Evaluation of the Legal Aid Program

1 Introduction

1.1 Purpose of the Evaluation

This report presents the results of the Evaluation of the Legal Aid Program (the Program). The evaluation was conducted in accordance with the Treasury Board’s Policy on Results (2016), which requires departments to measure and evaluate performance and use the resulting information to manage and improve programs, policies, and services. The Evaluation Branch of the Department of Justice Canada conducted the evaluation between September 2020 and March 2021, according to the 2019-20 to 2023-24 Integrated Audit and Evaluation Plan.

1.2 Evaluation Scope

The Evaluation of the Legal Aid Program covered the fiscal periods from 2016-17 to 2019-20. It examined the relevance of the Program in terms of whether it continues to serve public interest and need, its impact in terms of achieving its intended outcomes, and the value of the federal investment in legal aid in terms of the Program’s efficiency and its contributions to the fairness and efficiency of the justice system.

The scope of the evaluation was informed through facilitated sessions with the Evaluation Working Group (EWG), which included members of the Legal Aid Directorate (LAD), the Policy Implementation Directorate (PID), and provincial/territorial government and legal aid plan representatives from the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Permanent Working Group on Legal Aid (PWG).

The following components of the Legal Aid Program are covered in the evaluation: Criminal Legal Aid in the Provinces and Territories (and Civil Legal Aid in the Territories), Immigration and Refugee (I&R) Legal Aid, and State-funded Counsel. The evaluation also examined the policy role of the Program. The evaluation did not include the Legal Advice for Complainants of Workplace Sexual Harassment component, as this is a new component with funding that started in fiscal year 2019-20. An evaluation of this component is planned for completion in fiscal year 2023-24.