Fostering safety and security and transforming the criminal justice system
We work to ensure that the criminal justice system is just, compassionate, and fair, and that it promotes a safe, peaceful, and prosperous Canadian society.
Transforming the criminal justice system
We consulted with stakeholders and the public, and now we are acting on what we learned.
We conducted a comprehensive criminal justice system review to assess whether our criminal justice system reflects the needs and expectations of all Canadians.
Through extensive consultations, we heard from Canadians from coast to coast to coast, including justice system partners and other interested parties, and what we heard is already informing our work.
Read our What We Heard – Transforming Canada’s Criminal Justice System report to find out more about the feedback we received from provincial and territorial stakeholders.
Our National Justice Surveys researched a wide variety of Canadians’ views and perceptions of the criminal justice system.
Our Consultation with Canadians report shares the feedback we received from over 11,000 Canadians.
A final report is coming soon that summarizes our progress and provides a roadmap for the way forward.
We are addressing broader efforts to identify and respond to data gaps that hinder evidence-based decision making.
Our first performance monitoring framework for Canada’s criminal justice system, the State of the Criminal Justice System, is based on extensive research and feedback from multi-phased consultations with criminal justice system partners, stakeholders, experts, and other Canadians.
The framework helps us monitor how well our criminal justice system is functioning. This includes looking at the system’s fairness, accessibility, and efficiency; whether it respects victims’ and survivors’ rights and needs; and, importantly, how it treats Indigenous people and marginalized or vulnerable people.
Efficiency of the criminal justice system
We are working to ensure that the criminal justice system is timely and responsive to all Canadians who interact with it.
Bill C-75 modernizes the criminal justice system and reduces court delays while respecting Canadians’ rights and protecting public safety.
We provided funding to Drug Treatment Courts in response to a high volume of drug-related re-incarcerations due to underlying drug dependency. These courts provide monitored treatment and community service support for non-violent offenders with drug addictions.
Fair and accessible
We are striving to ensure that the criminal justice system is fair and accessible to everyone.
We provide ongoing funding to a number of programs that help Canadians access the justice system and appropriate resources:
- The Access to Justice in Both Official Languages Support Fund increases our capacity to offer justice services in both official languages.
- The Indigenous Courtwork Program, with an ongoing $4 million per year increase, ensures that Indigenous peoples involved in the criminal justice system obtain fair and culturally relevant treatment.
- Long-term, stable funding now exists for the Indigenous Justice Program’s community-based initiatives, which use culturally relevant restorative justice approaches, in appropriate circumstances. These initiatives help address the over-representation of Indigenous people as accused, victims, and offenders.
- Immigration and Refugee Legal Aid helps ensure access to justice for economically disadvantaged immigrants and refugees. Funding has increased by $62.9 million over five years, with an additional $11.5 million per year thereafter, to help prevent delays in immigration and refugee processes.
We are delivering on our commitment to hold offenders to account while supporting vulnerable people and respecting the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The Directive issued by the Attorney General of Canada represents a step toward ensuring an appropriate and evidence-based response to prosecutions of HIV non-disclosure cases.
Remediation Agreements are now part of a multi-faceted approach to address corporate wrongdoing (Bill C-74).
A number of Senate Public Bills and Private Members’ Bills were also supported:
Needs of vulnerable populations and compassion for victims
We are working hard to ensure the criminal justice system is compassionate for victims and survivors and addresses the needs of vulnerable populations.
We clarified certain aspects of sexual assault law, ensuring that victims of sexual assault and gender-based violence are treated with the utmost compassion and respect (Bill C-51).
Bill C-75 keeps domestic assault survivors and children safe. It improves protections for victims of intimate-partner violence by strengthening criminal law responses.
Bill C-84 strengthens protections for children, other vulnerable individuals, and animals by broadening the scope of the bestiality and animal fighting offences.
We are acting to provide support to front-line services for victims and survivors of crime across Canada and to inform the wider public.
The Department administers the Victims Fund, which provides support to vulnerable victims, such as seniors, victims of sexual offences, and human trafficking and child victims.
Budget 2019 allocated $50.4 million over five years to help fund legal aid for victims of sexual harassment in the workplace and to establish a pan-Canadian outreach and awareness campaign.
We provided funding to the Intensive Rehabilitative Custody and Supervision Program to help with specialized assessments and treatment services for youth with mental health needs convicted of certain offences.
Through the Youth Justice Fund, we supported 12 multi-year projects focused on culturally relevant programming for Indigenous youth in the criminal justice system.
With the assistance of the National Aboriginal Circle Against Family Violence, we shared the booklet Abuse is wrong in any culture: for First Nations and Métis people, on the issue of elder abuse, with professionals and the public in five indigenous languages.
Narrowing gaps in service
We are working to narrow gaps in services to Indigenous people and vulnerable groups throughout the criminal justice system. We have taken action to support Inuit, First Nations, and Métis organizations and communities in getting more involved in the local administration of justice.
Through the Indigenous Justice Program, 195 community-based justice programs were funded, serving over 750 communities.
Over 180 court workers provided services to approximately 60,000 Indigenous clients in over 450 communities through Indigenous Courtwork Program Funding.
Budget 2019 announced $10 million over five years, starting in 2019–20, in support of Indigenous law initiatives across Canada. The Justice Partnership and Innovation Program aims to improve equality for Indigenous Peoples in Canada’s legal system. This funding supports the implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action 50 (establishment of Indigenous Law Institutes).
National security
We are enhancing our collective security and protecting Canadians’ rights and freedoms.
Bill C-59 improves Canada’s national security framework by making Canada more secure, its agencies more accountable, and its laws more just.
Safe communities
We are keeping communities safe and ensuring that Canadians feel safe.
Through Bill C-71, the Government strengthened Canada’s gun laws by prioritizing public safety and effective police work, while respecting law-abiding firearms owners.
The Cannabis Act (Bill C-45), which is now law, offers better protection for Canadian youth, public health, and safety. This act was accompanied by legislation to strengthen and modernize the drug and alcohol-impaired driving regime (Bill C-46).
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