The Daily. Thursday, August 16, 2001

Legal aid

Total legal aid expenditures at the national level reached $487 million dollars in 1999/2000, representing a decrease of 1% from 1998/1999. Expenditures in 1999/2000 on legal aid amounted to a 31% decrease from the peak amount spent in 1994/1995.

Governments continued to be the major source of revenue for legal aid plans, contributing 90% of total revenues. The remainder of the revenue came from client contributions and cost recoveries (3%), legal profession contributions (1%), and other sources (6%).

In the 1999/2000 fiscal year, 827,653 applications were submitted for legal aid assistance, a decrease of 1% from the previous year.

The number of approved legal aid applications increased from the previous year, after years of decline. In 1999/2000, there were 503,074 applications approved, 2% more than the previous year.

The annual report, Legal aid in Canada: Resource and caseload statistics, 1999/2000 (85F0015XIE, $20) and the new shelf table product Legal aid in Canada: Resource and caseload data tables, 1999/2000 (85F0028XIE, $24) are now available. These products provide data on revenues, expenditures, caseload and personnel involved in delivering legal aid services in Canada. See How to order products.

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics (1-800-387-2231; 613-951-9023).

Legal aid expenditures and approved applications

1999/2000