Access to Justice in Both Official Languages Support Fund

Executive Summary

1. Introduction

The Action Plan for Official Languages (the Action Plan) was unveiled by the Government of Canada in 2003. In it, the federal government reiterated its commitment to linguistic duality, to enhancing the vitality of official language minority communities (OLMCs) and to promoting the use of both official languages in Canadian society. The Action Plan allocated $45.5 million over five years to the Department of Justice (the Department) to support implementation of the Legislative Instruments Re-enactment Act, implementation of the Contraventions Act, and improved access to justice in both official languages. To achieve the third objective, the Department established the Access to Justice in Both Official Languages Support Fund (the Support Fund). The Department undertook a comprehensive evaluation of the Support Fund, and this document is the final report on that evaluation.

2. Description of the Support Fund

The aim of the Support Fund is to strengthen the capacity of stakeholders in the justice system to offer services in both official languages and to participate in making OLMCs aware of their rights in this regard. More specifically, the Support Fund aims to increase the capacity of those people and institutions to develop innovative solutions to emerging issues relating to access to justice in both official languages, and to raise awareness among the legal and official languages minority communities concerning the rights of OLMCs and the issues relating to access to justice in both official languages.

The Support Fund is expected to fund three types of activities:

3. Methodology

Four main research methods were used in evaluating the Support Fund:

4. Relevance

The Action Plan is one of the vehicles by which the Department of Justice addresses federal priorities in relation to official languages. Under the Action Plan, the federal government is committed to improving access to justice in English and French. The Support Fund, which is a direct outgrowth of the Action Plan, enables the Department of Justice to support, and thereby improve, the delivery of justice services in both official languages. The Support Fund is a mechanism that is organized in such a way as to meet the objectives of the Action Plan as they relate to access to justice in both official languages.

The objectives of the Support Fund correspond to the more general objectives of the Official Languages Program. Through Support Fund activities—support to advisory committees, core funding for associations of French-speaking jurists, and project funding—the Support Fund contributes to enhancing the vitality of official language minority communities.

5. Structure and Implementation

The roles of the Advisory Committee, the Subcommittee and the F-P-T Working Group are clear and relevant. Working together with members of the various committees, the Department of Justice has established the mandates and responsibilities of each of those bodies. The mandates and responsibilities are documented and are presented to committee members at their annual meetings.

These three advisory committees bring together the leading stakeholders involved in access to justice in both official languages, thereby facilitating the coordination of stakeholder's efforts and the exchange of information. That coordination makes it possible for stakeholders to identify and discuss needs in relation to access to justice in both official languages and to explore relevant avenues for addressing them.

The process associated with applying for funding and selecting projects is clear and transparent. The support provided by the Department of Justice to organizations that submit funding applications is one of the main strengths of the Support Fund. The Department offers information about the application process on its Web site, and Support Fund officials are available to provide guidance to the applicants throughout the process. Support Fund officials communicate decisions regarding project selection effectively, and provide explanations where necessary.

Overall, the activities funded under grant and contribution agreements have been carried out as planned. Although minor changes occasionally have to be made to activities or timetables, Support Fund officials are always informed of these changes, which generally do not result in any change in the anticipated outcomes.

Performance measurement for activities carried out through the Support Fund is uneven, and focuses on measuring outputs rather than outcomes. The data collected are essentially used by the Department to report on its activities and to plan for potential renewal of the Support Fund.

6. Effectiveness

The members of each of the three advisory committees meet once a year. Overall, members participate actively in the meetings and are very involved in the work of their committees. The level of participation and collaboration on the part of the provinces and territories is high, making this one of the noteworthy achievements of the Support Fund.

Stakeholders in Quebec's Anglophone community, however, have not been as active in the committees as stakeholders in Francophone communities elsewhere in Canada. Not only are fewer Anglophone stakeholders represented, their participation is less consistent.

The committees bring together stakeholders who are concerned with access to justice in both official languages, giving them an opportunity to talk about their activities, needs and problems, and to forge ties and form solid partnerships. As well, the meetings make members aware of the needs and issues that exist in official language minority communities and of the capacity of the Department of Justice to act on those issues. Important networks have been formed, and stakeholders from all areas (community, legal, government) have taken part in identifying and implementing attainable approaches to problems.

It should be noted that, given the lower rate of participation from Anglophone representatives, the committees' work has not had the same impact on English-speaking stakeholders in Quebec.

Core funding offered by the Support Fund has allowed associations of French-speaking jurists to be more effective in representing and lobbying on behalf of the communities and to offer relevant services to their members and the community. This funding ensures that AJEFs have administrative stability, enabling them to focus their efforts on managing projects, offering services and participating in the various committees and umbrella groups. The associations of French-speaking jurists have become visible and credible lobby groups, and important resources within their communities.

With respect to project funding, the categories of projects funded by the Support Fund to date are:

Projects funded by the Support Fund respond directly to needs identified in an environmental scan conducted in 2002. The types of projects funded respond to needs for awareness-raising, training, jurilinguistic resources and tools, and networking.

Nonetheless, the Support Fund's lack of visibility in the Anglophone community in Quebec means that it is not reaching that target population sufficiently and is responding inadequately to the community's needs. This finding is partly derived from the limited participation of this community to the work of the advisory committees, which reflects the Support Fund's organizational limits.

Overall, activities funded by the Support Fund have contributed to improving access to justice services in both official languages by increasing the capacity of actors in the justice system to offer those services. The Support Fund has enabled associations of French-speaking jurists to carry out their mandate more effectively, has contributed to the development of jurilinguistic tools and to professional development for legal professionals, and has brought together a variety of stakeholders so that they could coordinate their efforts. As well, the leading stakeholders have been made aware of the needs that exist in relation to access to justice and have become involved in identifying and implementing activities in that regard.

However, because the Support Fund is limited to criminal law and matters under federal jurisdiction, many needs associated with access to justice in both official languages have still not been addressed. As well, the needs that are identified and that are dealt with by the Support Fund are ongoing and should be pursued. Furthermore, given the low visibility of the Support Fund in the Anglophone community in Quebec, the Support Fund's capacity to improve access to justice services in English for that community is limited.

The activities undertaken through the Support Fund have led to significant successes. First, although it was expected that partnerships would be established among the stakeholders involved, the strength of the networks and of the collaborative effort that emerged was unexpected. Second, the associations of French-speaking jurists are all playing a greater role in their community networks, and are credible pressure groups. And third, the jurilinguistic centres have been able to develop expertise in their field that is recognized at the international level.

Evaluation of the future impacts of the Support Fund require, first, that the Department of Justice specify what aspects of the Support Fund it wishes to measure in the long term. It appears that measurement of the short- and medium-term outcomes of the Support Fund is what will best meet the management needs of the Support Fund. This report suggests that measuring the long-term outcomes that the Support Fund is designed to contribute to, and of the relative contribution of the Support Fund to those outcomes —a colossal undertaking— would in fact be of little use for management of the Support Fund.

Once the Department has specified the aspects of the Fund that are to be measured in the long term, it will be able to modify its present performance measurement strategy so that the relevant data can be collected on an ongoing basis.

7. Cost-effectiveness

The present level of resources has made it possible for the Support Fund to contribute to the Department achieving its objectives and, to a certain extent, to meet the needs identified. Because the needs are considerable, ongoing and long-term, it can be expected that the need for resources will continue and that there will be continued pressure to increase those resources in order to meet currently identified as well as emerging needs more adequately and more completely.

Groups within the Department of Justice, and some of its outside partners, have contributed to the activities carried out by the Support Fund. For example, some programs within the Department of Justice have offered their expertise and have contributed financially to a few of the Support Fund's projects. Some federal departments, the provincial/territorial governments, and community partners have also contributed to Support Fund projects. The type of contribution made varies from financial contributions to contributions of human resources, material resources and office equipment.

Although there are improvements that could be made to the Support Fund, it does not seem that there are any alternatives that would be more effective and would cost less. The Support Fund is an effective and appropriate mechanism for meeting the needs identified.