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CENTRAL QUEBEC BAR TAKES TO AIRWAVES de Savoir, a television series designed to educate people about common legal problems and how the justice system works, pre-production began in late summer on 13 new episodes to be broadcast next year. This time, the show will be broadcast I several times weekly on two television venues instead of one and negotiations are underway to include it in the lineup of TOU.TV, a new Quebec video-on-demand web site that offers thousands of hours of content from Société Radio-Canada, the public Canadian broadcaster, and more than a dozen other TV channels. That means the potential of reaching thousands more people for a legal educa- tion project that is also a showcase for Quebec's legal talent. The 27-minute program has a maga- zine format. Each episode features seg- ments about a legal issue, a profile of a lawyer distinguished in his or her field of practice, and how one aspect of the judi- cial system functions. Capsules explain- ing different legal terms or procedures are sprinkled in. "This fits directly with the mission of the Quebec Bar to inform the public about different aspects of the law and their rights and obligations," says business lawyer J. Michel Doyon, former head of the Barreau who spearheaded the project in a partnership with Télé- Québec, the public education network funded by the provincial government. The name of the show, Le Droit de Savoir, is a play on the French word for law, le droit, and the phrase in full that means the right to know. Télé-Québec, headed by Michèle Fortin, a television executive Doyon worked with on the board of directors of Radio-Canada, was in the process of developing programming for Canal Savoir, an educational television channel t's an encore performance for the Barreau du Québec. One year after launching Le Droit always have an angle of prevention — the questions you should be asking yourself." The new production schedule will likely be no less demanding than the first. Pre-production takes three months, filming is another two or three months, and with editing, the project can take up to a year. As well as focus-type groups to determine which legal issues will be covered and how, each show was triple- checked by different lawyers to make sure all nuances were respected and explana- tions of legal matters were representative and comprehensive. The Quebec Bar won't divulge the that at one time featured talking profes- sors. While Doyon envisioned a legal information channel all on its own, Fortin encouraged him to start with a show with a guaranteed broadcast four times a week and production support, though Le Droit de Savoir has its own director, Gemini award winner Michel Fenollar. This past summer, because of positive feedback from the Canal Savoir channel broadcasts, Télé-Québec decided to air the show on its own network, where epi- sodes reach an average of 55,000 viewers. It will formalize a new agreement with the Barreau for a 23-minute version to accommodate advertising (with revenues going to the broadcaster) while continu- ing to use a 27-minute commercial-free episode for Canal Savoir. "Télé-Québec proposed a second series and the bar thought it was a great idea, so we jumped ahead and said 'yes,'" says France Bonneau, the Barreau's direc- tor of communications. "The more peo- ple know about their rights, the more they have access to justice," says Bonneau, who sits on the television production committee presided over by Doyon. "Of course it is only a small answer to a vast problem, but it contributes by informing in a language that is accessible and demystifies some of the terms. We cost of the production, but Bonneau points to the pro bono contribution of the more than 50 lawyers who partici- pated in episodes or consultation groups. "When you are doing a 30-second ad, you put thousands of dollars on the line and it is something that will be aired for two or three weeks," says Bonneau. "This series is going to be aired for three years, is available on the web — www.ledroit desavoir.ca — we have all the rights and we also have material that can be used on our web site." What's more, Isabelle Marjorie Tremblay, the trained lawyer who had experience hosting a popular young peo- ple's television show before taking on the job of hosting Le Droit de Savoir, is now a virtual spokeswoman and client service assistant on the for-the-public section of the web site. Tremblay answers questions about the bar and provides explanations of the role of the bar, what to do if not in agreement with lawyer's fees, how to check if a lawyer is a lawyer, etc., in short videos. "People don't like to read long texts and with Le Droit de Savoir we found [Tremblay] who could give us a voice and a face on the web site," says Bonneau, add- ing more videos will be added this fall. — KATHRYN LEGER kathryn.leger@videotron.ca www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com OC T OBER 2010 7