Evaluation of the Contraventions Act Program

5 Conclusions and Recommendations

5.1 Conclusions

The contraventions regime supports the federal government’s goal of ensuring a fair, relevant and accessible justice system. It addresses a longstanding need to more clearly distinguish between statutory and criminal offences, and to establish a prosecution scheme that adequately reflects the specific nature of statutory offences. As a result of the contraventions regime, enforcement authorities are better equipped to carry out their mandate, and those served with a contravention ticket have reasonable and effective means at their disposal to pay the fine or challenge the ticket. In any case, these individuals face no possibility of imprisonment and will not have a criminal record in the event that they are found guilty of having committed the offence.

The contraventions regime also contributes to the important objective of increasing the efficiency of the court system, which continues to face pressures to proceed with cases within a reasonable time frame. By design, the contraventions regime limits the number of scenarios under which the court system must be engaged, which serves all justice stakeholders and allows enforcement authorities to carry out their mandate effectively.

While the Contraventions Act Fund is an essential component of the regime as it ensures that all applicable language rights are upheld, it is not well aligned with the goal and purpose of the Action Plan for Official Languages. Yet, the Fund remains a component of the Action Plan, and this structure creates an unnecessary distinction between the Fund and the Contraventions Act itself, which in turn misrepresents the Fund’s main objectives and creates challenges in the accountability process used in relation to the Fund.

In order for the contraventions regime to achieve its full potential, it must first be operational in all provinces. Evaluation findings also indicate that the number of offences designated should continue to be increased, based on the needs expressed by enforcement authorities. In addition, there is a need to ensure that fine levels are adequate to achieve the desired impact on offenders.

The Programs Branch’s Legal Services Division and the Innovation, Analysis and Integration Directorate both provide critical support to participating provinces and municipalities to ensure a successful implementation and management of the regime, including the provision of services in both official languages in accordance with the applicable requirements contained in the Criminal Code and the Official Languages Act. The current process used to allocate funding through the Contraventions Act Fund ensures that the range of funded measures adequately reflects the nature of the contraventions regime. For instance, an assessment is done of the specific context in which each participating jurisdiction operates to ensure that the measures funded are designed to ensure the provision of services in accordance with the application of language rights. In addition, any gain in institutional bilingual capacity not only serves the interest of the contraventions regime, but it also enhances the capacity of these courts to operate in both official languages in other matters, such as criminal cases.

Lastly, the reporting provided by the participating provinces and municipalities would benefit from being more consistent and timely, particularly as it relates to data provided on the tickets issued and trials held.

5.2 Recommendations

Based on the findings described in this report, the evaluation offers the following four recommendations:

Recommendation 1: The Programs Branch should continue to actively support the expansion of the scope of the contraventions regime by increasing the number of offences designated as contraventions. A particular focus should be placed on offences relevant to the Atlantic Provinces to reflect the fact that the regime is now fully operational in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Recommendation 2: The Programs Branch should pursue options to secure the participation of the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta in the contraventions regime, or establish alternative means by which the regime can be applicable, to the extent possible, in these two provinces.

Recommendation 3: The Programs Branch should engage the relevant federal departments and agencies in a systemic review of fine levels to ensure that the Contraventions Act is achieving its intended impact on those who commit offences designated as contraventions.

Recommendation 4: The Programs Branch should review the current reporting process and work with participating provinces and municipalities to help ensure that more complete and consistent data regarding tickets issued and trials held is gathered and reported.

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