Appeals

Just over nine in ten applications for legal aid services to deal with an appeal were approved

Out of the 12,209 applications in 2022-23 for legal aid services for an appeal case for any type of matter, 91% were approved for legal aid services, up from just over three-quarters the previous year. Proportionally, there are more appeal applications for civil matters compared to criminal matters (86% for civil, 14% for criminal), which differs from regular legal aid files which are dominated by criminal matters. For criminal matters, 69% of appeal applications were approved, and for civil matters, 95% were approved, an increase from 79% from the year prior (Figure 13).

Aside from Saskatchewan, where all appeal applications were approved in 2022-23, Ontario and Nova Scotia had the highest proportions of appeal cases approved for legal aid services (98% and 80%). In Prince Edward Island, all (100%, or two applications) were refused, while in New Brunswick and Manitoba half of cases were approved (50%). For criminal cases, Saskatchewan and Ontario had the highest proportion of criminal appeal applications approved (100% and 88%), and British Columbia had the lowest proportion of approved criminal applications at 29%. For civil cases, Saskatchewan’s only reported application was approved and Manitoba had the lowest approval rate at 23% (Table 11).

Figure 13. Legal aid applications for appeal proceedings were more often approved for civil matters compared to criminal matters.

Figure 13. Legal aid applications for appeal proceedings were more often approved for civil matters compared to criminal matters.
Figure 13. Legal aid applications for appeal proceedings were more often approved for civil matters compared to criminal matters. – Text version

There is a horizontal bar chart showing appeal applications that were approved or refused for legal aid services for criminal and civil matters in 2022-2023. There are three different categories representing type of matter, going from top to bottom: all appeals received, criminal appeals, and civil appeals. Each bar has two categories, the dark purple bar represents approved appeals, and the light purple bar represents refused appeals.

The first category represents all appeals and shows that 91% of all appeals were approved. The dark purple bar shows that 11,120 total appeals were approved, and the light purple bar shows that 1,089 appeals were refused.

The second category represents criminal appeals and shows that 69% of civil appeals were approved. The dark purple bar shows that a total of 1,218 criminal appeals were approved, and the light purple bar shows that 543 criminal appeals were refused.

The third category represents civil appeals and shows 95% of civil appeals were approved. The dark purple bar shows that a total of 9,902 civil appeals were approved, and the light purple bar shows that 546 civil appeals were refused.