A-Lawyer Website
 The Ask-A-Lawyer website is an interactive
question and answer online system that allows
our Community
Legal workers
to submit
TEXT
TEXT
TEXT (CLWs)
TEXT
questions to our volunteers and get a response
within 3-5 days.
 It is housed on the NALSC website.
 While it is only open for use to our CLWs and
some of our other field staff, we are hoping to be
able to open this website up for use directly by
our clients.
The Ask-A-Lawyer Website
The Ask-A-Lawyer Website
Phase I: Wawatay Newspaper Article
 The Wawatay newspaper reaches approximately
9,300 people in 80 communities in and around
Nishnawbe-Aski Nation.
 Column is submitted once a month.
 Started out as an information column.
 Now it has take the form of a legal advice
column.
 We have been asked about translation for the
column in order to reach those who do not
speak English.
Phase II: Information Sheets
 One of the greatest access to justice needs in the
north is not only access to legal information, but
access to legal information in Aboriginal Languages
and specific to on-reserve population.
 To that end, the project is seeking to develop short
and handy information sheets that can be distributed
in the communities in Cree, Oji-Cree and Ojibway.
 Topics are still being developed but most topics fall
under criminal law (pardons, bail), matrimonial onreserve property, seniors legal issues, wills and
powers of attorney and Treaty and Aboriginal rights.
 Legal information articles.
Phase II: Web Interfaces
 Web casts: to be filmed in Toronto by volunteers
 . These will be used for information purposes
and will be stored in the Ask-A-Lawyer website
to be downloaded as needed.
 Video Conferencing: where the equipment is
available, our lawyers can either do a workshop
followed by a question and answer session or
provide legal advice to community members in
private.
 Online chat room.
Infrastructure
 The infrastructure needed to provide this project
was already in place.
 This was done by the government through the
Community Access Program which provided
rural communities with broadband access to the
internet.
 However, there are still a few NAN communities
that do not have access to the internet or have
extremely slow access. That is a challenge that
makes it a little more difficult for all of the
communities to participate in this project.
Impact of the Telejustice Project
 We have been able to provide legal advice in a much
faster manner to people who live in the remote north
without the benefit of lawyers or the economic means
to hire one.
 The advice is anonymous which may help those who
otherwise would not seek advice out of shame or other
reasons.
 It has allowed NALSC to compliment the services
offered by our duty counsel, who is only able to
provide legal advice three afternoons per week.
 It allows NALSC to provide additional information and
training for our CLWs.
 Allows us to provide cross-cultural experience to
lawyers who otherwise might not be familiar with the
legal and other realities of the far north.
Future Impact
Future Impact of the Telejustice Project
Expanded
Website
Bilingual,
bi-weekly
articles
Increased
distribution
of info
Professional
development
 Any questions?