Evaluation of the Indigenous Courtwork Program
1. Introduction
1.1. Background
Through the Indigenous Courtwork (ICW) Program established in 1978, the Department of Justice makes contributions to provincial and territorial governments to support the provision of culturally relevant services to Indigenous persons (clients) involved with the criminal justice system (whether as accused persons, victims, witnesses, family members, others). The ICW Program is delivered through a relatively small network of over 190 full-time and part-time Courtworkers. They provide information on charges, court procedures, rights and responsibilities, bail, diversion, restorative justice and Indigenous community justice alternatives; offer support in accessing legal resources, as well as appropriate community programming including wellness, trauma, housing, family and employment services; and facilitate communication with court officials, accused persons, family members and communities to ensure understanding and collaboration. As “Friends of the Court”, they also provide critical background and contextual information on the accused, make the court aware of alternative measures and options available in the Indigenous community, and ensure that the accused comprehends the court process.
The ICW Program provides services to two types of clients: “clients with a charge” and “clients without a charge”.
- A client with a charge is defined as an accused person who received services at any time during the course of a fiscal year in relation to a charge or a set of charges that are processed concurrently in court (but not necessarily with the same end date). For the purposes of reporting, a client with a charge who receives multiple services about the same incident (such as information in lock-up, further assistance in court and referrals to other resources) within the same year is recorded as one client. However, if a client receives services regarding a second incident, the interaction is considered another client.
- Clients without charges are witnesses, victims, family members or any others without a charge who received a justice related service from a Courtworker.
1.2. Evaluation Objective
The purpose of the national 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. The latest evaluation was conducted in 2012 and published in 2013. The evaluation matrix, contained in Appendix A, outlines the evaluation issues, questions and data sources that were used in this evaluation.
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