Dispatch from the road: Halifax site visits wind down

I have been in Halifax, Nova Scotia, for the past week, visiting a number of groups that provide PLEI here, including the Legal Information Society of Nova Scotia (LISNS), this province’s only sole-purpose PLEI organization. At the core of LISNS’s programming is a legal information and referral telephone line, a 24-hour “dial-a-law” recorded legal info hotline, and plain language publications. The Society is also a fundraising innovator among modern PLEI organizations in Canada, as it has recently tasked its board of directors with finding substantial, grassroots funding for the group.

Beyond LISNS, Halifax boasts a number of other groups that also offer significant public and community legal education programming, most notably Dalhousie Legal Aid Services and the Halifax Coalition Against Poverty.

Dispatch from the road: the Public Legal Information Association of Newfoundland and Labrador

Last week I was in St. John’s, NL, visiting the Public Legal Information Association of Newfoundland and Labrador. This twenty-four-year-old sole-purpose PLE organization has been behind several of the most innovative PLEI programs. Today, it provides a range of services, with plain language publications, a legal information line and lawyer referral service, and a resource-rich website at the core. Other current programs include workshops and presentations offered throughout Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as youth justice camps for kids during summers. In 2006, PLIAN had a revenue of about $337,000 to serve a province of about 510,000 people.

Many thanks to the PLIAN staff for a productive and delightful visit.

Eastern Canada site visits begin

Tonight I am off to St. John’s, Newfoundland, where I will begin a month-long round of site visits. After spending some time visiting PLIAN in St. John’s, I’ll leave for Halifax, then Charlottetown, Fredericton, Montreal, Ottawa, and finally Toronto. With some luck I will be able to post short dispatches about the trip from the road.