Revenues and expenditures

Revenues are all monies received by the legal aid plan for the provision of legal aid services, which come from three main sources: government contribution funding, client contributions and cost recoveries, and contributions from the legal profession. Federal government contributions are the federal contribution funding amounts for criminal and where applicable, I&R legal aid. Federal funding for criminal legal aid flows to the consolidated revenue fund of each province or territory, and is subsequently allocated by the provinces or territories to their respective legal aid plans. In 2022-23, three of the seven agreements for I&R legal aid were with service providers, meaning funding was allocated directly to these orgnizations. Provincial/territorial contributions are the funding amounts received for legal aid services from the legal aid plan’s respective government. Client contributions are all monies received from the client for legal assistance. Cost recoveries refer to the party costs ordered or agreed to be recovered in the case (this includes monies recovered from a judgement, award or settlement). Contributions of the legal profession and interest earned from lawyers’ trust accounts are all monies received from the law profession (e.g., provincial/territorial law foundation funding, levies) as well as other revenues that have not already been accounted for in the other categories.

Expenditures are payments made by legal aid plans to private law firms for the delivery of legal services, and the costs of legal services delivered by legal aid plan staff. These expenditures include monies spent on the provision of legal advice and representation to clients. All legal aid office and contracted community clinic expenditures are a combination of direct and indirect service delivery costs. Direct service delivery costs are expenses related to providing services directly to clients, while indirect service delivery costs are expenses not directly related to providing legal aid services to clients, but are reasonably attributable to the delivery of legal aid.

Provinces and territories contributed over half of legal aid revenues in 2022-23

Legal aid plan revenues totaled over $1.14 billion in 2022-23. Federal and provincial/territorial government sources contributed just over three-quarters (76%) of the total, which was a decrease from previous years. This decrease is largely attributed to the quintupling of contributions from the legal profession in Ontario, which increased from $45 million in 2021-22 to over $232 million in 2022-23 (Table 1).

In 2022-23, direct funding from provincial and territorial (P/T) governments contributed more than $635 million to legal aid plans across Canada, which amounted to 56% of total legal aid revenues. Using a constant 2023 dollar comparison, this was a 10% decrease from the previous year.

In 2022-23, Justice Canada contributed over $228 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). Using constant 2023 dollars, this represents a 10% increase from the previous year. Ontario and Quebec are the largest legal aid plans, comprising 51% and 16% of all legal aid plan revenues respectively, or 67% for the two plans combined (Table 1).

Figure 1 shows the breakdown between legal aid revenue sources over the past five years, using constant 2023 dollars, which are used to account for the impact of inflation over time. There has been a gradual increase in amount of federal contributions to legal aid revenues over time, in parallel to a reduction in P/T contributions. However, this trend levelled off in 2020-21 and the proportion of federal versus P/T contributions remained more consistent. This trend started to change again in 2022-23, when P/T contributions decreased by 10% while federal contributions increased by 10% – a difference largely driven by a decrease in Ontario. In 2022-23, total revenues had rebounded from pandemic lows and were on par with total revenues from five years ago, and up 14% from the previous year (using a 2023 constant dollar comparison).

Figure 1. In 2022-23 legal aid plan revenues rebounded from pandemic lows, with total revenues up 14% since previous year and on par with revenues from five years ago.

Figure 1. In 2022-23 legal aid plan revenues rebounded from pandemic lows, with total revenues up 14% since previous year and on par with revenues from five years ago.
Figure 1. In 2022-23 legal aid plan revenues rebounded from pandemic lows, with total revenues up 14% since previous year and on par with revenues from five years ago. – Text version

There is a vertical graph with five different categories representing federal contributions to legal aid revenue. There are five bars for each category showing contributions by year. Each bar is broken down into three color categories: light purple at the top, medium purple in the middle and dark purple at the bottom of the bar. The light purple section represents Provincial/Territorial (P/T) contributions, the medium purple section represents federal contributions, the dark purple section represents other revenue money.

The first bar shows financial contributions for 2018-2019. At the top of this bar is a number showing the total revenues of 1183 million dollars. The top section of this bar shows P/T contributions of 872 million dollars (light purple), 177 million in federal contributions (medium purple) and 134 million in other revenue (dark purple).

The second bar shows financial contributions for 2019-2020. At the top of this bar is a number showing the total revenues of 1147 million dollars. The top section of this bar shows P/T contributions of 756 million (light purple), 214 million in federal contributions (medium purple) and 177 million in other revenue (dark purple).

The third bar shows financial contributions for 2020-2021. At the top of this bar is a number showing the total revenues of 1054 million dollars. The top section of this bar shows P/T contributions of 759 million (light purple), 211 million in federal contributions (medium purple) and 84 million in other revenue (dark purple).

The fourth bar shows financial contributions for 2021-2022. At the top of this bar is a number showing the total revenues of 1041 million dollars. The top section of this bar shows P/T contributions of 739 million (light purple), 216 million in federal contributions (medium purple) and 87 million in other revenue (dark purple).

The fifth bar shows financial contributions for 2022-2023. At the top of this bar is a number showing the total revenues of 1187 million dollars. The top section of this bar shows PT contributions of 663 million (light purple), 238 million in federal contributions (medium purple) and 286 million in other revenue (dark purple).

In 2022-23 legal aid plan expdenditures had returned to near pre-pandemic levels

Using unadjusted figures, in 2022-23 legal aid plan expenditures were over 1 billion dollars. Broken down by type of expenditure, 51% were related to criminal matters, 42% were related to all other civil matters, and 6% were related to I&R matters(Table 2a). While in most jurisdictions there is roughly an even split between expenditures on criminal and civil matters, a large proportion spend more on criminal matters. The jurisdictions with the highest proportion of total legal aid expenditures on criminal matters (of all legal aid expenditures for that jurisdiction) were Saskatchewan (80%), Alberta (76%), and Manitoba (72%). Only three jurisdictions, Quebec (60%), Prince Edward Island (57%), and Ontario (55%) spend more on civil matters (including I&R in Quebec and Ontario only, not Prince Edward Island). At the national level, however, half of legal aid expenditures are related to criminal matters. This is because Quebec and Ontario spend more overall, thus contributing more to the average.

Figure 2 shows the breakdown of expenditures by type of matter over the past five years using constant 2023 dollars. Expenditures have gradually trended towards pre-pandemic levels in 2022-23, down 8% from five years ago. In 2022-23, criminal expenditures were up 5% from the previous year, I&R expenditures were up 15%, and civil were down 7%.

Figure 2. In 2022-23 legal aid plan expenditures approached near pre-pandemic levels, down 8% from five years ago.

Figure 2. In 2022-23 legal aid plan expenditures approached near pre-pandemic levels, down 8% from five years ago.
Figure 2. In 2022-23 legal aid plan expenditures approached near pre-pandemic levels, down 8% from five years ago. – Text version

There is a vertical bar graph with five different categories representing legal aid plan expenditures, by type of expenditure. There are five bars for each category showing contributions by year. Each bar is broken down into three color categories: light purple at the top, medium purple in the middle and dark purple at the bottom of the bar. The light purple section represents criminal expenditures, the medium purple section represents immigration and refugee (I&R) expenditures, and the dark purple section represents other civil expenditures.

The first bar shows legal aid plan expenditures for 2018-2019. At the top of this bar is a number showing the total expenditures of 1130 million dollars. The top section of this bar is light purple and shows criminal expenditures of 546 million dollars, the middle section is medium purple and shows 64 million in immigration and refugee (I&R) expenditures, and the third section is dark purple and shows 506 million in all other civil expenditures.

The second bar shows legal aid plan expenditures for 2019-2020. At the top of this bar is a number showing the total revenues of 1121 million dollars. The top section of this bar is light purple and shows criminal expenditures of 559 million dollars, the middle section is medium purple and shows 67 million in immigration and refugee (I&R) expenditures, and the third section is dark purple and shows 489 million in all other civil expenditures.

The third bar shows legal aid plan expenditures for 2020-2021. At the top of this bar is a number showing the total revenues of 975 million dollars. The top section of this bar is light purple and shows criminal expenditures of 467 million dollars, the middle section is medium purple and shows 48 million in immigration and refugee (I&R) expenditures, and the third section is dark purple and shows 459 million in all other civil expenditures.

The fourth bar shows legal aid plan expenditures for 2021-2022. At the top of this bar is a number showing the total revenues of 1031 million dollars. The top section of this bar is light purple and shows criminal expenditures of 506 million dollars, the middle section is medium purple and shows 56 million in immigration and refugee (I&R) expenditures, and the third section is dark purple and shows 469 million in all other civil expenditures.

The fifth bar shows legal aid plan expenditures for 2022-2023. At the top of this bar is a number showing the total revenues of 1034 million dollars. The top section of this bar is light purple and shows criminal expenditures of 529 million dollars, the middle section is medium purple and shows 64 million in immigration and refugee (I&R) expenditures, and the third section is dark purple and shows 438 million in all other civil expenditures.

The two largest legal aid plans, Ontario and Quebec, had the highest legal aid expenditures in the country in 2022-23, with 47% of all expenditures as a proportion of the national total from Ontario and 21% from Quebec.

Table 2b breaks out the total administrative costs for legal aid plans in 2022-23. These expenses are also reflected under “Legal Services Expenditures” in Table 2a, and they amounted to over 106 million dollars, down from the previous year.