In this publication, you will find all sorts of tools you can use to put together an effective communications plan. This plan will make your Additions to Reserve (ATR) move a little more smoothly over some of the speed bumps you may encounter as you are about to begin this process. In the following pages, you will find various ways of implementing your objective: effective communications. Not all of the following information will be required and it is not intended or assumed that you will follow this document word for word. As you read through it, you will find an assortment of tools which will make your communications task a little easier. Choose what you need to do the job.

This document does not imply in any way that the reader knows nothing about communications. In fact, everything in the document is organized so that you, the reader, can select any part and insert it into whatever plans you have in motion. You are the boss. Some readers may have skills in certain areas, perhaps in many; however, there will also be those who are experiencing this whole process for the first time. The choice of various methodologies and techniques will depend on many factors. You may be in a remote community where the general term "communications" seems broad. There are reserves in rural, urban and even suburban locations. Each community will require its own unique approach. It is hoped that you will find what you need as you examine the contents of this publication.

The Need for a Communications Plan
First and foremost, the reason you need a sound communications plan is that, in many cases, you will be battling an enemy long familiar to many Aboriginal people,and that enemy is ignorance. Not malicious ignorance, although that may apply in some instances, but in the sense that many Canadians do not understand Aboriginal people or their circumstances. Whether they have any concern at all about Aboriginal issues is also in question. Negative perceptions abound, yet the fact that Aboriginal people once inhabited this land by themselves long ago is often forgotten. This is where communications comes in. The onus is on you to get your message across to other communities and their influential leaders. You must approach law makers, lawyers, and other members of the judiciary, as well as social services, educators and municipal, provincial and federal politicians. The list may go on and your task is to get your message across. What you are doing and why? Where you are doing it and when? Whom you feel it will most affect? You have to persuade your audience that your mission (in this case, an ATR) is noble.