About

The Public Legal Education Association of Saskatchewan (PLEA) is a non-profit, non-government organization that exists to educate, inform and empower through law-related education. The Law Foundation of Saskatchewan has been PLEA’s most important supporter since our organization began operations in June of 1980. The Foundation has provided the majority of PLEA’s operating funds on an annual basis for over forty years.

PLEA has long recognized that Indigenous communities have specific legal information needs. The lives of Indigenous people are impacted daily by laws such as the Indian Act. Indigenous people are over-represented in the criminal justice system and Indigenous children are over-represented in the child welfare system. Indigenous Peoples also have specific rights under Canadian law, international law and their own Indigenous laws, including Inherent Rights, Aboriginal Rights, Treaty Rights, Constitutional Protections, and rights under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

In 2022, PLEA applied for and received funding from the Department of Justice Canada for a four-year project to create plain-language legal information for Indigenous communities, to address this persistent gap in our legal information. 

We began the project with a Needs Assessment to better understand the legal information needs of these communities and their members. From this we were able to gather an extensive list of topics which we later used to create an outline for the website. We sent this to people who had participated in the Needs Assessment and with their input it was refined further. It is important to acknowledge that other needs were identified in the Needs Assessment, many more urgent than the need for legal information. 

Once the Needs Assessment was complete and the results analyzed to create a website outline, PLEA began an intensive period of resource development that spanned a number of years. During this period PLEA identified the topics that would be covered in print in addition to being online. 

PLEA also developed video scripts covering various topics on the website and was very fortunate to partner with Randy Morin who translated the scripts into Cree. PLEA then created videos of Randy reading these scripts, to put on the website. We are very grateful for Randy's work that we hope will extend the reach of PLEA's information.

PLEA was is also very grateful to  Cree artist Linda Lavallee who created the beautiful artwork used for this website and the printed materials. 

During and after the development of the resources, PLEA consulted with Indigenous organizations and members of Indigenous communities on draft versions of these resources and also solicited feedback through an online survey. PLEA is very grateful to everyone who participated in any stage of this project, while acknowledging that the time commitments involved and an assessment of their own priorities meant that many could not participate or could not participate as fully as they may have wanted to.  

PLEA now provides clear, plain-language information so that Indigenous people can understand the laws that impact their lives, navigate legal systems and exercise their rights. We have this comprehensive website with Cree videos. As well as four booklets:

•  A Parent's Guide to Child Protection
•  Understanding the Criminal Justice System
• Indian Act
• Know Your Rights

 Four pamphlets:

• Saskatchewan's Numbered Treaties
• Contacted by a Child Protection Case Worker
• Wills and Estates on Reserves
• Criminal Court and the Criminal Justice System 

For school communities there is a Teachers Resource -  The Barren Grounds: Indigenous Peoples and Canadian Law Learning Guide and an edition of our school newsletter The Plea - Reading Along with the  Barren Grounds. All print resources are available free-of-charge at plea.org.