Initiative in Support of Access to Justice in Both Official Languages Evaluation

6. Recommendations and Management Response

Issue 1: Evaluation of the activities connected with promoting justice careers in French

The Initiative devoted significant efforts for promoting justice careers in French among young bilingual Canadians. The data gathered as part of this evaluation, as well as the Canada-Wide Analysis of Official Language Training Needs in the Area of Justice conducted in 2009, confirm the validity of this initiative. However, the mid- and long-term impacts around this type of activity have not been measured to date. Due to the methodological complexity of measuring such projects, this evaluation did not address this issue.

Recommendation 1

The Department of Justice Canada should consider undertaking a stand-alone impact study specifically targeting the careers in justice activities.

Management Response:

Management agrees with this recommendation. The Initiative’s Careers in Justice component seeks to encourage young bilingual Canadians to develop an interest in the field of justice in order to make it a career. The Department has been funding projects in this direction since 2004. This component is intended mainly for young people who have come from immersion programs. The Department will conduct an impact study of this component in 2014-15.

Issue 2: Performance measurement system

The Department established a contribution agreement management system that gathers certain data on the outcomes intended and achieved by each project funded. This system is a best practice in that it supports the ongoing management of the Initiative and evaluation exercises such as this one. The challenge facing the Department is supporting the Initiative’s funded organizations to enable them to collect more data not just on outputs from their projects, but also their impacts.

Recommendation 2

The Department of Justice Canada should continue its efforts to strengthen the capacity of funded organizations to gather data on the impact of their activities.

Management Response:

Management agrees with this recommendation. The Department has improved data collection by stressing to funded organizations about the importance of this type of information. The Evaluation Division has been providing advice to members of the committee on performance measurement issues. Its input on the evaluation frameworks is sent to the funding applicants. This practice has helped improve the type and quantity of information collected.

Issue 3: Incorporating new information technologies into the training activities

The Initiative supported a number of training activities among justice professionals. The Canada-Wide Analysis of Official Language Training Needs in the Area of Justice of 2009 had stressed the importance of incorporating the new information technologies into this type of activity. The data gathered in this evaluation show that it has been mainly in-person training activities that have been funded to date.

Recommendation 3

While maintaining its financial support for in-person training activities, the Department of Justice Canada should consider an approach for making distance training one of its funding priorities in connection with the Initiative.

Management Response:

Management agrees with this recommendation. The Department encouraged and supported the use of new technologies in accordance with the findings from the Canada-Wide Analysis of Official Language Training Needs in the Area of Justice. On-line learning is now available for bilingual prosecutors in the provinces through their involvement with Ontario’s Institut de développement professionnel en français. The Centre canadien de français juridique is currently developing an on-line learning platform that is now accessible to various priority clients targeted in the Needs Analysis.