Department of Justice Canada

This report describes the findings from the 2022–2023 CAC/CYAC National Operational Survey. Given that many new CACs/CYACs have been established in the eight years since the last operational survey, the purpose of the survey was to provide an updated national picture of how CACs/CYACs work, their...

Child Advocacy Centres (CACs) and Child and Youth Advocacy Centres (CYACs) arose out of a need to reduce stress placed on child/youth victims during sexual abuse investigations. Previously, a lack of coordination between social services and the criminal justice system meant victims were...

Purpose of the toolkit This toolkit was developed with input from family law and family violence experts from across Canada. It is designed to: Respond to research calling for a tool designed specifically for family law legal advisers to use in identifying and responding to family violence;...

Child-to-parent violence and aggression (CPVA) is described as a form of family violence characterized by a pattern (as opposed to a single incident) of violent and aggressive behaviours in children and youth towards their parents or primary caregivers. These behaviours may have several...

This paper is a revision of the 2005 Justice Canada publication entitled Making Appropriate Parenting Arrangements in Family Violence Cases: Applying the Literature to Identify Promising Practices (Jaffe et al., 2005). The original paper was written to assist lawyers, judges and other...

This fact sheet presents information on criminal court cases where the most serious offence in the case is a drug-related offence subject to a mandatory minimum penalty (MMP). Data were obtained through a request to the Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics (CCJCSS) and...

From 2016 to 2019, the Department of Justice Canada reached out to young Canadians for their views on justice issues. The youth selected for these youth engagement projects were not provided with specialized training or information, but their opinions and perspectives on justice issues can inform...

In Winter 2019, the Research and Statistics Division of the Department of Justice Canada engaged the authors to write a “think piece” focused on the Truth and Reconciliation (TRC) Call to Action (CTA) 34, and more specifically, 34.4. The objective was to “engage with experts in FASD [Fetal...

Individuals with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), a common neurodevelopmental disability (NDD) caused by prenatal alcohol exposure, face high rates of criminal justice system contact and are overrepresented in correctional and forensic settings. As a result, forensic mental health...

This report presents the findings of a gap analysis of specialized services for victims and survivors of online child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) in Canada. The analysis took place between March and July 2019 and was conducted to identify existing specialized support services for victims...

On November 29, 2021, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada introduced a bill to criminalize so-called conversion therapy practices in Canada. Conversion therapy is a practice that seeks to change an individual’s sexual orientation to heterosexual, to change an individual’s...

Mandatory Alcohol Screening (MAS) became law in Canada on December 18, 2018. This amendment to the Criminal Code allowed police to demand a breath test of any driver even in the absence of suspicion or cause. MAS introduced a fundamental change in the approach used by police officers to enforce...

In 2018, Parliament enacted former Bill C-46, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (offences relating to conveyances) and to make consequential amendments to other Acts, S.C. 2018, c. 21 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”) to create new and stronger laws to combat impaired driving. The Act...

The Emergencies Act, which became law in 1988, is a federal law that can be used by the federal government in the event of a national emergency.

Legal clinics in Canada may provide a variety of services, the most usual being free legal information, summary advice, coaching, and representation to low-income clients who meet certain eligibility criteria. Although one or more of these core services may exist in any given clinic, there is no...

This report provides a review of recent developments in regulatory action and program activity aimed at improving access to justice through assistance provided by non-lawyers in community-based not-for-profit settings. We call this type of assistance “community justice help”. The purpose of this...

This fact sheet presents information on Canadian federal offenders who were admitted to federal custody between fiscal years 2010/11 and 2019/20 for an offence punishable by a mandatory minimum penalty (MMP) as the most serious offence on sentence. Data were obtained from the Correctional Service...

This study uses data from the Measures to Address Prostitution Initiative (MAPI) to present some of the socio-demographic characteristics and experiences of people who provide or have provided sexual services in Canada’s sex trade and received support services through organizations funded by the...

This report examines the impact of the lack of access to legal aid in family law cases in Canada. The objective is to identify challenges that people face in accessing justice for family law disputes in the absence of legal aid, and to analyze the impacts of the lack of access to family legal aid...

This public opinion research report presents the results of a review of scientific literature, individual interviews with Canadian and international researchers as well as representatives of Canada’s provincial and territorial governments, and a group interview with members of the Canadian...