Management response and action plan

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Evaluation Report Title: Evaluation of the Indigenous Justice Program
Approval Date of Evaluation by Deputy Minister: 12/2021

Recommendation 1

The Indigenous Justice Directorate, in collaboration with provincial, territorial and community partners, develop a compendium of training, resource materials and best practices available to Community Justice Workers.

Rationale for Recommendation:
The Indigenous Justice Program includes a small Capacity-Building Fund, which is intended to help funded communities build their capacity, grow their networks, share best practices and increase relevant knowledge and skills. The majority of the capacity building funding was used to support multi-day regional gatherings and small, one-time training opportunities. In addition, the Indigenous Justice Directorate developed and delivered webinars.

The evaluation found that while most Community Justice Workers were able to participate in training, and found the events useful, there is a significant interest and need in further training and capacity building. There is also an ongoing need to access training for new Community Justice Workers. Interest was expressed in learning about best practices in various services areas (supporting individuals with mental health or substance abuse issues, working with youth, vicarious trauma), building partnerships, and technical skills (use of technologies, financial and statistical reporting).

Management Response: Agreed. IJD will put together a list/repository/compendium of training, best practices and resources and make them available to Community Justice Workers. IJP will also continue to provide funding for training at the community and PT levels to the extent that funds are available.

Recommendation 2

The Indigenous Justice Directorate, in collaboration with federal, provincial and territorial partners, identify program-level initiatives to help address systemic inequities in the criminal justice system.

Rationale for Recommendation:
There is a need to increase awareness among criminal justice system representatives of the impacts of colonization and understanding of the challenges faced by Indigenous people in contact with the criminal justice system. Additionally, there is a need for specific measures to increase pre-and post-charge diversion and reduce administration of justice offences. Though a lot of effort has been initiated with police services to increase awareness of the programs, the evaluation found that it is too early to see results at the community level, i.e. an increase in pre-charge referrals.

Management Response: Agreed. Given that justice is a shared responsibility with PTs, the Indigenous Justice Program will work collaboratively with partners to identify initiatives to help address systemic inequities.