Legal Aid in Canada 2020-21

Access to justice is a key issue facing all stakeholders in the justice system. Legal aid services support access to justice for those who are economically disadvantaged and unable to pay for a lawyer on their own.

The federal government supports legal aid services in the provinces and territories through two sources. The Department of Justice Canada’s (Justice Canada) Legal Aid Program^{Footnote 1} provides funding to all provinces for criminal legal aid through contribution agreements. These agreements also support immigration and refugee (I&R) legal aid in the six provinces (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario, and Quebec) that provide services in this area. The federal government supports criminal and civil legal aid in the territories through consolidated Access to Justice Services Agreements.^{Footnote 2}

The Department of Finance Canada’s Canada Social Transfer (CST) is a block transfer payment provided to each province and territory for health care, postsecondary education, social assistance and social services. Civil legal aid is an eligible expenditure under the CST.^{Footnote 3}

While policy development related to criminal legal aid is a shared federal/provincial/territorial responsibility, each province and territory is responsible for the delivery of legal aid services based on their own policies and procedures. This report provides national level statistics^{Footnote 4} on revenues, expenditures, personnel, and caseloads from legal aid plans across Canada. Justice Canada has been producing the Legal Aid in Canada report since 2016-17, and this is the fifth annual edition. This year’s report includes data from the 2020-21 fiscal year, as well as data from the past five years of legal aid annual reports where there are notable trends. This year the detailed data tables are included at the end of the report. The 2020-21 fiscal year marks the first full year of the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 had a profound impact on society, including the criminal and civil justice systems which resulted in courts having to close and/or shift focus to virtual hearings, and triage the most serious matters. These disruptions are evident in the data on legal aid service delivery.

While the data collection for Legal Aid in Canada is done at a national level, from year-to-year some limitations on data coverage exist and some legal aid plans may be unable to report all or some data elements. Due to these limitations, Canada-level totals may not include all provinces and territories.

Provinces and territories contributed just under three-quarters of legal aid revenues in 2020-21

There are 13 recognized legal aid plans in Canada: the organizations responsible for providing legal aid services to those who cannot afford a lawyer. Legal aid plans reported receiving total funding of over $939 million in 2020-21. Federal and provincial/territorial government sources contributed the majority of this amount–92% of the total, which is up from 84% in 2019-20. The remaining funding was received from client contributions, cost recoveries from legal settlements, and contributions from the legal profession and other sources (Table 1).

Provincial and territorial (P/T) governments directly fund legal aid. In 2020-21, P/T governments contributed more than $676 million to legal aid plans across Canada, which amounts to 72% of total legal aid revenues, up from 65% in 2019-20.

In 2020-21, Justice Canada contributed over $188 million to the provinces and territories for the delivery of criminal legal aid, civil legal aid (in the territories only), and I&R legal aid (where applicable). This amounts to 20% of total legal aid revenues (Table 1) which is slightly higher than the previous year. Ontario and Quebec are the largest legal aid plans, comprising 41% and 20% of all legal aid plan revenues respectively, or 61% for the two plans combined (Table 1).

Figure 1 shows the breakdown between legal aid revenue sources over the past five years, using 2021 constant dollars, which is used to account for the impact of inflation over time. Over this timeframe there has been a gradual increase in the proportion of federal contributions to legal aid revenues, in parallel to a reduction in P/T contributions. In 2020-21 there was a drop in revenues from the previous year mostly in the category of ‘other revenues’ which dropped by 52% from the previous year. This is likely in part due to the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Federal contributions to legal aid revenues have increased over time.

A majority of jurisdictions spend more on criminal matters than civil matters

Table 2a shows 2020-21 legal aid plan expenditures, broken down by type of expenditure. Overall, 48% of legal aid expenditures were related to criminal matters, 5% were related to I&R matters, and 47% were related to all other civil matters. Figure 2 presents the breakdown of expenditures by type of matter over the past five years using constant 2021 dollars. Expenditures have remained consistent year over year, with the exception of 2020-21, when expenditures for all types of matters decreased. The biggest drop was for I&R matters, where expenditures dropped by 28%, followed by criminal matters where expenditures dropped by 17% from the previous year.

There was a drop in legal aid plan expenditures during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ontario and Quebec had the highest legal aid expenditures in the country in 2020-21, with 46% of all expenditures as a proportion of the national total from Ontario and 19% from Quebec.

Looking at legal aid expenditures by jurisdiction, just three jurisdictions spend more on civil matters (including I&R, except in PEI) than criminal matters (Quebec 59%, Prince Edward Island 57%, and Ontario 54%). The fact that half of legal aid expenditures are related to criminal matters at the national level is driven by Quebec and Ontario. These two provinces have the largest populations, and spend more overall – contributing more to the average. The jurisdictions with the highest proportion of total legal aid expenditures on criminal matters (of all legal aid expenditures for that jurisdiction) were Saskatchewan (77%), and Manitoba (75%).

Table 2b breaks out the total administrative costs for legal aid plans in 2020-21. These expenses are also reflected under “Legal Services Expenditures” in table 2a, and they amounted to over $163 million dollars.

Legal aid services are delivered primarily by private bar lawyers

Table 3 provides an overview of the proportion of staff lawyers versus private bar lawyers delivering legal aid services. While this data provides a picture of the numbers of lawyers providing services, these figures do not reflect the differences between the legal aid case loads of private bar versus staff lawyers. In some cases, a legal aid plan may have a higher proportion of private bar lawyers, but the staff lawyers at that plan may be managing a higher proportion of cases. Over the past five years, the proportion of staff lawyers versus private bar lawyers delivering legal aid services has remained consistent.

In 2020-21, 91% of the 14,516 lawyers providing legal aid services in Canada were private bar lawyers (Table 3). Staff lawyers made up 8% of lawyers providing direct legal aid services to clients, and other lawyers (such as Executive Directors) made up 1%. Among private bar lawyers, 48% provided both criminal and civil law services. There were more private bar lawyers providing only civil law legal aid services as compared to only criminal (28% and 19%), while 5% of private bar lawyers provided legal aid services for I&R matters. Of the staff lawyers and other lawyers, the highest proportion provided both criminal and civil law services (71%), while 18% provided only criminal services and 11% provided only civil law services. The remaining 2% provided services for I&R matters (Figure 3).

Overall, 42% of the 14,516 lawyers providing legal aid services in Canada were in Alberta, and 25% were in Ontario. When looking at the breakdown between private and staff lawyers within each province/territory, Alberta and British Columbia had the highest proportions of private bar lawyers (98% and 97%), while Nunavut and Newfoundland and Labrador had the highest proportions of staff lawyers (100% and 79%) (Table 3).

Most lawyers delivering legal aid services provide both civil and criminal services.

Non-lawyers made up 11% of legal aid plan personnel

Legal aid plans employ a variety of non-lawyer personnel to support the delivery of legal aid services to clients. Over the past five years the proportions of legal aid plan personnel have remained relatively stable. In 2020-21 lawyers made up 89% of legal aid plan personnel and non-lawyers made up the other 11% (Table 4). Figure 4 shows that 91% of the lawyers providing legal aid services were private bar and 9% were staff lawyers. Of the 1,884 non-lawyers working for legal aid plans, intake workers/support staff (81%) were most common, followed by paralegals/legal assistants (14%), and articling students/ “other” (i.e. managers) (5%) made up the remaining non-lawyer personnel (Figure 4).

Legal aid plan personnel include a variety of staff, with intake/support workers making up the largest cohort outside of the private bar.

Over 458,000 legal aid applications were received in 2020-21

The number of applications for legal aid reflects the number of individual requests for assistance, rather than the total number of persons seeking assistance. This means that a single individual could file multiple applications. Figure 5 shows the trends in legal aid applications received and approved over the past five years. There has been a gradual decline in the number of applications received and a corresponding decline in approvals. The largest decline was in 2020-21 where both the number of applications received and approved declined by 18% from the previous year. This is likely at least partly attributable to the disruptions the COVID-19 pandemic caused to the justice system such as the closure of courts.^{Footnote 5}

After a gradual decline in the number of legal aid applications over the past five years, applications decreased 18% during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Of the 458,149 applications for summary or full legal representation received in 2020-21, over half (52%) were for criminal matters, while 46% were for civil matters (including I&R). Of the 238,156 applications for criminal legal aid, 94% were from adults and 6% were from youth. The highest proportion of civil matter applications was for family matters (44%), followed by child protection (27%), non-family matters (22%), and I&R (6%). (Figure 6).

Quebec received the most applications at 201,517, which accounted for 44% of all applications received nationally in 2020-21. Ontario and Alberta were the next two provinces that received the most applications (22% and 8% respectively). The breakdown between criminal and civil applications within each province/territory shows that Prince Edward Island (74%), Saskatchewan (71%) and Alberta (70%) had the highest proportion of criminal applications compared to civil. Quebec (40%) and Nunavut (40%) had the lowest proportion of criminal applications compared to civil (Table 5).

Criminal applications made up more than half of all received legal aid applications in 2020-21.

Eight in ten legal aid applications received were approved for full legal representation

An application for legal aid may be approved for either summary or full legal representation. Summary services include the provision of legal advice, information, or any other type of minimal legal service granted to an individual during a formal interview. Full legal representation represents more extensive legal assistance including representation in court. In 2020-21, out of the 458,149 legal aid applications received (Table 5), 367,491 applications, or 80%, were approved for full representation. The approval rate of legal aid applications has remained relatively stable at around 80% since 2016-17 (Figure 5).

Of the applications approved for full representation in 2020-21, more than half (54%) were for criminal legal aid, 44% were for civil legal aid (including I&R), and the remainder for provincial/territorial offences. Of the criminal applications, the majority (93%) were for adult matters, and 7% were for youth matters. For civil matters, more than one third (38%) were for family matters, 32% were for child protection matters, and 22% were for non-family related matters. I&R matters made up 7% of civil applications in the provinces that provide I&R legal aid services (Table 6).

When looking at the proportion of approved applications by province/territory and type of matter, Prince Edward Island (82%), and Alberta (80%) had the highest proportion of approved applications that were criminal as opposed to civil. New Brunswick had an almost equal proportion of criminal (55%) and civil (45%) legal aid applications approved for full legal representation (Table 6).

In Ontario, there were 1,019 adult and 114 youth applications managed by law clinics, which made up 2% of total approved criminal applications in the province.

Figures 7 to 9 show the approval rates of applications broken down by type of matter. Figure 7 shows that criminal-youth applications have the highest rate of approval, with 99% of received applications approved. Criminal adult applications are approved at a rate just above the average approval rate of all applications, at 83% (Figure 7).

The proportion of legal aid applications approved varies by type of matter.

For civil legal aid applications (Figure 8), child protection matters had the highest rate of approval (91%) followed by civil-non family applications (75%) and family applications (67%).

Legal aid applications for immigration and refugee matters had an approval rate higher than the overall average, at 86%, while P/T offence applications were approved at a rate just under the average, at 78% (Figure 9).

Financial ineligibility was the most common reason for application refusal

Refused applications are all requests for legal aid that have been denied legal services. This includes applications for which no services have been approved, as well as those applications denied for full legal representation that subsequently received summary services. In 2020-21, of the 81,776 applications (both criminal and civil) where a reason for refusal was reported, 59% were refused for financial ineligibility. The next most common reasons for refusal were other reasons for refusal and coverage restrictions (24% and 14% respectively) (Table 7).

When looking at the breakdown of reasons for refusal by province/territory, Prince Edward Island and Quebec had the highest proportions of applications refused for financial ineligibility (88% and 84%). New Brunswick (43%) and Ontario (41%) had the highest proportions of applications refused for coverage restrictions (Table 7).

Figure 10 shows the trends in legal aid application reasons for refusal over the past five years. The proportion of applications refused for financial ineligibility has increased 44% since 2016-17. Applications refused for other reasons decreased significantly from 2016-17 to 2017-18, and then gradually increased until 2020-21, while coverage restriction refusals have slightly decreased over time.

The proportion of legal aid applications refused for financial ineligibility has gradually increased over time.

Over half of refused criminal legal aid applications were refused for financial ineligibility

Looking at criminal legal aid applications, financial ineligibility was the most common reason for refusal (59%), followed by other reasons (25%) and coverage restrictions at 13% (Table 8). By province/territory, Prince Edward Island had the highest proportion of financial ineligibility refusals (97%), New Brunswick had the highest proportion of coverage restriction refusals (48%), lack of merit refusals were under 10% across all jurisdictions, and Northwest Territories had the highest rate of refusal of all jurisdictions for non-compliance or abuse, at 22%.

Table 9 shows refused civil and I&R applications by reasons for refusal. The proportions remained consistent with criminal applications, with 59% of applications nationwide refused for financial ineligibility, and 14% falling under coverage restrictions. Saskatchewan and Quebec had the highest proportions of other civil applications refused for financial ineligibility (82% and 80%). Ontario had the highest proportion of other civil applications refused for coverage restrictions (60%), and Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador had the highest proportion of other civil applications refused for lack of merit (20% and 19%). For I&R applications, Quebec had the highest proportion refused for financial ineligibility (88%), Manitoba had the highest proportion refused for coverage restrictions (32%), and lack of merit (34%) (Table 9).

More than eight in ten applications for full legal representation from self-identified Indigenous clients were approved

Figure 11 shows the number and proportions of applications received and approved for full legal representation from individuals who self-identified as Indigenous in the provinces and territories that collect this data. Of the 50,323 applications received from individuals who self-identified as Indigenous for all matters in 2020-21, 82% were approved. This proportion was similar for both criminal and civil applications, with 83% of criminal and 81% of civil applications approved. The approval rate among self-identified Indigenous applicants for criminal matters is similar to the overall approval rate (84%), but for civil matters the approval rate for Indigenous clients was higher than the general rate (76%).

By jurisdiction, Nunavut, Prince Edward Island and Ontario had the highest proportions of criminal applications approved (99%, 97% and 94%), while Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador had the lowest (63% and 62%). For civil applications, Ontario, Northwest Territories and Saskatchewan had the highest proportions of applications approved (95%, 87% and 85%), while Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island had the lowest (56% for both) (Table 10).

The rate of application approval for self-identified Indigenous clients was similar to the general rate for criminal matters and slightly higher for civil matters.

Over 740 thousand duty counsel assists were provided in 2020-21

Duty counsel is legal assistance rendered without charge to unrepresented individuals who, in many cases, are about to make an appearance in court. Duty counsel services refer to services provided by a lawyer at a location other than a legal aid office, generally at court or a place of detention. Most often, the services provided are brief, and pertain to provision of summary services, docket court appearances, or representation at a first appearance or plea court.

As a result of the Supreme Court of Canada decision in R. v. Brydges, all provinces and territories offer temporary access to duty counsel through telephone in the immediate period after an accused has been arrested or detained. These services are provided to accused persons without application, and they are free of charge.

For criminal matters, duty counsel services (either Brydges telephone services or in person court services) are available in all provinces and territories. Civil duty counsel services are available in six provinces: Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia (Nova Scotia offers family duty counsel, which is referred to as summary advice counsel), New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba (for child protection matters), and British Columbia. Immigration and refugee duty counsel services are available in Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario, and British Columbia.

A majority of provinces and territories do not apply eligibility criteria for duty counsel services. Of those that do, New Brunswick applies scope of service eligibility criteria, but not financial eligibility criteria,^{Footnote 6} while Ontario applies eligibility criteria which are outlined on their website.^{Footnote 7} British Columbia applies eligibility criteria only to family duty counsel services.^{Footnote 8}

Eleven jurisdictions provided data on the number of duty counsel services provided to clients in 2020-21 (Table 11). There were 742,082 duty counsel assists provided to legal aid clients in these jurisdictions. Of these, 90% were for criminal matters, and 9% were for civil matters (including I&R). Figure 12 shows that over the past five years the number of duty counsel assists have remained relatively stable, until 2020-21 when there was a 38% drop compared to 2019-20. Civil duty counsel services experienced the largest drop, down 57% from the previous year, while criminal duty counsel assists were down 35% from 2019-20 to 2020-21. These decreases are likely a result of the disruptions to the criminal and civil justice systems as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic such as court closures, and a shift to virtual hearings or in-person hearings for only the most serious matters.^{Footnote 9} These changes would create difficulties in providing duty counsel services.

For jurisdictions that provided data on both criminal and civil duty counsel services, Quebec and Prince Edward Island had the highest proportions of criminal duty counsel assists provided in comparison to civil, both with 100% of duty counsel assists for criminal matters. British Columbia had the lowest proportion of criminal matter assists, with 82% criminal assists and 18% civil (Table 11).

Over 91 million dollars spent on duty counsel services in 2020-21

Nationally, there were total expenditures of $91,447,047 for duty counsel services in 2020-21, this was down 8% from the previous year (Figure 12). Criminal duty counsel services represented the highest proportion of duty counsel expenditures, at $72,944,573, or 80% of total expenditures in 2020-21. Civil duty counsel services made up 20% of expenditures. Within criminal duty counsel services, 96% of expenditures went towards adult matters (Table 12).

Duty counsel assists and expenditures gradually increased before leveling off in 2020-21.

About three quarters of applications for legal aid services to deal with an appeal were approved

Out of the 4,176 applications in 2020-21 for legal aid services for an appeal case for any type of matter, 74% were approved for legal aid services. For criminal matters, 68% were approved, and for civil matters, just under three quarters (78%) were approved (Figure 13). These proportions have experienced minor fluctuations over the past five years, with no clear trends.

Aside from Prince Edward Island and Nunavut, where all appeal applications were approved in 2020-21, Northwest Territories had the highest proportion of appeal cases approved for legal aid services (94%), while British Columbia had the lowest proportion of cases approved (50%). For criminal cases, Prince Edward Island, and Nunavut each had 100% of criminal appeal applications approved, and British Columbia had the lowest proportion of approved criminal applications at 34%. For civil cases, Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan both had 100% of applications approved, and Quebec had the lowest at 51% (Table 13).

Legal aid applications to deal with an appeal were more often approved for civil matters than criminal matters.

Under 500 civil cases were managed under the Interprovincial Reciprocity Agreement in 2020-21

The Interprovincial Reciprocity Agreement refers to an agreement among legal aid plans in Canada to handle non-resident civil cases. Under the terms of the 2018 agreement, it is no longer a requirement for an applicant to apply in their home province, applications may be made directly to the province where service is required.

Outgoing cases refers to the number of applications for civil legal aid approved by the legal aid plan of a province or territory that are forwarded to other provincial/territorial legal aid plans for service. Incoming cases refers to the number of applications approved for civil legal aid by other provincial/territorial legal aid plans which are forwarded to the legal aid plan for service and for which service has been provided.

Data from 2020-21 indicate that provinces/territories handled a total of 288 incoming cases and 200 outgoing cases (Table 14). Ontario had the highest number of cases incoming from another province, with 108 cases and also the highest number of outgoing cases at 89.

Most legal aid clients were male, and accessed criminal legal aid services

Sixty percent of all legal aid clients were male, while 40% were female. The most common age category of legal aid clients was 18-34 (43%) (Table 15). These proportions have remained consistent over the past five years. Figure 14 shows the gender and age breakdown of legal aid clients for all types of matters, with males aged 18-34 making up the highest proportion of clients (25%), followed by males aged 35-49 (20%) and females aged 18-34 (17%).

Males aged 18-34 made up the highest proportion of legal aid clients for all types of matters.

Figure 15 shows the age and gender breakdown of criminal legal aid clients. For criminal matters young males made up a significant proportion, with males aged 18-34 (38%) the largest group followed by males 35-49 (26%).

Males aged 18-34 made up the highest proportion of criminal legal aid clients.

For I&R legal aid^{Footnote 10} (Figure 16), males aged 18-34 made up the largest proportion of clients (18%) followed by males aged 35-49 (13%) and females aged 18-34 (10%) (Figure 16).

Males aged 18-34 made up the highest proportion of immigration and refugee legal aid clients.

Figure 17 shows the gender and age breakdown of civil legal aid clients. For civil matters, females made up the highest proportion of clients, with those aged 18-34 (24%) and 35-49 (21%) making up almost of half of these clients.

Females aged 18-34 made up the highest proportion of civil legal aid clients.

More than half of Indigenous legal aid clients were males accessing criminal legal aid services

Legal aid plans from Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, and Nunavut provided data on self-identified Indigenous legal aid clients. Out of the 38,577 Indigenous clients that self-identified in these provinces and territories in 2020-21, 70% accessed criminal legal aid (adult and youth), while 26% accessed civil legal aid.

Overall, just under two thirds (64%) of Indigenous legal aid clients were men. Men represented 75% of Indigenous adult and youth criminal legal aid clients, but only 34% of civil legal aid clients (Figure 18).

Indigenous males made up the highest proportion of criminal legal aid clients, while Indigenous females made up the highest proportion of civil legal aid clients.

Assault was the most frequent offence category, with the highest proportion of in-year expenditures for adult criminal legal aid

Table 17 provides a breakdown of criminal legal aid cases that were approved for full legal representation, and incurred expenditures in 2020-21, in addition to cases that were ongoing from previous years and incurred expenditures in 2020-21. These are broken down by general offence categories, as well as the proportion of in-year expenditures dedicated to each offence category. Note that the offence categories do not refer to specific offences under the Criminal Code. Rather, they represent groupings of similar offence types.

The category other offences made up the highest proportion of both case volume and in-year expenditures, at 25% of cases, and 22% of in-year expenditures in 2020-21. Among more specific offence categories, assault (19% of case volume and 15% of in-year expenditures) and theft, break and enter, possession of stolen property (17% of case volume and 13% of in-year expenditures) and were the most frequent types of legal aid cases (Figure 19).

Figure 19 shows that there were a few categories of offences that made up a very small proportion of case volumes, but a comparatively higher proportion of in-year expenditures. These included homicide, which accounted for 1% of cases, but 13% of in-year expenditures and sexual assault, which made up 3% of case volume and 7% of expenditures. The reverse is true for breach of probation offences, which made up a high proportion of case volume (11%), but a relatively low proportion of expenditures (4%).

The number of adult criminal legal aid cases is generally in line with proportion of expenditures, with the exception of a few offence types.

Assault was the most frequent offence category, with the highest proportion of in-year expenditures for youth criminal legal aid

Table 18 provides a breakdown of current youth legal aid cases and incurred expenditures in 2020-21, in addition to cases that were ongoing and incurring expenditures but might have been approved the previous fiscal year or earlier. These are broken down by general offence categories, as well as the proportion of in-year expenditures dedicated to each offence category. Note that the offence categories do not refer to specific offences under the Criminal Code. Rather, they represent groupings of similar offence types.

Figure 20 shows that the proportion of cases is largely in line with expenditures for youth offences. other offences made up the highest proportion of case volume (37%) and the highest proportion of in-year expenditures (28%), while assault made up 21% of cases, and 20% of in-year expenditures in 2020-21. Theft, break and enter, possession of stolen property was the next most common offence category with 11% of case volume and 12% of in-year expenditures.

The main outlier was homicide cases, which made up a very small proportion of case volume, but a comparatively higher proportion of in-year expenditures, accounting for 1% of cases but 6% of in-year expenditures.

The number of youth criminal legal aid cases is closely in line with expenditures, with a few exceptions.

Over 20,000 I&R legal aid certificates were issued in 2020-21

Refugee claimants have the right, under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), to be represented at I&R proceedings. Through the Legal Aid Program, the federal government contributes annual funding to the six provinces that provide I&R legal aid services (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario, and Quebec). I&R matters are proceedings of persons (individuals, or principal applicants and family) involved in the immigration and refugee determination system under the provisions of IRPA. I&R legal aid covers the provision of legal advice, assistance and representation for immigration or refugee proceedings before the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, the Federal Court, or Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada officials on post-determination actions.

Table 19 shows the volume of I&R legal aid certificates as well as expenditures for I&R legal aid for 2020-21, including certificates and expenditures carried over from previous fiscal years for cases that are ongoing. In 2020-21, there were 20,231 legal aid certificates issued, with 4,729^{Footnote 11} certificates carried over from previous fiscal years in the provinces that reported this data, for a total of 24,960 certificates. A majority of (current and previous fiscal years) certificates were handled by private bar lawyers (67%), while 26% were handled in specialized clinics, and 7% were handled by staff lawyers. Just over two thirds of expenditures from the 2020-21 current and previous fiscal years related to I&R legal aid were associated with private bar certificates (67%).

Newfoundland and Labrador and Alberta had the highest proportion of staff lawyers working on I&R matters (100% and 63%) in 2020-21, while British Columbia has a model with 100% private bar lawyers handling I&R legal aid. Ontario and Quebec are the only jurisdictions with cases handled through specialized clinics with 32% of previous and current fiscal certificates in Ontario, and 25% in Quebec) (Table 19).

Figure 21 shows the trends in I&R legal aid caseload volumes and expenditures over the past five years. The number of previous and current fiscal year certificates reached a high in 2018-19 at 46,574 before decreasing in 2019-20 and dropping significantly in 2020-21 by 43% from the previous year. Expenditures were at a high in 2017-18, levelling off in 2018-19 and 2019-20, and then dropping by 23% from 2019-20 to 2020-21. This reduction in I&R legal aid caseload volumes and expenditures was largely due to the measures put in place to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic such border closures and hearing suspensions.

Immigration and refugee legal aid certificates and expenditures generally increased until 2018-19, before dropping significantly in 2020-21.

Specialized courts are used in the majority of provinces and territories

Specialized or problem-solving courts focus on a particular type of offence or offender. They typically involve an interdisciplinary team that is focused on addressing the underlying causes of offending.^{Footnote 12} The following section provides information on the specialized courts operating in Canada. Table 20 provides an overview of the service delivery models available at specialized courts across Canada.

Mental Health/Wellness/Community Courts

Mental health courts are designed to assist accused persons who have mental health issues. This typically involves specially trained personnel and processes that take into consideration the difficulties that a person with mental health issues may encounter in the criminal justice process.

Wellness/community courts offer integrated supports and services designed to address the problems associated with repeat offenders struggling to reintegrate into society.

There are 11 jurisdictions that operate mental health/wellness/community courts. This includes Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Northwest Territories, and Yukon.

Drug Treatment Courts

Drug treatment courts aim to reduce crime committed as a result of drug dependency through court-monitored treatment and community service support for non-violent offenders with drug addictions. Drug treatment courts currently operate in Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia and Yukon.

First Nations/Gladue Courts

First Nations/Gladue courts offer restorative justice and traditional approaches for sentencing Indigenous offenders. These courts currently operate in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia.

Youth Courts

Youth between the ages of 12 and 17 who are accused of a crime have their matters heard in youth court, which is a separate court division. Youth courts currently operate in every province and territory in Canada.

Family/Domestic Violence Courts

Family/domestic violence courts are designed to handle cases of domestic/family violence by offering an integrated, collaborative approach focusing on supporting victims, increasing offender responsibility, and providing early intervention. These courts currently operate in Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon, and Northwest Territories.

Specialized courts by province/territory and type of legal aid service delivery, 2020-21. – Text version

This is an infographic showing two graphs in the style of organizational charts. The first one has three levels: the top level has three boxes in grey. The first box says “mental health/wellness community courts”. Below this box are three blue boxes. The first one says: “full legal representation”, the second one says “duty counsel”, and the third one says “expanded duty counsel”.

Under the box that says “full legal representation” there is a green box with the following jurisdictions: Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Northwest Territories.

Under the box that says “duty counsel” there is a green box with the following jurisdictions: Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta, British Columbia, Northwest Territories.

Under the box that says “expanded duty counsel” there is a green box with the following jurisdictions: New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba, British Columbia.

The second grey box at the top of the infographic reads “drug treatment courts”. Below this box are three blue boxes. The first one reads “full legal representation”. Under this box is a green box listing the following jurisdictions: Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Yukon.

The second blue box reads “duty counsel”. Under this box is a green box listing the following jurisdictions: Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon.

The third blue box reads “expanded duty counsel”. Under this box is a green box listing the following jurisdictions: Ontario, Manitoba.

The last grey box at the top of the infographic reads “First Nations / Gladue courts”. Below this box are three blue boxes. The first one reads “full legal representation”. Under this box is a green box listing the following jurisdictions: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta.

The second blue box reads “duty counsel”. Under this box is a green box listing the following jurisdictions: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta, British Columbia.

The third blue box reads “expanded duty counsel”. Under this box is a green box listing the following jurisdictions: New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba.

The second part of the infographic also has three grey boxes on top.

The first one is labeled: “youth courts”. Under this box are three blue boxes. The first one says “full legal representation”. Under this box is a green box listing the following jurisdictions: Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut.

The second blue box says “duty counsel”. Under this box is a green box listing the following jurisdictions: Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon, Nunavut.

The third blue box says “expanded duty counsel”. Under this box is a green box listing the following jurisdictions: New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba.

The second grey box is labeled: Domestic Violence Courts. Under this box are three blue boxes. The first one says “full legal representation”. Under this box is a green box listing the following jurisdictions: Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Yukon, Northwest Territories.

The second blue box says “duty counsel”. Under this box is a green box listing the following jurisdictions: Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon.

The third blue box says “expanded duty counsel”. Under this box is a green box listing the following jurisdictions: New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba.

The last grey box in this infographic is labeled: Unified Family Courts. Under this box are three blue boxes. The first one says “full legal representation”. Under this box is a green box listing the following jurisdictions: Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta.

The second blue box says “duty counsel”. Under this box is a green box listing the following jurisdictions: Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta.

The third blue box says “expanded duty counsel”. Under this box is a green box listing the following jurisdictions: Ontario, Manitoba.