The sum of approved and refused applications does not equal the total applications count for two reasons: (i) a decision to accept or reject an application may not occur in the same time period the application is made, although the number of applications carried into the next fiscal year is comparatively small. (ii) the approved application count refers to full service applications only, whereas the total applications count is the sum of applications for full and summary service.

Ontario has 79 legal aid clinics that are independent, non-profit organizations funded by the legal aid plan. Staff lawyers and community legal workers at these clinics provide legal aid services primarily in “other” civil matters, particularly in the area of poverty law which includes, social assistance/income maintenance, landlord and tenant, workers’ compensation, criminal injuries compensation, and refugee and immigration matters. In 2008/2009, the legal aid plan received 60,940 written applications for civil certificate services. The clinic system does not record written applications in the way defined by the survey; however, that number can be inferred in that it provided 200,789 case, brief, advice and referral services of which 97% were for “other” civil legal aid. In 2005/2006, Ontario changed its method of calculating total applications. As a result, figures are not comparable to previous years.

In 2005/2006, Manitoba began to issue one legal aid certificate per matter. This lead to an increase in the count for total, approved and refused legal aid applications. In 2006/2007, the use of certificate equivalents initiated by staff was discontinued, resulting in a decrease in the count for total and approved applications and an increase in refused applications.

No distinction is made between summary and full service applications in Yukon. All applications are counted as full service applications. Data for Yukon include duty counsel counts. In 2004/2005, Yukon opened a poverty law clinic, resulting in an increase in applications under civil matters "other".

Presumed eligibility counts are not included in the data for the Northwest Territories. Territorial offences are included with criminal matters.