Evaluation of the Justice Partnership and Innovation Program

1. Introduction

This report presents the results of the Evaluation of the Justice Partnership and Innovation Program (JPIP or “the Program”). The evaluation was conducted to meet the requirements of the Treasury Board of Canada’s 2009 Policy on Evaluation, which requires departments to evaluate all direct program spending on a five-year cycle.Footnote 1 The Evaluation Division of the Department of Justice (the Department) led the evaluation.

1.1. Scope and Objectives of the Evaluation

The evaluation was conducted in accordance with the evaluation strategy as described in the JPIP’s Performance Measurement Strategy, which outlines the evaluation issues and questions to address, the data sources, and methods. The evaluation covered fiscal years 2012–13 to 2016–17.Footnote 2 The evaluation approach and methodologies supported the assessment of the five following core evaluation issues for relevance and performance as outlined in the 2009 Treasury Board Secretariat Directive on the Evaluation Function.

Relevance:

Performance:

The evaluation matrix and its associated questions, indicators, and data sources guided the evaluation; the questions related to the achievement of expected outcomes were defined by the JPIP logic model. The Evaluation Division (ED) led the evaluation, and was assisted by an Evaluation Working Group (EWG). The methodology report was informed by an initial meeting with the ED, as well as a preliminary review of JPIP-related documents and files.

In addition to examining the JPIP, the evaluation also assessed the Public Legal Education and Information (PLEI) component of the Access to Justice Services Agreements (AJAs) between the Government of Canada and the three northern territories (Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut). The AJAs “are the means by which the Government of Canada financially supports the delivery of access to justice services in northern communities, including: legal aid (both criminal and civil), Aboriginal courtwork services and public legal education and information” (Department of Justice, 2016a).