Methodology

On September 8, 2023, Justice Canada launched an online survey seeking input from Black communities and the organizations that support them on how to eliminate anti-Black racism and systemic discrimination that have led to the overrepresentation of Black people in the CJS. The survey was open for six weeks, closing on October 20, 2023. To be eligible to participate in the survey, respondents were asked to confirm that they were a Black person living in Canada and/or a representative from an organization that provides justice-related services and supports to Black communities in Canada.Footnote 1

The survey was promoted on Justice Canada’s social media as well as through a media release. Subsequent outreach to Black communities and organizations was done to increase participation. Because the survey was not randomly distributed and respondents were self-selected, the results are not to be considered representative of the Black population in Canada. Rather, they offer insight from different community members into ways to eliminate anti-Black racism and systemic discrimination that has led to the overrepresentation of Black people in the CJS.

The survey included a series of closed- and open-ended questions (see Annex A for survey questionnaire). Closed-ended questions asked respondents to rank recommendations from the CBJS Framework in terms of their potential to address the overrepresentation of Black people in the CJS. The ranking questions were analyzed using a weighted average calculation, where higher rankings were assigned a higher value in the calculation, to measure the overall preference for each choice. In the open-ended questions, respondents were invited to share additional recommendations on how to address the overrepresentation of Black people in the CJS. Responses to the open-ended questions were reviewed and categorized into themes, with a summary of the most common themes outlined along with illustrative quotes from respondents.