3. Programs Overview

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Advice to the Minister
Links between Department of Justice programs and Mandate Letter Commitments

Department of Justice programs provide a strong platform for working with provinces, territories, and other key stakeholders to achieve mandate letter and other Government of Canada priorities.

Mandate Letter Priority: Advance the priorities of indigenous communities to reclaim jurisdiction over the administration of justice in collaboration with the provinces and territories, and support and fund the revitalization of indigenous laws, legal systems and traditions.

Indigenous Laws and legal traditions

• Budget 2019 included $10 million over five years to support the revitalization of Indigenous laws and legal traditions.
• This funding responded to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action 50, which calls on the federal government, in collaboration with Indigenous organizations, to fund the establishment of Indigenous law initiatives for the development, use and understanding of Indigenous laws and access to justice in accordance with the unique cultures of Indigenous peoples in Canada.
• Funding was provided through the Justice Partnership and Innovation Program and began in fiscal year
  2019-20. A total of 27 projects were funded through this initiative which has supported the development of over 50 new knowledge products on Indigenous laws and over 85 law students have completed Indigenous law courses.
• Although this funding has ended, Budget 2024 proposes an additional $5.5 million over three years to continue work to revitalize Indigenous laws and legal traditions through the Indigenous Justice Program. A new Call for Proposals is anticipated to be launched in 2024-2025 following parliamentary appropriations.

Mandate Letter Priorities: Make drug treatment courts the default option for first-time non-violent offenders, reduce reliance on mandatory minimum penalties and promote non-criminal approaches to drug possession.

• The Drug Treatment Court Funding Program supports provincially and territorially administered drug treatment courts.
• These courts provide eligible adult offenders with an alternative to incarceration by offering them the opportunity to complete a court monitored drug treatment program.
• These courts have proven successful in breaking the cycle of drug use and criminal recidivism. They also contribute to addressing Canada’s opioid overdose crisis by making available treatment as an alternative to incarceration for eligible adult offenders suffering from substance use disorder, especially for offenders from marginalized and vulnerable populations.
• The PPSC recently updated its Deskbook to expand the eligibility criteria for participation in a drug treatment court and eliminate unnecessary barriers to entry that contribute to discrimination and the overrepresentation of certain groups in the criminal justice system. As a result of these updates, prosecutors now have greater flexibility in determining eligibility for these programs.
• Justice Canada continues to allocate the additional funding received in Budget 2021, $28 million over five years, and $7 million ongoing, for the Drug Treatment Court Funding Program to support the operation, expansion, and creation of drug treatment courts. The Department approved funding to all participating provinces and territories for the 2023-2028 cycle.

Mandate Letter Priority: Work with provinces and territories to provide free legal advice and support to survivors of sexual assault and intimate partner violence

• For Justice Canada, Budget 2021 announced $48.75 million over five years to support independent legal advice and independent legal representation for victims and survivors of sexual assault and intimate partner violence across Canada.
• Through the Victims Fund and the Justice Partnership and Innovation Program, Justice Canada is supporting projects in all 13 jurisdictions to deliver free independent legal advice and representation programs to support victims and survivors of sexual assault and intimate partner violence.
• These programs provide accurate, personalized legal information and advice to help survivors understand and exercise their legal options in areas such as civil, family, and criminal law. They help survivors of sexual assault and intimate partner violence make informed decisions, increasing their confidence and making their voices more effective in the criminal and family justice system.
• To date, projects funded to support victims of intimate partner violence have developed and are delivering over 50 new targeted services across Canada, including free independent legal advice and legal representations, as well as legal support services, such as justice system navigation, information workshops and referral supports.
• With funding from the Justice Partnership and Innovation Program, Luke’s Place in Ontario is supporting victims of intimate partner violence across the province by providing access, including virtual access, to free independent legal advice and representation and wrap-around services. In addition, the project is increasing the capacity of lawyers and legal support workers to support victims through training on abusive relationships and family law and new tools to support victims with emergency motions. The project is also developing free online tools to help victims complete family law court forms.

Mandate Letter Priority: Work with the provinces and territories to establish a Community Justice Centres program to put courts alongside other critical social services.

• In the 2020 Fall Economic Statement, the Government of Canada proposed an investment to support Community Justice Centre pilot projects in British Columbia, Manitoba, and Ontario, as well as community engagement to expand the Community Justice Centre concept to other provinces and territories.
• Community Justice Centres bring justice, health, and social services together to collectively address the root causes of crime, divert individuals accused of non-violent offences away from incarceration and connect them with social supports.
• Through the integration of culturally appropriate services, these centres can help decrease the overrepresentation of Indigenous people and Black Canadians in the criminal justice system and provide solutions to systemic issues.
• Agreements have now been signed with the BC First Nations Justice Council to support Indigenous Justice Centres in British Columbia, with the Government of Ontario to support pilot Community Justice Centres and with Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak and Manitoba Métis Federation to support pilots in Manitoba. Agreements have also been signed to support community engagement on CJCs in other jurisdictions.

Mandate Letter Priority: Continue work on a renewed relationship with Indigenous People, including contributing to building the National Action Plan on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and continuing progress on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls for Action.

Calls for Justice

• The government continues to respond to the Calls for Justice from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG National Inquiry).

Family Information Liaison Units

• Budget 2023 announced continued, sustained funding in the amount of $95.8 million over five years and $20.4 million per year ongoing for Justice Canada. This funding will help Indigenous families access information about their missing and murdered loved ones and enhance the availability and accessibility of services and supports for Indigenous victims and survivors of crime.
• The funding will support continued and expanded services through Family Information Liaison Units and Community Support and Healing for families of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, 2SLGBTQI+ people, men and boys and new ongoing funding will support access to Indigenous-led victims services and supports.

Gladue Principles

• The 2020 Fall Economic Statement announced $49.3 million to support the implementation of Gladue principles in the mainstream criminal justice system.
• This funding responds to the Final Reports of both the MMIWG National Inquiry and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, as each Report emphasized the need for comprehensive funding to implement Gladue principles.
• This funding will support the following three key components:
  • Improved access to Gladue reports, including support to provinces and territories to expand their use, and/or for the development of Indigenous-led Gladue report writing frameworks.
  • Indigenous-led community programs and services to provide post-sentence Gladue aftercare and casework. This assists individuals who have had a Gladue report in meeting the conditions of their sentence. In 2023-24 the Department of Justice funded 40 community-based justice programs to provide these services.
  • Projects focused on implementing Gladue Principles in the mainstream criminal justice system (educating criminal justice system professionals and changing mainstream practices, processes, and structures to address systemic barriers and discrimination). The Department of Justice signed 34 funding agreements under this initiative, funding is fully expended and ends in 2024-25.

Improved access to justice for Indigenous people

• Budget 2024 proposed $87 million over five years, starting in 2024-25, and $11.3 million per year ongoing, to improve access to justice for Indigenous people. This is proposed to include:
  • Funding to address program integrity pressures in the community-based justice programs supported by the Indigenous Justice Program.
  • Funding for Indigenous-led civil and family mediation to address community and family conflicts and prevent their escalation, including to provide opportunities for parents to resolve their disputes, including custody arrangements.
  • Funding to support Indigenous Family Courtwork services to assist Indigenous families who are navigating the family justice and child protection systems.
• Specifically, Budget 2024 proposed a continuation of funding from Budget 2021 to improve access to justice for Indigenous peoples, namely:
  • $41.4 million over five years and $8.3 million per year ongoing for the Indigenous Justice Program for program integrity and Civil and Family Mediation.
  • $15 million over five years and $3 million per year ongoing to the Indigenous Courtwork Program for Indigenous Family Courtwork services.

Indigenous Justice Strategy

• Budget 2024 proposes a renewal of Budget 2021 funding of $12 million over three years to continue to the next phase of the development of an Indigenous Justice Strategy in collaboration with Indigenous peoples across Canada.
• Budget 2021 funding supported 38 Indigenous partners and organizations in engaging with their members and citizens on what an Indigenous Justice Strategy could and should include. The reports from these engagements are informing the development of this strategy and identifying legislative, program and policy initiatives needed to address systemic discrimination and overrepresentation of Indigenous people in the justice system.

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act

• Budget 2022 announced $64 million over five years, starting in 2022-23, and $11 million ongoing, to Justice Canada to stabilize and accelerate work to meet the legislated requirements of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, including the co-development of an action plan with Indigenous partners.
• Of this funding, $33 million over five years starting in 2023-24 and $4 million ongoing, is supporting ongoing consultation and cooperation with Indigenous peoples in implementing the UN Declaration and the UN Declaration Act. Justice Canada is providing funding to multiple Indigenous partners to support capacity and participation in the Action Plan implementation, monitoring, and oversight processes.
• As well, in fall and winter 2023-24, Justice Canada’s Indigenous Partnership Fund held a call for proposals to support broader participation and activities that contribute to the implementation of the UN Declaration and the UN Declaration Act Action Plan. We anticipate supporting additional Indigenous partners and organizations from across the country through this call for proposals.

Supplementary Mandate Letter Priority: introduce legislation and make investments that take action to address systemic inequities in the criminal justice system, including to promote enhanced use of pre- and post-charge diversion and to better enable courts to impose sentences appropriate to the circumstances of individual cases.

Impact of Race and Culture Assessment

• The 2020 Fall Economic Statement announced an investment of $6.64 million over five years followed by $1.6 million annually on an ongoing basis to implement an Impact of Race and Culture Assessment or IRCAs component of the Legal Aid Program.
• Since the inception of this initiative, the department has been working closely with the provinces and the territories as well as community organizations to implement IRCAs across the country. To date, agreements for the provision of these assessments are in place in six jurisdictions: Nova Scotia, Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador.
• Justice Canada is also supporting three organizations to develop and provide professional development programs for IRCA assessors and the judiciary. This measure is expected to result in better-informed sentencing decisions based on an understanding of the systemic inequalities faced by many Black Canadians and members of other racialized groups.
• Budget 2024 proposed an additional $8 million over five years, starting in 2024-25 and $1.6 million ongoing, to expand the use of IRCAs.
  • This funding will add an additional $1.6 million per year to the existing funding. It will maintain current delivery of IRCAs in the short term, allow the Department to expand the use of IRCA in more jurisdictions, and maintain support for assessor training and judicial awareness activities.

Youth Justice Services Funding Program

• Budget 2021 announced $216.4 million over five years, starting in 2021-22, and $43.3 million ongoing, for the Youth Justice Services Funding Program to increase funding to the provinces and territories to support diversion programming and to help reduce the overrepresentation of Indigenous people, Black Canadians, and other racialized groups in the youth justice system. By diverting youth to the right services at the right time and addressing the root causes of crime, this measure helps to reduce the crime rate and promote better outcomes for young people and their communities.

Other Priority: Increasing the safety of our communities

• Ensuring the safety of our communities is the ultimate objective of our criminal justice system and is a priority of our government.

Victims Fund

• The Department of Justice Canada’s Victims Fund helps to ensure that victims and survivors of crime have improved access to justice.
• The Victims Fund is a multi-faceted program that provides grants and contributions to provinces, territories and non-governmental organizations to advance activities that increase access to, and awareness of, victim services and the needs of victims of crime.
• The Victims Fund regularly funds projects and initiatives of relevance to a wide range of victims and survivors of crime, notably in relation to sexual violence, human trafficking, child victims and violence against Indigenous women, girls, 2SLGBTQI+ people, men, and boys.

Other Priority: Legal Representation and Information

• The right to legal representation is a fundamental tenet of Canadian democracy. It is particularly critical to ensure that the most vulnerable in our society have proper legal representation – this includes Indigenous people, individuals from Black and other racialized communities and those with mental health disorders.

Legal Aid

• The Department of Justice’s Legal Aid Program continues to provide contribution funding to enable the provinces and territories and their legal aid service providers to deliver criminal legal aid services (criminal and civil legal aid in the territories) to economically disadvantaged persons at risk of incarceration and to youth facing prosecution under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
• The Government’s ongoing commitment to legal aid is evident in its recent budgetary announcement where Budget 2024 proposed to renew $60 million criminal legal funding for five years from 2024-25 to 2028-29 to continue supporting the delivery of criminal legal aid services to vulnerable populations.
• In addition, Budget 2024 proposed to expand funding from $20 million in 2024-25 and $30 million annually from 2025-26 to 2028-29 to allow legal aid service providers to take targeted actions to increase access to justice and help decrease the disproportional criminalization of these vulnerable groups.
• In cooperation with our provincial and territorial partners, we are continuing to explore and develop innovative approaches for delivering these critical legal aid services in a cost-efficient, sustainable manner.

Workplace Sexual Harassment

• Further, Budget 2018 announced $50.36 million over five years to address workplace sexual harassment in support of the goal of “Eliminating gender-based violence and harassment and promoting security of the person and access to justice” in Canada’s Gender Results Framework.
• Through this initiative, the Department funded 45 projects across the country that involved the delivery of free legal information and advice to persons who have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace, as well as the development of public legal education and information materials to promote a better understanding and protection of individuals’ rights to safe workplaces.
• Budget 2024 proposed renewed investment of $30.6 million over three years, starting in 2024-25, to continue supporting legal advice and education services for people who have experienced workplace sexual harassment. This will help to support safe and healthy workplaces and access to justice for people who have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace.

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