Department of Justice Canada

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...

This report presents research findings on the delivery of legal aid and associated legal services to persons living in rural and remote areas of all provinces and territories. It is based on a review of the literature and interviews with 17 key respondents (with one or more from each...

In Canada, there are many ways to include children’s voices in family law matters such as through non-court child inclusive methods (e.g., children talking with their parents, children sharing their views with professionals) and court-based child inclusive methods (e.g., child legal...

As part of the National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking (2019-2024), this report provides an update on the most current strategies used by investigators in the field and is intended to improve the overall responses of law enforcement agencies to this national priority. This report also aims...

This Litigation Year in Review 2016 is intended to provide Canadians with some highlights of the progress we made this past year in several important areas of litigation. In reviewing and rethinking the Government’s litigation strategy over the course of 2016, I focused on three main themes:...

This report presents findings on the representation and outcomes of Black people as accused in Canadian criminal courts. This is the first time that national statistics on Black accused in criminal courts are reported in Canada.

The Department of Justice Canada has contracted community-based research to better understand the lives of individuals involved in the sex trade. The former 2014 legislation, Bill C-36, the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act, also known as the “Nordic” model or approach, targets...

This Research in Brief is based on publicly available data from a number of Justice Canada, Canadian government (federal and provincial/territorial), academic and community organization studies and publications released from 2009 to 2018, as well as information from various media sources....

Indigenous people are overrepresented in Canada's criminal justice system as both victims and as people accused or convicted of crime. There are only a few national data sources that provide criminal justice statistics disaggregated by Indigenous identity. National data that does exist to...

The purpose of the national Indigenous Courtwork (ICW) Program evaluation is to examine the relevance, effectiveness and efficiency of the Program, in accordance with the Treasury Board 2016 Policy on Results. The ICW Program has been evaluated three times in the past ten years.

How Does Canada's Court System Work details the different levels of courts that exist within Canada's justice system, the means of organization of the courts and the roles each levels of the judiciary play. It speaks to the alternative methods for dispute resolution that exist including...

This publication provides Canadians with a generalized view of how Canada's Justice System works. Specifically, it defines the differences between public and private law, how laws are kept up to date and the role that the Canadian Constitution in defining the fundamental rules and principles that...

Over half of Canadians indicated that administration of justice offences (AOJOs) would be better dealt with outside of the courts. Canadians also thought an accused person's circumstance should be taken into account in tailoring responses to AOJOs/ What we also found: Three quarters (75%) of...

Canadians are generally supportive of community-based sentencing; many feel that these sentences could have a number of positive impacts from reducing crime and increasing safety to greater efficiency in the criminal justice system. What we also found: After reviewing statistics on...

This fact sheet is based on publicly available data from a number of Justice Canada, Canadian government (federal and provincial/territorial), and academic publications released from 2009 to 2018. This fact sheet also uses data from an internal research report prepared by Justice Canada in 2013....

The Directive on Civil Litigation Involving Indigenous Peoples will guide the Government of Canada’s legal approaches, positions and decisions taken in civil litigation involving Aboriginal and treaty rights, and the Crown’s obligation towards Indigenous peoples. The Directive is part of the...

This fact sheet is based on publicly available data from the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics (CCJS) between 2006/2007 and 2016/2017. Data is also presented from the Department of Justice Canada’s Justice Effectiveness 2008 (JE) project that collected data to specifically analyze case...

This fact sheet is primarily based on self-reported data from the 2014 General Social Survey (GSS) on Victimization, on police-reported data from the 2018 Uniform Crime Reporting Survey, and on court data from the 2016/2017 Adult Criminal Court Survey.

This 2018 gist provides a focus on automation technologies and how they are expected to affect justice in the future. The six factors the first gist identified—new business models, access to law, client empowerment, increased competition, legal profession shifts, and technology and digital...

This report is organized to reflect the rich information gathered from the Listening Project on Crime Victims’ Experiences of Restorative Justice. The structure of this report is as follows: • background on restorative justice and its relationship with crime victims, • an overview of the...