Legal aid applications

A legal aid application is a request for legal aid assistance. An application can result in either a client receiving summary or full legal representation, or the denial of legal aid service. Summary services include the provision of legal advice, information, or any other type of minimal legal service granted to an individual, while full legal representation constitutes more extensive legal assistance. The total number of applications reported for the fiscal year includes all applications filed during that time, irrespective of when the application was approved or rejected.

In this report, an application for legal aid is counted as approved only for those clients that receive full legal representation. Also, the total number of applications reflects the number of individual requests for assistance, rather than the total number of persons seeking assistance. Once an application is approved for full legal representation by the legal aid plan, the certificate may then be brought to a private bar lawyer who bills the legal aid plan, or the service may be provided by a legal aid staff lawyer.Footnote 7

Over 512,000 legal aid applications were received in 2022-23

As noted above, 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, or in the case of I&R, one application could include multiple applicants if it represents a family. Figure 3 shows the trends in legal aid applications received and approved over the past five years. The number of applications received and approved reached a low during the pandemic, and they have both gradually increased since 2020-21. In 2022-23, the number of received applications was up by 4% from the previous year, while the number of approved applications was down slightly (1%) from the previous year. Compared to five years ago, applications are still down, though recovering slowly (down 14% for received applications and 21% for approved applications).

Figure 3. Legal aid applications continue to increase from the low during the pandemic, with received applications up 4% from the previous year, but still down about 14% since 2018-19.

Figure 3. Legal aid applications continue to increase from the low during the pandemic, with received applications up 4% from the previous year, but still down about 14% since 2018-19.
Figure 3. Legal aid applications continue to increase from the low during the pandemic, with received applications up 4% from the previous year, but still down about 14% since 2018-19. – Text version

There is a trend line graph with two lines indicating the numbers of application received on a fiscal yearly basis from 2018-2019 to 2022-2023. The top line is in dark purple and indicates applications received, while the bottom line is in a light purple indicating applications approved. There are five year markers for each line signified by a dot and a number.

For 2018-2019 the top line indicates 593,676 applications received, while the bottom line indicates 482,279 of those were approved. For 2019-2020 the top line notes 559,279 applications received, and the bottom line states 450,131 of those were approved. For 2020-2021 the top line indicates 458,149 total applications received, with the bottom line showing that 367,491 of those were approved. In 2021-2022 the top line states there were 493,372 applications received, with the bottom line noting that 383,776 of those were approved. The final time period of 2022-2023 shows 512,300 applications received via the top line, and the bottom line indicates 410,184 of those were approved.

Of the 512,300 legal aid applications received in 2022-23, just over half (51%) were for criminal matters (adult and youth), while 47% were for civil matters (17% family, 12% child protection, 10% civil non-familyFootnote 8, and 8% I&R), and 2% for P/T offences (Figure 4). Of the 264,794 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 (41%), followed by child protection (26%), non-family matters (e.g., landlord and tenant disputes, poverty law) (21%), and I&R (7%) (Figure 5).

Figure 4. Criminal matters made up just over half of all legal aid applications in 2022-23.

Figure 4. Criminal matters made up just over half of all legal aid applications in 2022-23.
Figure 4. Criminal matters made up just over half of all legal aid applications in 2022-23. – Text version

Figure 4 is a pie chart with seven categories with individual corresponding colors, and in the center it reads “512,300 applications” indicating total applications. Going from the largest portion to the smallest it reads as follows:

Criminal – adult, which take up 48% of the chart and is colored in dark purple. Family takes up 17% of the chart, child protection at 12%, civil-non-family at 10%, immigration and refugee (I&R) at 8%, criminal – youth at 3%, and finally P/T offences at 2%.

Quebec received the most applications at 219,754, which accounted for 43% of all applications received nationally in 2022-23. Ontario and Nova Scotia were the next two provinces that received the most applications (24% and 7% respectively). The breakdown between criminal and civil applications within each province and territory shows that Prince Edward Island (79%), Alberta (79%), and Yukon (76%) had the highest proportion of criminal applications compared to civil. Quebec (57%) Ontario (48%), and New Brunswick (45%) had the highest proportion of civil applications among the jurisdictions (Table 3).

Figure 5. In 2022-23 the vast majority of criminal legal aid applications were for adult matters, while just under half of civil applications were for family matters.

Figure 5. In 2022-23 the vast majority of criminal legal aid applications were for adult matters, while just under half of civil applications were for family matters.
Figure 5. In 2022-23 the vast majority of criminal legal aid applications were for adult matters, while just under half of civil applications were for family matters. – Text version

There are two horizontal bar charts displaying the type of legal aid applications received by type. The top bar displays criminal matters, while the lower bar displays civil matters.

The top bar only has two portions, with the larger portion being adult criminal matters taking up 94% and is colored in dark purple, while the youth criminal matters take up the remaining 6% and is coloured in a light purple.

The bottom bar has 5 portions, it reads as follows going form the largest portion to the smallest: Family takes up 41% and is colored in dark purple, child protection takes up 26% and is colored in a light purple, civil non-family takes up 21% and is colored in medium purple, immigration and refugee (I&R) takes up 7% and is colored in green, and the last 4% is covered by PT offences which is colored in a grey.

Application approvals

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

In 2022-23, out of the 512,300 legal aid applications received (Table 3), 410,184 applications, or 80%, were approved for full representation. This approval rate is down 3% from the previous year, and 1% compared to 2018-19 when 81% of applications were approved. The application approval rate varies by application type.

Figure 6 shows the variation in approval rates by application type over the past five years. Immigration and refugee matters have the highest approval rates at 92% in 2022-23, up 6% from the previous year. The approval rates for other civil applications are the lowest, with just under three quarters (72%) of applications approved in 2022-23. The approval rate for other civil applications has been lower in the past two years from a high of 76% in 2019-20. Application approvals for criminal legal aid have remained relatively stable over time staying consistently in the low to mid eighties the previous five years.

Figure 6. Application approval rates have mostly been stable over time, however approval rates for all application types trended upwards since the previous year.

Figure 6. Application approval rates have mostly been stable over time, however approval rates for all application types trended upwards since the previous year.
Figure 6. Application approval rates have mostly been stable over time, however approval rates for all application types trended upwards since the previous year. – Text version

There is a horizontal trendline plot that indicates the approval rate for legal representation applications. Within the graph there are three lines over a five-year period from 2018-19 to 2022-23, with each yearly period being indicated by a small dot. The top line is in dark purple and indicates immigration and refugee (I&R) matters, the middle line is in a medium purple and indicates criminal matters, while the bottom line is in light purple and indicates other civil matters.

At the first dot which represents the 2018-2019 period, the top line has a 91% rate, the middle 85% and the bottom line with 75%. For the 2019-2020 period, the top line reads 90%, the middle reads 85%, and the last reads 74%. For the 2020-21 period the top line reads 86%, the middle reads 84%, and the last reads 76%. For the 2021-22 period the top line reads 87%, the middle reads 82%, and the last reads 71%. For the 2022-23 period the top line reads 92%, the middle reads 84%, and the last reads 72%.

Of the applications approved for full representation in 2022-23, more than half (54%) were for criminal legal aid, 44% were for civil legal aid (including I&R), and the remainder (2%) for provincial/territorial offences. Of the criminal applications, the majority (92%) were for adult matters, and 8% were for youth matters. For civil matters, just under a third (30%) were for family matters, 29% were for child protection matters, and 21% were for non-family related matters. I&R matters made up 20% of civil applications in the provinces where I&R legal aid services are available, doubled from the previous year (Table 4).

When looking at the proportion of approved applications by province/territory and type of matter, Prince Edward Island had the highest proportion of approved applications that were criminal as opposed to civil (89% versus 11%). Quebec had the highest proportion of civil applications approved compared with criminal, with 57% of civil and 40% of criminal legal aid applications approved for full legal representation (Table 4).

There are around 500 legal clinics across the country with differing levels of services offered.Footnote 9 Ontario has the most developed system of community legal clinics which are funded by Legal Aid Ontario and operate independently.Footnote 10 In Ontario, there were 1,687 adult and 181 youth applications managed by legal clinics, which made up less than 1% of total approved criminal applications in the province in 2022-23.

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. Youth applications have a high approval rate as a result of the eligibility criteria set out in the Canada-Province contribution agreements, which gives priority to young people.

Criminal adult applications are approved at a rate just above the average approval rate of all applications (80%), at 83%. The overall approval rate for criminal applications, both adult and youth was 84% (Figure 7).

Figure 7. More than 8 in 10 adult criminal applications were approved; while almost all youth criminal applications were approved due to eligibility criteria that prioritizes youth.

Figure 7. More than 8 in 10 adult criminal applications were approved; while almost all youth criminal applications were approved due to eligibility criteria that prioritizes youth.
Figure 7. More than 8 in 10 adult criminal applications were approved; while almost all youth criminal applications were approved due to eligibility criteria that prioritizes youth. – Text version

There is a horizontal bar chart with three sets of bars showing the number and percentages of applications that were received and approved for full legal representation by type of matter in 2022-2023. There are three different categories representing types of matter going from top to bottom: criminal applications, criminal-adult applications, and criminal-youth applications. Each bar has two categories, the top bar represents the received applications, and the bottom bar represents the applications that were approved for full legal representation.

The first category shows that 84% of all received criminal applications were approved. The first bar in this category is dark purple and shows that there was a total of 264,794 received applications. The second bar is dark light purple and shows that 222,708 of these applications were approved.

The second category shows that 83% of received adult criminal applications were approved. The first bar in this category is light green and shows that there was a total of 247,573 received applications. The second bar is grey and shows that 205,704 of these applications were approved.

The third category shows that 99% of received criminal-youth applications were approved. The first bar in this category is light green and shows that there was a total of 17,221 received applications. The second bar is grey and shows that 17,004 of these applications were approved.

Legal aid applications for I&R matters had an approval rate higher than the overall average, at 92%, while P/T offence applications were approved at a rate just above the overall average, at 76% (Figure 8).

Figure 8. Applications for immigration and refugee matters had an approval rate higher than other types of matters, with just over 9 in 10 applications approved.

Figure 8. Applications for immigration and refugee matters had an approval rate higher than other types of matters, with just over 9 in 10 applications approved.
Figure 8. Applications for immigration and refugee matters had an approval rate higher than other types of matters, with just over 9 in 10 applications approved. – Text version

There is a horizontal bar chart showing the number and percentages of applications that were approved for full legal representation by type of matter in 2022-2023. There are two different categories representing types of matter: immigration and refugee (I&R) and P/T. Each bar has two categories, the top bar represents the received applications, and the bottom bar represents the applications that were approved for full legal representation.

The first category shows that 92% of all received immigration and refugee (I&R) applications were approved. The first bar in this category is dark purple and shows that there were a total of 39,717 received applications. The second bar is dark light purple and shows that 36,730 of these applications were approved.

The second category shows that 76% of all received P/T applications were approved. The first bar in this category is dark purple and shows that there was a total of 9,873 received applications. The second bar is dark light purple and shows that 7,491 of these applications were approved.

For other civil legal aid applications (Figure 9), child protection matters had the highest rate of approval (88%) followed by civil-non family applications (73%) and family applications (61%).

Figure 9. Applications for child protection matters had the highest rate of approval among other civil matters, with almost 9 in 10 approved.

Figure 9. Applications for child protection matters had the highest rate of approval among other civil matters, with almost 9 in 10 approved.
Figure 9. Applications for child protection matters had the highest rate of approval among other civil matters, with almost 9 in 10 approved. – Text version

There is a horizontal bar chart with four sets of bars showing the number and percentages of applications that were approved for full legal representation by type of matter in 2022-2023. There are four different categories representing types of matter going from top to bottom: All civil applications, family applications, child protection applications, and civil non-family applications. Each bar has two categories, the top bar represents the received applications, and the bottom bar represents the applications that were approved for full legal representation.

The first category shows that 76% of all received civil applications were approved. The first bar in this category is dark purple and shows that there was a total of 247,506 received applications. The second bar is dark light purple and shows that 187,476 of these applications were approved.

The second category shows that 61% of received family applications were approved. The first bar in this category is light green and shows that there was a total of 87,481 received applications. The second bar is grey and shows that 53,487 of these applications were approved.

The third category shows that 88% of received child protection applications were approved. The first bar in this category is light green and shows that there was a total of 59,793 received applications. The second bar is grey and shows that 52,535 of these applications were approved.

The fourth and final category shows that 73% of received civil non-family applications were approved. The first bar in this category is light green and shows that there was a total of 50,642 received applications. The second bar is grey and shows that 37,138 of these applications were approved.

Application refusals

Financial eligibility 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 2022-23, of the 84,263 applications (both criminal and civil) where a reason for refusal was reported, 60% were refused for financial eligibility, which is based on financial information disclosed by the applicant (e.g., income level, assets, liabilities) which indicates that the applicant does not meet the financial eligibility requirements set by the legal aid plan and therefore does not qualify for legal aid. Financial eligibility criteria are set out by each legal aid plan and therefore the criteria differ across the provinces and territories. The next most common reasons for refusal were “other reasons” for refusal and “coverage restrictions” (20% and 15%, respectively). Coverage restrictions are applications refused on the grounds that the legal matter is not covered by the legal aid plan. For example, some plans do not cover wills and estates or workplace injury claims (Table 5).

When looking at the breakdown of reasons for refusal by P/T, Prince Edward Island (93%) and Yukon (93%)had the highest proportions of applications refused for financial eligibility. Ontario (33%) and New Brunswick (32%) had the highest proportions of applications refused for coverage restrictions (Table 5).

Figure 10 shows the trends in legal aid application reasons for refusal over the past five years. After gradually increasing over the past three years, the proportion of applications refused for financial eligibility decreased slightly in 2022-23, down 2% from previous year, but still up 10% compared to 2018-19. The proportion of applications refused for other reasons has remained relatively stable over time, but has seen a slight downturn over the past three years. Coverage restriction refusals have decreased between 2018-19 and 2020-21, but have started to increase and were up 16% in 2022-23 from the previous year.

Figure 10. After a gradual increase over the past three years, the proportion of legal aid applications refused for financial eligibility saw a slight downturn in 2022-23.

Figure 10. After a gradual increase over the past three years, the proportion of legal aid applications refused for financial eligibility saw a slight downturn in 2022-23.
Figure 10. After a gradual increase over the past three years, the proportion of legal aid applications refused for financial eligibility saw a slight downturn in 2022-23. – Text version

There is a horizontal trendline graph showing percentages of refused legal aid applications by reason for refusal for all types of legal matters. There are 5 different horizontal lines shown in this graph that spans a five year period from 2018 – 2023. The first line is dark purple and represents financial ineligibility; The second line is dark light purple and represents other reasons; The third line is medium purple and represents coverage restrictions; The fourth line is light green and represents lack of merit. The final line is grey and shows non-compliance/abuse.

Results from 2018-2019 and shows that 55% of applicants were denied due to financial ineligibility, 20% due to other reasons, 20% had coverage restrictions and 4% were denied due to lack of merit and 1% for non-compliance/abuse.

In 2019-2020 results show 55% of applicants were denied due to financial ineligibility, 22% due to other reasons, 18% had coverage restrictions and 4% were denied due to lack of merit 0% for non-compliance/abuse.

In 2020-2021, 59% of applicants were denied due to financial ineligibility, 24% due to other reasons, 14% had coverage restrictions and 3% were denied due to lack of merit 1% for non-compliance/abuse.

In 2021-2022, 62% of applicants were denied due to financial ineligibility, 22% due to other reasons, 13% had coverage restrictions and 3% were denied due to lack of merit 1% for non-compliance/abuse.

In 2022-2023, 60% of applicants were denied due to financial ineligibility, 20% due to other reasons, 15% had coverage restrictions and 4% were denied due to lack of merit 0% for non-compliance/abuse.

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

Looking at criminal legal aid applications, financial eligibility was the most common reason for refusal (59%), followed by other reasons (24%) and coverage restrictions at 15% (Table 6). By province and territory, Prince Edward Island had the highest proportion of financial eligibility refusals (100%) and Ontario had the highest proportion of coverage restriction refusals (45%), while lack of merit refusals were highest in Manitoba and Yukon (7%) and these were under 6% across all other jurisdictions. An application refused for lack of merit is refused because the nature of the case or seriousness of the matter is deemed to not warrant legal assistance and includes criteria such as the type of legal problem and the merit of the case. Nova Scotia also had the highest rate of refusal of all jurisdictions for non-compliance or abuse, at 12%, while all other jurisdictions had a rate of 1% or lower. Non-compliance or abuse refusals include cases where similar services were already rendered, services applied for are abusive of the legal process, or because the client fails to co-operate with the legal aid lawyer.

Table 7 shows refused civil and I&R applications by reasons for refusal. The proportions for civil and I&R applications were consistent with criminal applications, with 62% of all applications refused for financial eligibility, and 15% falling under coverage restrictions. Aside from Yukon, which refused all civil applications for financial eligibility, Quebec and Prince Edward Island had the highest proportions of other civil applications refused for financial eligibility (79% and 73%, respectively). Alberta had the highest proportion of other civil applications refused for coverage restrictions (40%), and Prince Edward Island had the highest proportion of other civil applications refused for lack of merit (27%). For I&R applications, Quebec had the highest proportion refused for financial eligibility (87%), Alberta had the highest proportion refused for coverage restrictions (32%), and Newfoundland and Labrador had the highest proportion of lack of merit refusals (39%) (Table 7).

Application outcomes among Indigenous clients

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 these data (see Table 8). Of the 58,332 applications received from individuals who self-identified as Indigenous for all matters in 2022-23, 81% were approved. The approval rate for self-identified Indigenous applicants for criminal matters was slightly lower than the general approval rate for all criminal applications (81% versus 84%, respectively), and for other civil matters (including PT offences) the approval rate for Indigenous clients was higher than the rate for all applications (78% versus 76%, respectively).

By jurisdiction, Prince Edward Island and Ontario had the highest proportions of criminal applications from self-identified Indigenous clients approved (95%, and 92%), while Newfoundland and Labrador had the lowest (72%). For civil applications, Ontario, and New Brunswick had the highest proportions of applications from self-identified Indigenous clients approved (100%, 91%), while Newfoundland and Labrador had the lowest (61%) (Table 8).

Figure 11. Applications from self-identified Indigenous clients were approved at a similar rate for all types of matters.

Figure 11. Applications from self-identified Indigenous clients were approved at a similar rate for all types of matters.
Figure 11. Applications from self-identified Indigenous clients were approved at a similar rate for all types of matters. – Text version

There is a horizontal bar chart showing the number and percentages of applications for legal aid from self-identified Indigenous clients that were approved for full legal representation by type of matter in 2022-2023. There are three different categories representing type of matter going from top to bottom: all applications received, criminal applications and civil applications for Indigenous clients. Each bar has two categories, the top bar represents the received applications, and the bottom bar represents the applications that were approved for full legal representation.

The first category shows that 81% of all applications received from individuals who self-identified as Indigenous were approved. The first bar in this category is dark purple and shows that there was a total of 58,332 received applications. The second bar is light purple and shows that 47,352 of these applications were approved.

The second category shows that 82% of all criminal applications received from individuals who self-identified as Indigenous were approved. The first bar in this category is dark purple and shows that there was a total of 44,729 received applications. The second bar is light purple and shows that 36,654 of these applications were approved.

The third category shows that 78% of all civil applications received from individuals who self-identified as Indigenous were approved. The first bar in this category is dark purple and shows that there was a total of 13,035 received applications. The second bar is light purple and shows that 10,130 of these applications were approved.