Aboriginal Courtwork Program, Summative Evaluation

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1. The Aboriginal Courtwork Program

The Aboriginal Courtwork (ACW) Program was developed to address the unique challenges faced by Aboriginal people dealing with the justice system. The objectives of the ACW Program are:

Federal funding for the ACW Program is provided through contribution agreements with participating provinces and territories. In turn, most jurisdictions have entered into contractual arrangements with Aboriginal Service Delivery Agencies (SDAs) which provide services on their behalf. Nearly 200 Aboriginal courtworkers are employed by 20 SDAs across Canada to deliver services. The ACW Program is guided by a Tripartite Working Group (TWG ) which serves as a forum for addressing a range of program policy and operational issues.

2. Purpose of the Evaluation

The purpose of this project is to conduct a summative evaluation of the ACW Program. A formative evaluation, completed in 2007, focused on management, process and data collection as well as reporting issues. This summative evaluation addresses the ongoing relevance, success and cost effectiveness of the ACW Program.

3. Methodology

The evaluation was undertaken in two phases. The purpose of the first phase was to complete a detailed work plan which was then implemented in the second phase of the project. Key components of the research included:

4. Summary of Key Findings and Conclusions

The following summarizes the major conclusions of this evaluation.

There is a strong and continuing need for the ACW Program.

Key factors that contribute to the need for the Program include:

The Program is well positioned to bridge the gap that has traditionally existed between Aboriginal people and the justice system. The ACW Program contributes to fair, equitable and culturally sensitive treatment of the Aboriginal accused before the courts, by enabling them to understand the justice system including their rights, obligations, charges and sentencing; to have access to available resources and programs; and to be able to communicate with justice officials who understand socio-economic issues, cultural traditions, and court decisions that affect the circumstances of the accused.

There are significant differences in how the ACW Program is delivered across jurisdictions and even across courtworkers within jurisdictions.

One of the strengths of the ACW Program is its ability to be tailored to meet regional priorities, the needs and characteristics of the communities in which it operates, the availability of other programming, and the capabilities of the individual courtworkers.

The ACW Program has been successful in achieving its intended outcomes.

The results of the evaluation indicate that courtworkers:

The Program is considered somewhat less successful with respect to attracting, training and particularly retaining Aboriginal courtworkers, fully meeting the demand for services given resource constraints, and being able to provide referrals to alternative measures (the availability of community justice programs and other resources varies widely across communities). Overall, while significant progress has been made, more work needs to be done to ensure that Aboriginal accused receive fair, equitable and culturally sensitive treatment. Furthermore, the expectation is that much of the significant progress that has been achieved to date would dissipate should the services of courtworkers no longer be available.

The cost of the ACW Program, expressed on a per client or per courtworker basis, is very low.

The Program served nearly 70,000 adults and youth clients with charges around one incident in 2005-06. The funding provided by the federal government representatives is equal to an average of about $79 per client served or about $25,600 per courtworker. The effectiveness of the Program is largely determined by the capabilities and experience of the courtworkers, which is itself determined in part by the rate of attrition and access to training. Attrition has a negative impact on the success of the Program. The effectiveness of a courtworker is largely a function of its visibility, credibility, connections, skills and experience – all of which take time to develop. When a courtworker leaves, services are disrupted and it often takes an extended length of time to fill positions (particularly in smaller communities and in regions where the economy is strong).

Other factors that impact on the relative cost effectiveness of the Program include the geographic territory that is served (and related travel costs and times), the services provided, competitive remuneration rates for the region, access to supporting infrastructure, level of awareness of the Program among justice officials and within communities, and the extent to which the justice system itself is overburdened in the region.

Opportunities to further expand the impact of the ACW Program are constrained by resource issues.

Federal government funding for the Program has remained fixed at $5.5 million per year since 2001. Resource constraints affect the ability of the Program to fully meet the demand for services, address gaps where communities may be underserved or not served at all, increase courtworker compensation to reduce the rate of attrition, and ease heavy workloads. Budget constraints also limit the Program’s ability to: broaden services to provide assistance in areas such as family law; provide greater assistance in enabling Aboriginal accused to appear; promote the Program; further strengthen relationships with justice officials and other programs; and increase access to training and other needed infrastructure such as fax machines and computers.