Legal Aid in Canada, 2020-21

Legal Aid in Canada, 2020-21 This report provides national level statistics on revenues, expenditures, personnel, and caseloads from legal aid plans across Canada. Justice Canada has been producing the Legal Aid in Canada report since 2016-17, and this is the fifth annual edition. This year’s report includes data from the 2020-21 fiscal year, as well as data from the past five years of legal aid annual reports where there are notable trends. This year the detailed data tables are included at the end of the report. The 2020-21 fiscal year marks the first full year of the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 had a profound impact on society, including the criminal and civil justice systems which resulted in courts having to close and/or shift focus to virtual hearings, and triage the most serious matters. These disruptions are evident in the data on legal aid service delivery. While the data collection for Legal Aid in Canada is done at a national level, from year-to-year some limitations on data coverage exist and some legal aid plans may be unable to report all or some data elements. Due to these limitations, Canada-level totals may not include all provinces and territories. 2023-05-17 Department of Justice Canada OG-GO@justice.gc.ca Government and PoliticsLawDepartment of JusticeJustice SystemApplied ResearchGovernment PublicationsApplied researchLegal aid Legal Aid in Canada, 2020-21HTML https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/jr/aid-aide/2021/index.html Legal Aid in Canada, 2020-21HTML https://www.justice.gc.ca/fra/pr-rp/jr/aide-aid/2021/index.html Legal Aid in Canada, 2020-21PDF https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/jr/aid-aide/2021/docs/rsd_rr2022_legal-aid-in-canada-2020-21-eng.pdf Legal Aid in Canada, 2020-21PDF https://www.justice.gc.ca/fra/pr-rp/jr/aide-aid/2021/docs/rsd_rr2022_legal-aid-in-canada-2020-21_fra.pdf Infographic: Legal Aid in Canada, 2020-21HTML https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/jr/aid-aide/2021/infograph.html Infographic: Legal Aid in Canada, 2020-21HTML https://www.justice.gc.ca/fra/pr-rp/jr/aide-aid/2021/infograph.html

This report provides national level statistics on revenues, expenditures, personnel, and caseloads from legal aid plans across Canada. Justice Canada has been producing the Legal Aid in Canada report since 2016-17, and this is the fifth annual edition. This year’s report includes data from the 2020-21 fiscal year, as well as data from the past five years of legal aid annual reports where there are notable trends. This year the detailed data tables are included at the end of the report. The 2020-21 fiscal year marks the first full year of the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 had a profound impact on society, including the criminal and civil justice systems which resulted in courts having to close and/or shift focus to virtual hearings, and triage the most serious matters. These disruptions are evident in the data on legal aid service delivery.

While the data collection for Legal Aid in Canada is done at a national level, from year-to-year some limitations on data coverage exist and some legal aid plans may be unable to report all or some data elements. Due to these limitations, Canada-level totals may not include all provinces and territories.

Data and Resources

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