Executive summary

Introduction

The Evaluation of the Justice Partnership and Innovation Program (JPIP) was conducted by the Department of Justice (JUS) Evaluation Branch and covers five fiscal years (FYs), from 2017-18 to 2021-22. The evaluation was completed in accordance with the Treasury Board’s Policy on Results (2016). The evaluation examined relevance, effectiveness and efficiency of the JPIP. In addition, it provides a forward-looking analysis that focuses on Program strengths, challenges, best practices identified in other similar programs at the federal level, and opportunities at different levels. The evaluation also explored how Gender-based analysis (GBA) Plus considerations have been incorporated into the Program.

The evaluation includes all funding components during the time covered by the evaluation, but excludes the Workplace Sexual Harassment component, assessed in a separate evaluation, and the assessed contributions for participation in the United Nations (UN) bodies, which were assessed as part of the 2016-17 JPIP evaluation. In addition, while not funded through the JPIP, the Public Legal Education and Information (PLEI) component of the Access to Justice Agreements (AJAs) with the territories was also included in this evaluation scope.

Program Description

The overall objective of the JPIP is to support policy directions of the Department of Justice on issues related to family violence, access to justice, and other emerging justice-related issues. The Program provides funding in support of stimulating knowledge development and dissemination, promoting partnership building and collaboration, and building community capacity. The JPIP is based on the premise that although many significant advances have been made over the last twenty-five years in services, legislation, policies and programs to facilitate access to justice, there are still many outstanding and emerging issues for Canadians.

The JPIP funding is allocated through four sub-activities:

The total allocated resources to the JPIP during the years covered by the evaluation (2017-18 to 2021-22) was $32.7 million.

Findings

Relevance

The evaluation found that JPIP is relevant and responsive to both federal and departmental roles and priorities. It is an important mechanism for the Department of Justice Canada (Justice Canada) to contribute to the advancement of key commitments, such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence, Calls to Action (CTAs) of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and addressing systemic inequities in the criminal justice system for racialized people. JPIP is an important funding mechanism for recipient organizations doing work in the areas of access to justice, gender-based violence, and systemic racism and inequalities. Without JPIP’s funding, many would not be able to continue to operate.

The JPIP is aligned with the needs of Canadians, including those of marginalized and vulnerable groups (e.g., youth, Indigenous and racialized women, persons with disabilities, those who identified as 2SLGBTQI+). Needs identified include alternatives to courts and incarceration, improving justice for Indigenous peoples, partnerships with social organizations, affordability and accessibility of legal services, supporting victims/survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV), and improving access to justice for marginalized groups. The evaluation found that the Program is responsive to these needs, particularly to groups facing marginalization, discrimination or over-representation in the justice system.

The JPIP is responsive to urgent and emerging issues, particularly through its capacity to stay informed of such issues, and the increased flexibility offered by its funding to react quickly to support activities that are consistent with the Program’s objectives and terms and conditions. For example, the JPIP was able to act quickly and effectively in response to the issues relating to the Ukrainian Airlines Flight PS752. Evidence demonstrates that the JPIP broad objectives allow for flexibility and responsiveness in addressing priorities and emerging topics or issues. The Program monitors trends and issues through various means, including through consultations and meetings with recipients and other organizations.

Effectiveness

The Program has made good progress towards achieving all its outcomes. The JPIP funding increased recipients’ capacity to provide services and carry out activities that build and contribute to knowledge development, awareness, and understanding of various justice issues. Through the JPIP funding, recipients were able to expand the scope of their services or products, undertake projects that promote innovations in the justice system, and build and maintain new partnerships that support the conduct of their activities. Resources, partnerships, training and new approaches developed through JPIP-funded projects are often sustained and further built upon even after the projects’ completion. During the COVID-19 pandemic, PLEI and AJA-PLEI organizations received additional funding to support their response to increased demands for pandemic-related legal support. The responsiveness from the Program was reported to have increased the organizations’ capacity, and was identified as a Program strength.

Through JPIP, recipients have increased the availability and accessibility of legal information on a variety of topics fostering greater knowledge of the justice system for Canadians. JPIP funding allowed organizations to develop a variety of tools to increase awareness, producing legal information materials that are available to the public, including publications, toolkits and handbooks, videos, webinars and workshops. One challenge noted by recipients in the achievement of this outcome was the high cost of raising awareness about resources available and services offered by the various funded organizations.

While only a few JPIP projects directly led to policy discussions and procedural changes and thus had a direct impact on the legal framework, collaboration and partnerships between justice stakeholders, as well as training provided through project activities, contributed to a strengthened Canadian legal framework.

The Program has supported an increased access to the justice system, including for marginalized and vulnerable groups, by increasing public legal education and information, supporting professional training, increasing access to court in their communities, etc. PLEI and AJA-PLEI organizations also support access to justice by providing relevant information on processes.

Efficiency

Overall, the JPIP is efficiently managed due to flexible and multi-year funding, good Call for Proposals (CFPs) and application processes, and reasonable reporting. Program staff was identified as a strength and contributing to the efficient management of the Program. The Program is also financially well managed, although recent years have seen some reprofiling, due to external factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Some constraints were identified regarding parts of CFPs and application processes, data management and GBA Plus requirements at both the application and reporting stages. For examples, recipients raised challenges with the project assessment criteria, which were sometimes seen as unclear, too narrow, not aligned with clients needs, and unclear in how they would be assessed.

Looking Forward

The JPIP’s strengths enable it to remain relevant, effective and efficient. While the Program has been continuously evolving over the years, some challenges remain. Looking forward, there are opportunities for improvement that the JPIP could take into consideration. Leveraging its strength in communication and outreach, and its experience with ad hoc recipients' meetings, the JPIP could consider increasing its communication with, and the communication between, funding recipients. This may represent an opportunity for the Program to better promote and support additional networking and information sharing between organizations, while also supporting the Program’s monitoring of trends and emerging issues in the justice sector.

The Program could also work in close collaboration with other groups within Justice Canada and leverage their expertise to support its efforts in the monitoring of emerging trends, and increase its responsiveness to those issues. Working in collaboration with other groups, such as the Communications Branch, could also represent an opportunity to support funded organizations in disseminating information regarding activities and materials produced through JPIP’s funding.

Elements that could have an impact on Canadians and organizations in the justice landscape were also identified. As legal issues are often complex, addressing them may require working on various fronts with a multiplicity of stakeholders. Coordination with other funders on connected issues and projects could minimize the risk for overlap, while targeting root causes of justice issues, and potentially increasing the reach and impact of funded projects.

In addition, the development of new technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence, will affect both funding recipients and Canadians in the upcoming years. The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated how technology may open new opportunities (or risks) for improving individual legal knowledge and increasing access to justice, particularly for low-income, marginalized, and more vulnerable Canadians. While this is not under its control, the JPIP should monitor the use of technology in access to justice, as it will continue to play a part in shaping access to justice, including information and services, in the future. 

Recommendation

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

Recommendation: Building on its strengths, the JPIP should explore opportunities to increase communication and information sharing with and between funding recipients (as an example, through recipients’ meetings), as well as opportunities to leverage the expertise of other groups within the Department.