Evaluation of the Access to Justice in Both Official Languages Initiative

1. Introduction

This report presents the results of an evaluation of the Access to Justice in Both Official Languages Initiative. The purpose of the Initiative is to provide Canadians from official language minority communities (OLMCs) with access to legal information regarding their rights and responsibilities in the official language of their choice and, where necessary, with access to a justice system that meets their needs in that language. The Initiative has two major goals: 1) developing awareness among official language communities with regard to their legal rights and obligations; and 2) improving the capacity of stakeholders in the justice system to offer their services in both official languages.

The Initiative is part of the Roadmap for Canada’s Official Languages 2013-2018: Education, Immigration, Communities (the Roadmap). This Roadmap constitutes Canada’s horizontal initiative to promote official languages and enhance the vitality of OLMCs. Section 1.2 provides additional background information about the Initiative.

1.1. Scope and Objectives

The objective of this evaluation is to assess the relevance and performance (effectiveness, efficiency and economy) of the Initiative. The evaluation covers a four-year period (2013-14 to 2016-17).

The evaluation was guided by the following questions:

Relevance

1. How relevant is the Initiative in terms of the priorities of the Department of Justice (JUS) and the federal government with respect to access to justice in both official languages?

2. Is there a legitimate and necessary role for the federal government in the area of access to justice in both official languages?

3. Is there a continued need for the activities funded by the Initiative?

Effectiveness

4. How clear and transparent is the process for selecting projects funded through the Information pillar and the Training pillar?

5. To what extent did the work on consultation structures lead to increased cooperation between partners?

6. To what extent are the data relating to performance measurement and accountability collected and incorporated into the day-to-day management of the Initiative?

7. To what extent did the Information pillar contribute to the implementation of projects that help provide legal information services to allow Canadians from Francophone and Anglophone minorities to learn about their rights, obligations and responsibilities in the official language of their choice?

8. To what extent has the Training pillar contributed to the training of justice system stakeholders to help them serve Canadians in the official language of their choice?

9. To what extent were the identified training needs met?

10. To what extent do the activities undertaken through the Training and Information pillars meet the needs of justice stakeholders?

11. To what extent was there complementarity among the activities undertaken by the Information pillar and those undertaken by the Training pillar?

12. Did the Initiative have unanticipated impacts (positive or negative)?

Efficiency

13. How adequate were the project funding mechanisms?

14. Is there a more effective/efficient approach for achieving the Initiative’s objectives?

15. Was the use of resources appropriate based on the resources allocated and the activities and outputs produced?

16. Were good practices or lessons learned identified?

17. Are the funding activities under both pillars sufficiently integrated and coordinated to allow for outcomes to be achieved efficiently?

1.2. Structure of the Report

The report is divided into six main sections, including this introduction. Section 2 provides a description of the Initiative, including its management structure and resources. Section 3 presents the methodology used to conduct the evaluation, including a document and data review and key informant interviews. It identifies the recipient organization’s projects examined as part of mini case studies and describes the analytical approach and the limitations of this evaluation.

Section 4 summarizes the results of the evaluation. It is divided into three main sub-sections: relevance, effectiveness and efficiency. The relevance section evaluates the Initiative with regard to its alignment with priorities and roles of the Department and the federal government. It also explores if there is a continued need for activities funded by the Initiative. The effectiveness section reports on the effectiveness of projects related to the Information and Training pillars. It examines performance measurement and accountability, including project selection and monitoring processes during management of the Initiative. Furthermore, it examines the effectiveness of the complementarity between the two pillars and the consultation structures. Finally, it explores the unanticipated impacts and alternative approaches. The efficiency section evaluates the efficiency of the project funding mechanisms as well as the operational efficiency of the Initiative and the consultation structures.

The final two sections of the report present the conclusions and the recommendations and management response, respectively. The description of the logic model as well as the evaluation matrix and data collection instruments are included as appendices to the report.