Introduction

1.1 Purpose of the Evaluation

This report presents the results of the evaluation of the Drug Treatment Court Funding Program (DTCFP). The evaluation was conducted in accordance with the Financial Administration Act and Treasury Board’s Policy on Results (2016). The evaluation was undertaken by the Department of Justice Canada’s (Justice) Evaluation Branch as per the Justice 2020-2021 Internal Audit and Evaluation Plan.

1.2 Evaluation Scope

The purpose of the evaluation was to examine the relevance, effectiveness and efficiency of the DTCFP and its contributions to breaking the cycle of drug use and criminal recidivism in Canada. The evaluation covered five fiscal years, from 2016-2017 to 2020-20212 and assessed activities undertaken by the Justice Programs Branch to support the implementation and management of the DTCFP, and the effectiveness and efficiency of the Program. The evaluation is also expected to contribute to Health Canada’s Horizontal Evaluation of Canada’s Drugs and Substances Strategy (CDSS) which will be completed in 2023.

Footnotes

2 DTCIS data includes participants who started the program after March 31, 2015 and were active between April 1, 2015 and June 17, 2021. DTCIS dates were extended beyond the evaluation period under study to ensure quantitative data was robust and complete and to ensure a sufficient sample size for the upcoming recidivism study.