AndreaBozzo/ceres-open-data-index huggingface dataset:
Just Facts - Preliminary Inquiries (2019)

This fact sheet is based on two Canadian publications from 2005 and 2010, publicly available and special request data from the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics at Statistics Canada, and internal research reports prepared by Justice Canada.

A preliminary inquiry is a judicial hearing that is used in serious criminal cases to determine whether the evidence assembled by the Crown against an accused person is sufficient to proceed with a trial. The preliminary inquiry is not a trial in the strict sense, although evidence is given under oath and the accused or the accused’s counsel is entitled to cross examine any witnesses summoned by the Crown.

The findings reported below may differ from other Statistics Canada and Justice Canada reports on preliminary inquiries. One reason for the differences is the change in concept/methodology used to produce the figures. The change in this JustFacts involves reporting preliminary inquiries if there were “any-in-the-case”. Previous work on preliminary inquiries has generally used data and reported trends only for the most serious offence. Different figures are also due to data updates following the last statistical release.

Organization: Department of Justice Canada | Ministère de la Justice Canada
JustFacts - Intimate Partner Violence 

This fact sheet is based on two research publications from the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics (CCJS) published in 2015 and 2018. In the 2015 Juristat, CCJS linked police-reported data from the Uniform Crime Reporting Survey to court data from the Adult Criminal Court Survey to identify intimate partner violence (IPV) cases and their outcomes. All figures noted in this JustFacts are based on police-reported information and therefore are likely an under-representation of the true scope of the problem.

Organization: Department of Justice Canada | Ministère de la Justice Canada
An Open Justice Commitment for Canada - Discussion Paper 

The Department of Justice is proposing an Open Justice commitment be included in Canada’s 2020-2022 National Action Plan on Open Government. 

Access to justice and open government are mutually supportive. Access to justice is a fundamental value in Canada, critical to maintaining and strengthening the rule of law, confidence in the justice system and democracy. However, accessing justice, particularly for civil and family matters, can be difficult for a host of reasons. Many Canadians do not understand the Canadian justice system or know how to find information and services that will help them with their legal needs. This is because they are not affordable, easy to find, timely or communicated in a way that responds to the needs of Canadians.

The Open Government Partnership Global Summit co-hosted by the Government of Canada in May 2019 and the UN High Level Political Forum provided valuable insight into the opportunities of an Open Justice commitment for Canada and the ways one could be used to support a people-centered approach to justice and advance the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 

This discussion paper provides an overview of key issues and background information informing this proposal.



Organization: Department of Justice Canada | Ministère de la Justice Canada
The Honourable David Labrenz’s Questionnaire

Under the new judicial appointment process introduced by the Minister of Justice on October 20, 2016, any interested and qualified Canadian lawyer or judge may apply for such appointment by completing a questionnaire. The questionnaires are then used by the Judicial Advisory Committees across Canada to review candidates and submit a list of “highly recommended” and “recommended” candidates for consideration by the Minister of Justice. Candidates are advised that parts of their questionnaire could be made available to the public, with their consent, should they be appointed to the bench.

Below are Parts 5, 6, 7, and 11 of the questionnaire completed by the Honourable David Labrenz.


Organization: Department of Justice Canada | Ministère de la Justice Canada
Department of Justice Canada Minister's Transition Book  - January 2019

The briefing document listed below was prepared for the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada. Additional material will be added as it becomes available.

Please note the document has been processed under the Access to Information Act and certain information has been withheld from disclosure in accordance with the exemptions and exclusions in the Act.

The Department of Justice Canada’s Transition Book speaks to the three distinctive roles played by the Department. The department’s roles are to act as: policy department with broad responsibilities for overseeing all matters relating to the administration of justice that fall within the federal domain; provider of a range of legal advisory, litigation, and legislative services to government departments and agencies; and central agency responsible for supporting the Minister in advising Cabinet on all legal matters including the constitutionality of government initiatives and activities. The Ministerial Transition binders also address the organization structure of the Department and the financial duties and responsibilities given to the Department of Justice alongside the unique programs held under the portfolio of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice including providing Legal Services to the Government and supporting a bilingual and bijural system of Justice. 

Further, the Ministerial transition Book addresses organizations related to the Department of Justice and the roles they play one of which is the Canadian Bar Association, a professional, voluntary organization that represents more than 37 000 lawyers and concerns itself with the carriage of justice and maintain the rule of law. The Ministerial Transition Book addresses the acts that preside over the Minister and the department itself, the Department of Justice Act that identifies the functions of the Attorney General and the power they hold; the Act describes why and how the Department was created, why it should exist in Canadian society. For Canadians, the Minister’s Transition Book provides valuable descriptions of work that is being done by the Department, and how decisions are made; there are links to exterior sources that inform legal decisions at Justice like the Director of Public Prosecutions Act and the Charter of Rights of Freedoms.


Organization: Department of Justice Canada | Ministère de la Justice Canada
Department of Justice Canada Minister's Transition Book - November 2019

The briefing document listed below was prepared for the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada. Additional material will be added as it becomes available.

Please note the document has been processed under the Access to Information Act and certain information has been withheld from disclosure in accordance with the exemptions and exclusions in the Act.

The Department of Justice Canada’s Transition Book speaks to the three distinctive roles played by the Department. The department’s roles are to act as: policy department with broad responsibilities for overseeing all matters relating to the administration of justice that fall within the federal domain; provider of a range of legal advisory, litigation, and legislative services to government departments and agencies; and central agency responsible for supporting the Minister in advising Cabinet on all legal matters including the constitutionality of government initiatives and activities. The Ministerial Transition binders also address the organization structure of the Department and the financial duties and responsibilities given to the Department of Justice alongside the unique programs held under the portfolio of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice including providing Legal Services to the Government and supporting a bilingual and bijural system of Justice. 

Further, the Ministerial transition Book addresses organizations related to the Department of Justice and the roles they play one of which is the Canadian Bar Association, a professional, voluntary organization that represents more than 37 000 lawyers and concerns itself with the carriage of justice and maintain the rule of law. The Ministerial Transition Book addresses the acts that preside over the Minister and the department itself, the Department of Justice Act that identifies the functions of the Attorney General and the power they hold; the Act describes why and how the Department was created, why it should exist in Canadian society. For Canadians, the Minister’s Transition Book provides valuable descriptions of work that is being done by the Department, and how decisions are made; there are links to exterior sources that inform legal decisions at Justice like the Director of Public Prosecutions Act and the Charter of Rights of Freedoms. 


Organization: Department of Justice Canada | Ministère de la Justice Canada
Legal Aid in Canada, 2016-2017

The Legal Aid Survey was a Canada Centre for Justice Statistics (CCJS)/Statistics Canada annual survey on revenues. Expenditures, personnel, and caseload statistics associated with the administration and delivery of legal aid in Canada. The Legal Aid Survey was first conducted in1983-84, and the data was last published in 2016 (for the fiscal year 2014-16). 

After the discontinuation of the Legal Aid Survey in 2016, the Department of Justice (JUS) began data collection and reporting in-house. This is the first legal aid annual report since the cancellation of the Legal Aid Survey. Data for 2015-16 is not available due to the change in approach to data collecting and reporting. 

In 2016-17, JUS, through its Legal Aid Program contributed more than $138 million to the provinces and territories for the delivery of criminal legal aid, civil legal aid, and I&R (immigration and refugee) legal aid (where applicable). This amounts to 16% of total legal aid revenues.

Organization: Department of Justice Canada | Ministère de la Justice Canada
Consolidated federal Acts and regulations –Bulk XML (WEB)

The bulk XML Web files are a slight variation of the files found in the Consolidated federal Acts and regulations – BULK XML files. The WebXML files contain extra data that is inserted as attributes/elements that are used in the process of generating html pages for the Justice Laws website.

The extra data includes attributes containing internal fragment ids for smaller pieces of legal provisions, dates concerning those fragments, @link attributes on XRefExternal tags that point to the root web folder of the Act/Regulation, @lastAmendedDate attribute at the section-level that indicated the date that the section was last amended.  The HistoricalNote element is also divided into SubItems.


Organization: Department of Justice Canada | Ministère de la Justice Canada
Legal Aid in Canada, 2018-19 

The Legal Aid Survey was a Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics (CCJS)/Statistics Canada annual survey on revenues, expenditures, personnel, and caseload statistics associated with the administration and delivery of legal aid in Canada. The Legal Aid Survey was first conducted in 1983-84 and data was last published in 2016 (for fiscal year 2014-15). After the discontinuation of the Legal Aid Survey in 2016, the Department of Justice Canada (JUS) began data collection and reporting in-house. This is the third annual edition of this report.

Organization: Department of Justice Canada | Ministère de la Justice Canada
Research at a glance: Youth Views on Collaborating to Support Individuals with Mental Health and Addiction Issues in the Criminal Justice System

From 2016 to 2019, the Department of Justice Canada reached out to young Canadians for their views on justice issues. The youth selected for these youth engagement projects were not provided with specialized training or information, but their opinions and perspectives on justice issues can inform policy decisions, including public information campaigns.

Organization: Department of Justice Canada | Ministère de la Justice Canada
Research at a glance: Looking Ahead at Canada’s Justice System: What’s Important to Youth?

From 2016 to 2019, the Department of Justice Canada reached out to young Canadians for their views on justice issues. The youth selected for these youth engagement projects were not provided with specialized training or information, but their opinions and perspectives on justice issues can inform policy decisions, including public information campaigns.

Organization: Department of Justice Canada | Ministère de la Justice Canada
State of the Criminal Justice System Methodology Report 

The Department of Justice Canada (JUS) began a review of the criminal justice system (CJS) in 2015 to support the mandate of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada (Office of the Prime Minister, 2015). The performance of the system was a key focus. The State of the Criminal Justice System Framework (the Framework) was developed by JUS as the first performance monitoring framework for Canada’s CJS. The purpose of the Framework is to increase our overall ability to monitor, and therefore understand, how the CJS is doing in terms of achieving its multifaceted objectives.

The Framework currently includes nine broad expected outcomes for the CJS that are measured by 41 national indicators. Performance on these outcomes is monitored through an online interactive Dashboard, and the State of the Criminal Justice System Report. This paper explains the methods used to create the State of the Criminal Justice System performance monitoring Framework, Dashboard, and Report and provides as an overview of the methods planned to update and analyse the framework data in coming years. 


Organization: Department of Justice Canada | Ministère de la Justice Canada
2019 to 2020 Fees Report

This report, which is tabled under section 20 of the Service Fees Act and section 4.2.8 of the Directive on Charging and Special Financial Authorities, contains information about the fees that the Department of Justice had the authority to set in 2019–20.

Government of Canada departments may set fees for services, licences, permits, products, the use of facilities; for other authorizations of rights or privileges; or to recover, in whole or in part, costs incurred in relation to a regulatory scheme.

For reporting purposes, fees must be categorized under the following three fee setting mechanisms:

1. Act, regulation or fees notice ◦An act of Parliament delegates the fee setting authority to a department, minister or Governor in Council.

2. Contract 
◦ Ministers have the authority to enter into contracts, which are usually negotiated between the minister and an individual or organization, and which cover fees and other terms and conditions. In some cases, that authority may also be provided by an act of Parliament.

3. Market-rate or auction or both 
◦ The authority to set these fees is pursuant to an act of Parliament or regulation, and the minister, department or Governor in Council has no control over the fee amount. 

This report contains information about all fees that are under the Department of Justice’s authority, including any that are collected by another department.

The information covers fees that are subject to the Service Fees Act and fees that are exempted from the Service Fees Act.

For fees set by contract, fees set by market-rate, auction or both, the report provides totals only. For fees set by act, regulation or fees notice, it provides totals for fee groupings, as well as detailed information for each fee.

Although the fees that the Department of Justice charges under the Access to Information Act are subject to the Service Fees Act, they are not included in this report. Information on the Department of Justice’s access to information fees for 2019–20 can be found in our access to information report, which is posted on the Department of Justice Access to Information and Privacy Research and Reports web page.


Organization: Department of Justice Canada | Ministère de la Justice Canada
Litigation Year In Review 2018 

In 2018, the Attorney General was responsible for representing the federal government in approximately 36,000 litigation matters. In the fulfillment of her mandate letter commitments, the Attorney General carried out her litigation responsibilities with a particular focus on the following:

* Advancing reconciliation with Indigenous peoples 
* Defending federalism
* Respecting the Charter of Rights and Freedoms
* Protecting public safety and national security
* Cracking down on tax avoidance 


Organization: Department of Justice Canada | Ministère de la Justice Canada
Charter Statement: An Act to amend the Financial Administrative Act (special warrant) (C-12) 

The Minister of Justice prepares a "Charter Statement" to help inform the public and Parliamentary debate on a government bill. One of the Minister of Justice's most important responsibilities is to examine legislation for consistency with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms ["The Charter"]. By tabling a Charter Statement, the Minister is sharing some of the key considerations that informed the review of a bill for consistency with the Charter. A Statement identifies charter rights and freedoms that may potentially be engaged by a bill and provides a brief explanation of the nature of any engagement, in light of the measures being proposed. 

A Charter Statement also identifies potential justifications for any limits a bill may impose on Charter rights and freedoms.

A Charter Statement is intended to provide legal information to the public and Parliament. It is NOT intended to be a comprehensive overview of Charter considerations, recognizing that a bill may change over the course of its passage through Parliament. Additional considerations relevant to the constitutionality of a bill may also arise in the course of Parliamentary study. A Statement is NOT a legal opinion on the constitutionality of a bill.


Organization: Department of Justice Canada | Ministère de la Justice Canada
Charter Statement: An Act respecting certain measures in response to Covid-19 (C-13) 

The Minister of Justice prepares a "Charter Statement" to help inform the public and Parliamentary debate on a government bill. One of the Minister of Justice's most important responsibilities is to examine legislation for consistency with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms ["The Charter"]. By tabling a Charter Statement, the Minister is sharing some of the key considerations that informed the review of a bill for consistency with the Charter. A Statement identifies charter rights and freedoms that may potentially be engaged by a bill and provides a brief explanation of the nature of any engagement, in light of the measures being proposed. 

A Charter Statement also identifies potential justifications for any limits a bill may impose on Charter rights and freedoms.

A Charter Statement is intended to provide legal information to the public and Parliament. It is NOT intended to be a comprehensive overview of Charter considerations, recognizing that a bill may change over the course of its passage through Parliament. Additional considerations relevant to the constitutionality of a bill may also arise in the course of Parliamentary study. A Statement is NOT a legal opinion on the constitutionality of a bill.


Organization: Department of Justice Canada | Ministère de la Justice Canada
Charter Statement - Bill C-14: A second Act respecting certain measures in response to COVID-19 

The Minister of Justice prepares a "Charter Statement" to help inform the public and Parliamentary debate on a government bill. One of the Minister of Justice's most important responsibilities is to examine legislation for consistency with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms ["The Charter"]. By tabling a Charter Statement, the Minister is sharing some of the key considerations that informed the review of a bill for consistency with the Charter. A Statement identifies charter rights and freedoms that may potentially be engaged by a bill and provides a brief explanation of the nature of any engagement, in light of the measures being proposed. 

A Charter Statement also identifies potential justifications for any limits a bill may impose on Charter rights and freedoms.

A Charter Statement is intended to provide legal information to the public and Parliament. It is NOT intended to be a comprehensive overview of Charter considerations, recognizing that a bill may change over the course of its passage through Parliament. Additional considerations relevant to the constitutionality of a bill may also arise in the course of Parliamentary study. A Statement is NOT a legal opinion on the constitutionality of a bill.


Organization: Department of Justice Canada | Ministère de la Justice Canada
Charter Statement: Bill C-2: An Act relating to economic recovery in response to COVID-19 

The Minister of Justice prepares a "Charter Statement" to help inform the public and Parliamentary debate on a government bill. One of the Minister of Justice's most important responsibilities is to examine legislation for consistency with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms ["The Charter"]. By tabling a Charter Statement, the Minister is sharing some of the key considerations that informed the review of a bill for consistency with the Charter. A Statement identifies charter rights and freedoms that may potentially be engaged by a bill and provides a brief explanation of the nature of any engagement, in light of the measures being proposed. 

A Charter Statement also identifies potential justifications for any limits a bill may impose on Charter rights and freedoms.

A Charter Statement is intended to provide legal information to the public and Parliament. It is NOT intended to be a comprehensive overview of Charter considerations, recognizing that a bill may change over the course of its passage through Parliament. Additional considerations relevant to the constitutionality of a bill may also arise in the course of Parliamentary study. A Statement is NOT a legal opinion on the constitutionality of a bill.


Organization: Department of Justice Canada | Ministère de la Justice Canada
Charter Statement: Bill C-4: An Act relating to certain measures in response to COVID-19 

The Minister of Justice prepares a "Charter Statement" to help inform the public and Parliamentary debate on a government bill. One of the Minister of Justice's most important responsibilities is to examine legislation for consistency with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms ["The Charter"]. By tabling a Charter Statement, the Minister is sharing some of the key considerations that informed the review of a bill for consistency with the Charter. A Statement identifies charter rights and freedoms that may potentially be engaged by a bill and provides a brief explanation of the nature of any engagement, in light of the measures being proposed. 

A Charter Statement also identifies potential justifications for any limits a bill may impose on Charter rights and freedoms.

A Charter Statement is intended to provide legal information to the public and Parliament. It is NOT intended to be a comprehensive overview of Charter considerations, recognizing that a bill may change over the course of its passage through Parliament. Additional considerations relevant to the constitutionality of a bill may also arise in the course of Parliamentary study. A Statement is NOT a legal opinion on the constitutionality of a bill.


Organization: Department of Justice Canada | Ministère de la Justice Canada