Evaluation of the Contraventions Act Program

1. Introduction

This document constitutes the final report of the Evaluation of the Contraventions Act Program (also referred to as the Program). Parliament adopted the Contraventions Act in 1992 to establish a ticketing system that could be used to enforce certain federal statutory offences designated as contraventions.Footnote 2 This system is expected to better reflect the distinction between criminal offences and statutory offences and to alter or abolish the consequences in law of being convicted of a contravention.

1.1. Context for the Evaluation

In addition to the requirements contained in the 2009 federal Policy on Evaluation,Footnote 3 this evaluation is directly linked to the broader accountability process related to the Roadmap for Canada’s Official Languages 2013-2018. This horizontal initiative offers $1.12 billion in financial support to 14 federal partners for the implementation of 28 initiatives supporting education, immigration, and official language minority communities (OLMCs). The Contraventions Act Program is one of these initiatives, as it provides financial assistance to participating provinces to “bridge gaps in bilingual service delivery, particularly when they undertake proceedings on behalf of the federal government pursuant to the Contraventions Act.”Footnote 4

To date, Justice Canada has completed a number of evaluations related to the Contraventions Act Program. In particular, the Contraventions Act itself was evaluated in 2010,Footnote 5 while the Contraventions Act Fund (which specifically addresses official languages requirements) was last evaluated in 2012.Footnote 6 The current evaluation of the Program is the first that covers both the Act itself, and the Contraventions Act Fund.

1.2. Scope and Objectives of the Evaluation

The evaluation covers the activities of the Program carried out during a period of three fiscal years, from 2013–14 to 2015–16. As indicated in the evaluation matrix (see Appendix B), the evaluation addresses the relevance and the performance of the Program, including its efficiency and economy.

The evaluation also provides a timely opportunity to document the ongoing implementation of the regime under the Act. Many partners — such as provincial governments and other federal departments — play a critical role in ensuring that this legislative tool can achieve its stated objectives. Their respective level of engagement with the Act has been documented in previous evaluations, and this report provides an updated perspective on their involvement.

Finally, it should be noted that the evaluation focusses on the implementation of the regime under the Act in the 10 provinces. As such, it does not cover the three territories, whose constitutional status and unique circumstances fall beyond the scope of this evaluation.

1.3. Structure of the Report

This evaluation report contains five sections, including this introduction. Section 2 describes the Contraventions Act and associated Fund,and Section 3 describes the methodology used to conduct this evaluation. Section 4 summarizes the key findings from the evaluation, Section 5 presents the conclusions, and Section 6 presents the recommendations. The description of the logic model and the evaluation matrix and data collection instruments are included as appendices to the report.

1.4. Acknowledgement

The contribution and collaboration of many individuals have made this evaluation possible. We wish to thank all of those who participated in data collection activities, provided information, and responded to inquiries.