Perceptions of and confidence in the Canadian family justice system: Key findings from the 2022 National Justice Survey

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March 2023⁠Footnote 1

Ting Li
Research and Statistics Division
Department of Justice Canada

Introduction

The National Justice Survey (NJS) is an annual national public opinion research study conducted by the Department of Justice Canada. Some of the objectives of the NJS include:

The survey collects information on the views, knowledge, concerns and priorities of Canadians on important justice-related issues. The 2022 NJS collected information on the following:

This study focuses on the public’s opinion of the FJS. It provides information on Canadians’ perceptions and confidence in the fairness and accessibility of the FJS in detail, and compares public confidence in the criminal justice system with the FJS.

Methodology

A random sample of potential respondents was selected using random digit telephone dialing (including both landline and cell phone numbers). The sample consists of 4,949 people aged 18 years and older living in each of Canada’s provinces and territories. Two more random samples were taken from this randomly generated population sample to populate the study sample: the first from the general population, and the second from those who have been identified as belonging to Indigenous or racialized ethno-cultural groups.

In order to compare the responses of Indigenous and racialized people to those of White people, an oversampling of Indigenous respondents and respondents from racialized ethno-cultural groups was required. The final sample was weighted to known population proportions, resulting in a sample that is reasonably generalizable to the Canadian population. Only findings that are statistically significant are presented in this Research in Brief.

Findings

Many Canadians reported a low level of knowledge of the FJS in Canada

Overall, just over one in four (26%) Canadians reported being knowledgeable about the FJS, and 40% indicated they were not knowledgeable (Chart 1).

Chart 1: How would you rate your knowledge of the family justice system in Canada?

Chart 1: How would you rate your knowledge of the family justice system in Canada?
Chart 1: How would you rate your knowledge of the family justice system in Canada? – Text version

Chart 1 depicts respondent’s ratings of their knowledge of the family justice system in Canada via a Pie Chart. The pie chart is divided into 4 sections each colour coded to correspond to one of four key labels. These labels are position at the bottom of the image and to the left of each label is a small coloured square. The labels include: Not knowledgeable with a blue coloured square; Moderately knowledgeable with an orange coloured square; Knowledgeable with a grey colour square; and Don’t Know with a yellow coloured square.

In the pie chart, Not knowledgeable shown in blue, encompasses 40% of the circle, Moderately knowledgeable shown in orange, encompasses 33% of the circle, Knowledgeable shown in grey, encompasses 26% of the circle, and Don’t know shown in yellow, encompasses 1% of the circle.

Indigenous people reported themselves to be more knowledgeable than White people about the FJS (32% versus 26%). Canadians from racialized groups were more likely to indicate they were not knowledgeable about the FJS than White people (44% vs. 38% not knowledgeable).

People in the older age groups (55 to 64 years) reported being more knowledgeable about the FJS than younger people (18 to 24 years) (29% vs. 19% knowledgeable). Canadians living in urbanFootnote 2 areas were more likely to say they were not knowledgeable about the FJS compared to those residing in ruralFootnote 3 areas (40% vs. 34% not knowledgeable).

People with some high school education (36%) reported themselves to be more knowledgeable than people with other education credentials. For example, 23% of those with a registered apprenticeship or other trade certificate or diploma, and 24% of those with a bachelor’s degree reported to be knowledgeable about the FJS.

People with a household income of $20,000 to just under $40,000 reported being more knowledgeable about the FJS compared with people in a higher household income group of $100,000 to just under $120,000 (32% vs. 24%).

People born outside of Canada were more likely to say they were not knowledgeable about the FJS compared with those born in Canada (43% vs. 38%).

Students attending school full-time (57%) were more likely to have less knowledge of the FJS compared to those with other employment statuses; for example, those working full-time (41%), unemployed but looking for work (38%), and retired respondents (35%).

Individuals with previous involvement with the FJS were more knowledgeable about this system than those without previous involvement (65% vs. 23%).

Less than half of Canadians reported confidence in the fairness of the Canadian FJS

Close to half (48%) of Canadians stated that they were not confident the FJS is fair to all people (Chart 2). Indigenous respondents were less likely than White respondents to believe the system is fair to all people (63% vs. 50% not confident).

Chart 2: How confident are you that the family justice system in Canada is fair to all people?

Chart 2: How confident are you that the family justice system in Canada is fair to all people?
Chart 2: How confident are you that the family justice system in Canada is fair to all people? – Text version

Chart 2 depicts respondent’s ratings of how confident they are in the family justice system in Canada being fair to all people via a Pie Chart. The pie chart is divided into 4 sections each colour coded to correspond to one of four key labels. These labels are position at the bottom of the image and to the left of each label is a small coloured square. The labels include: Not confident with a blue coloured square; Moderately confident with an orange coloured square; Confident with a grey colour square; and Don’t Know with a yellow coloured square.

In the pie chart, Not confident shown in blue, encompasses 48% of the circle, moderately confident shown in orange, encompasses 27% of the circle, Confident shown in grey, encompasses 18% of the circle, and Don’t know shown in yellow, encompasses 7% of the circle.

In contrast, Canadians who identified as being from racialized groups were more likely to say the system is fair to all people compared with those who identified as White (29% vs. 16% confident).

Men were more likely than women to indicate the system is fair to all people (20% vs. 17%). Regionally, those who lived in Nova Scotia were less confident that the system is fair to all people compared with residents of Saskatchewan (63% vs. 39% not confident). Those who lived in urban communities were more likely than rural residents to believe the system is fair to all people (19% vs. 14% confident).

Older Canadians (65 years old or older) were more likely than younger Canadians (18 to 24 years old) (22% vs. 9%) to state that the system is fair to all people. Similarly, retired respondents were more confident that the system is fair to all people compared with students attending school full-time (23% vs. 10%).

Respondents with a bachelor’s degree were more likely than those with a registered apprenticeship or other trade certificate or diploma to say the system is fair to all people (20% vs. 13%).

Those with a household income of $150,000 or higher were more likely to feel that the system is fair to all compared with people with a household income between $120,000 and just under $150,000 (23% vs. 16%).

Participants born outside of Canada were more confident that the system is fair compared to participants born in Canada (30% vs. 15%).

Canadians who indicated they have been involved in the FJS were less likely to believe that the FJS is fair to all compared with people without previous involvement (59% vs. 47% not confident).

Most Canadians reported a lack of confidence in the accessibility of the FJS to all people

Overall, just over a quarter (26%) of Canadians believed the FJS was accessible to all people (Chart 3). Indigenous respondents were less confident than White respondents (48% vs. 37% not confident) in the accessibility of the FJS. In contrast, racialized Canadians were more likely than those who identified as White to say they were confident the FJS was accessible to all people (32% vs. 25% confident).

Chart 3: How confident are you that the family justice system in Canada is accessible to all people?

Chart 3: How confident are you that the family justice system in Canada is accessible to all people?
Chart 3: How confident are you that the family justice system in Canada is accessible to all people? – Text version

Chart 3 depicts respondent’s ratings of how confident they are in the family justice system in Canada being accessible to all people via a Pie Chart. The pie chart is divided into 4 sections each colour coded to correspond to one of four key labels. These labels are position at the bottom of the image and to the left of each label is a small coloured square. The labels include: Not confident with a blue coloured square; Moderately confident with an orange coloured square; Confident with a grey colour square; and Don’t Know with a yellow coloured square.

In the pie chart, Not confident shown in blue, encompasses 36% of the circle, moderately confident shown in orange, encompasses 30% of the circle, Confident shown in grey, encompasses 26% of the circle, and Don’t know shown in yellow, encompasses 8% of the circle.

Respondents in the age group of 45 to 54 years old were more likely than their younger counterparts of 18 to 24 years old to believe the FJS was accessible to all people (32% vs. 19%). Men were more likely than women to have the same belief (29% vs. 23%).

Respondents with some high school education were more likely than those with a bachelor’s degree to say the FJS was accessible to all people (40% vs. 24%). Those with a household income of $150,000 and above were more likely to feel the system was accessible in comparison with people whose income was between $120,000 to just under $150,000 (30% vs. 22%).

People who were born outside of Canada were more likely to believe the system was accessible than their counterparts who were born in Canada (33% vs. 24%). Moreover, retired respondents were more likely to believe that the system was accessible compared to students attending school full-time (30% vs. 13%).

People with previous involvement in the FJS were less likely to believe that the system was accessible to all compared with people without previous involvement (47% vs. 36% not confident).

Very few Canadians had recent contact with the FJS

Overall, six percent of Canadians reported they have been involved with the FJS in Canada within the past two years. Indigenous people were more likely than White people to have been involved in the FJS (10% vs. 6%). Black Canadians were more likely than White Canadians to have been involved with the system (10% vs. 6%).

People in the age group of 45 to 54 years old were more likely to be involved with FJS compared with those 65 or older (9% vs. 3%). Those with a household income under $20,000 were more likely to be involved with the system than those with a household income of $150,000 and above (14% vs. 4%). Those who said they were not in the workforce were more likely than people who were retired to be involved in the system (10% vs 3%).

Almost two in five Canadians indicated that they had difficulty accessing the FJS

Overall, 38% of CanadiansFootnote 4 who had contact with the FJS indicated that they had a difficult time accessing the FJS in Canada (Chart 4).

Chart 4: How would you describe your ability to access the family justice system in Canada?

Chart 4: How would you describe your ability to access the family justice system in Canada?
Chart 4: How would you describe your ability to access the family justice system in Canada? – Text version

Chart 4 depicts how respondents would describe their ability to access the family justice system in Canada via a Pie Chart. The pie chart is divided into 4 sections each colour coded to correspond to one of four key labels. These labels are position at the bottom of the image and to the left of each label is a small coloured square. The labels include: Easy to access with a blue coloured square; Neither with an orange coloured square; Difficult to access with a grey colour square; and Don’t Know with a yellow coloured square.

In the pie chart, Easy to access shown in blue, encompasses 28% of the circle, Neither shown in orange, encompasses 32% of the circle, Difficult to access shown in grey, encompasses 38% of the circle, and Don’t know shown in yellow, encompasses 2% of the circle.

Canadians aged 35-44 were more likely than those aged 45-54 to say the system was difficult to access at the time of the survey (51% vs. 30%).

Canadians were more likely to use government websites as their main source of information on the FJS

Close to one-third (29%) of Canadians reported that they were more likely to use government websites or publications as their main source of information about the Canadian FJS than other sources. Fewer said they used family or friends (18%), a legal professional (14%) or popular cultureFootnote 5 (11%) as a primary source of information. Only 9% of respondents said social media as a key source (Chart 5).

Chart 5: What is your main source of information about the Canadian family justice system?

Chart 5: What is your main source of information about the Canadian family justice system?
Chart 5: What is your main source of information about the Canadian family justice system? – Text version

Chart 5 depicts respondent’s main source of information about the Canadian family justice system via a bar graph. Along the left side of the image are the 8 key labels and to the right of each label is a blue bar conveying the percentage of respondents who selected it. Along the bottom of the image is a scale that begins at 0% and ends at 35%, shown in increments of 5 (i.e., 0%, 5%, 10%, 15% … 35%).

The labels alongside the left of the image include: Government websites or publications – which corresponds to 29%; Family or friends – which corresponds to 18%; Legal professional – which responds to 14%; Popular culture – which corresponds to 11%; Social Media – which corresponds to 9%; Another professional (mediator…) – which corresponds to 9%; Not listed – which corresponds to 5%; and Don’t know – which corresponds to 5%.

Most Canadians were comfortable accessing information on the FJS online

Overall, most Canadians were comfortable looking for information and reading about the FJS online (67%), completing forms online using fillable PDF forms (63%), and with using video conferencing platforms (e.g., Zoom, MS Teams, Google Meet; 53%) (Chart 6).

Chart 6: How comfortable would you be accessing the family justice system in the following scenarios?

Chart 6: How comfortable would you be accessing the family justice system in the following scenarios?
Chart 6: How comfortable would you be accessing the family justice system in the following scenarios? – Text version

Chart 6 depicts how comfortable respondent’s would be in accessing the family justice system in three various scenarios via a horizontally stacked bar graph. These scenarios are noted on the left of the image: (1) Using video conferencing platforms; (2) complete forms online; and (3) looking for information and reading. Along the bottom of the image is four key labels and each is colour coded with a small coloured square to the left of the label. These labels include: Uncomfortable (with a blue coloured square); Moderately comfortable (with an orange coloured square); Comfortable (with a grey colour square); and Don’t Know (with a yellow coloured square).

To the right of the first scenario “Using video conference platform” – 24% of respondents selected Uncomfortable (shown in blue in the graph); 20% of respondents selected Moderately comfortable (shown in orange in the graph); 53% of respondents selected Comfortable (shown in grey in the graph); and 2% of respondents selected Don’t know (shown in yellow in the graph).

To the right of the second scenario “Complete forms online” - 16% of respondents selected Uncomfortable (shown in blue in the graph); 19% of respondents selected Moderately comfortable (shown in orange in the graph); 63% of respondents selected Comfortable (shown in grey in the graph); and 2% of respondents selected Don’t know (shown in yellow in the graph).

To the right of the third scenario “Looking for information and reading…” - 10% of respondents selected Uncomfortable (shown in blue in the graph); 20% of respondents selected Moderately comfortable (shown in orange in the graph); 67% of respondents selected Comfortable (shown in grey in the graph); and 3% of respondents selected Don’t know (shown in yellow in the graph).

Canadians reported being more aware or knowledgeable of the criminal justice system (CJS) compared to the FJS

The 2022 NJS includes the questions for public confidence in the criminal and family justice systems. While the 2022 NJS asks respondents to rate their awareness of the CJS in three areas: police, court and corrections, it asks the respondents to rate their knowledge of the FJS overall. In general, people were more aware of the CJS than they were knowledgeable of the FJS. For instance, 56% of respondents who indicated that they were aware of the role of the police, 44% of the role of the court, and 34% of the role of corrections (Chart 7) compared with 26% of respondents said they were knowledgeable of the FJS (Chart 8).

Chart 7: How would you describe your level of awareness when it comes to the role of the following areas in the criminal justice system?

Chart 7: How would you describe your level of awareness when it comes to the role of the following areas in the criminal justice system?
Chart 7: How would you describe your level of awareness when it comes to the role of the following areas in the criminal justice system? – Text version

Chart 7 depicts how respondents would describe their level of awareness when it come to the role of various areas in the criminal justice system via a horizontally stacked bar graph. These areas are noted on the left of the image: (1) Role of corrections; (2) Role of courts; and (3) Role of police. Along the bottom of the image is four key labels and each is colour coded. The labels include: Not Aware with a blue coloured square; Neither with an orange coloured square; Aware with a grey colour square; and Don’t Know with a yellow coloured square.

To the right of the first area “Role of corrections” – 30% of respondents selected Not aware (shown in blue in the graph); 34% of respondents selected Neither (shown in orange in the graph); 34% of respondents selected Aware (shown in grey in the graph); and 2% of respondents selected Don’t know (shown in yellow in the graph).

To the right of the second area “Role of courts” – 20% of respondents selected Not aware (shown in blue in the graph); 35% of respondents selected Neither (shown in orange in the graph); 44% of respondents selected Aware (shown in grey in the graph); and 1% of respondents selected Don’t know (shown in yellow in the graph).

To the right of the first area “Role of police” – 12% of respondents selected Not aware (shown in blue in the graph); 31% of respondents selected Neither (shown in orange in the graph); 56% of respondents selected Aware (shown in grey in the graph); and 1% of respondents selected Don’t know (shown in yellow in the graph).

Chart 8: How would you rate your knowledge of the family justice system in Canada?

Chart 8: How would you rate your knowledge of the family justice system in Canada?
Chart 8: How would you rate your knowledge of the family justice system in Canada? – Text version

Chart 8 depicts how respondents would rate their knowledge of the family justice system in Canada via a horizontally stacked bar graph. To the left of the image is the label “Rate of knowledge of the family justice system.” Along the bottom of the image is four key labels and each is colour coded with a small coloured square to the left of the label. The labels include: Not knowledgeable with a blue coloured square; Moderately knowledgeable with an orange coloured square; Knowledgeable with a grey colour square; and Don’t Know with a yellow coloured square.

To the right of the label “Rate of knowledge of the family justice system” – 39% of respondents selected Not knowledgeable (shown in blue in the graph); 33% of respondents selected Moderately knowledgeable (shown in orange in the graph); 26% of respondents selected Knowledgeable (shown in grey in the graph); and 1% of respondents selected Don’t know (shown in yellow in the graph).

Canadians had more confidence in the CJS than in the FJS (Charts 9 and 10). Overall, 25% of respondents believed the CJS is fair to all people compared with 18% of respondents who had the same belief in the FJS. Furthermore, 33% of respondents were confident that the Canadian CJS is accessible to all people compared with 26% of people who believed the FJS is accessible to all.

Chart 9: How confident are you that the criminal justice system in Canada is:

Chart 9: How confident are you that the criminal justice system in Canada is:
Chart 9: How confident are you that the criminal justice system in Canada is: – Text version

Chart 9 depicts how confident respondents are in the criminal justice system in Canada being (1) accessible to all people and (2) fair to all people via a horizontally stacked bar graph. To the left of the image is two categories: (1) Accessible to all people and (2) Fair to all people. Along the bottom of the image is four key labels and each is colour coded with a small coloured square to the left of the label. The labels include: Not confident with a blue coloured square; Moderately confident with an orange coloured square; Confident with a grey colour square; and Don’t Know with a yellow coloured square.

To the right of the first category “Accessible to all people” – 39% of respondents selected Not Confident (shown in blue in the graph); 25% of respondents selected Moderately Confident (shown in orange in the graph); 33% of respondents selected Confident (shown in grey in the graph); and 3% of respondents selected Don’t know (shown in yellow in the graph).

To the right of the second category “Fair to all people” – 49% of respondents selected Not Confident (shown in blue in the graph); 25% of respondents selected Moderately Confident (shown in orange in the graph); 25% of respondents selected Confident (shown in grey in the graph); and 1% of respondents selected Don’t know (shown in yellow in the graph).

Chart 10: How confident are you that the family justice system in Canada is:

Chart 10: How confident are you that the family justice system in Canada is:
Chart 10: How confident are you that the family justice system in Canada is: – Text version

Chart 10 depicts how confident respondents are in the family justice in Canada being (1) accessible to all people and (2) fair to all people via a horizontally stacked bar graph. To the left of the image is two categories: (1) Accessible to all people and (2) Fair to all people. Along the bottom of the image is four key labels and each is colour coded with a small coloured square to the left of the label. The labels include: Not confident with a blue coloured square; Moderately confident with an orange coloured square; Confident with a grey colour square; and Don’t Know with a yellow coloured square.

To the right of the first category “Accessible to all people” – 37% of respondents selected Not Confident (shown in blue in the graph); 30% of respondents selected Moderately Confident (shown in orange in the graph); 26% of respondents selected Confident (shown in grey in the graph); and 8% of respondents selected Don’t know (shown in yellow in the graph).

To the right of the second category “Fair to all people” – 48% of respondents selected Not Confident (shown in blue in the graph); 27% of respondents selected Moderately Confident (shown in orange in the graph); 18% of respondents selected Confident (shown in grey in the graph); and 7% of respondents selected Don’t know (shown in yellow in the graph).

Conclusion

The 2022 NJS results indicated that Canadians’ perception and confidence regarding the FJS varied according to their previous involvement with the FJS and demographic characteristics, such as Indigenous and ethno-cultural identity, age, gender, region, educational attainment, income, employment status and place of birth. Some highlights include: