Table 10
Total legal aid applications by type of matter
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Total applications 1 | Criminal matters | Civil matters | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | Percentage change | Total | Percentage change | Percentage of total | Total | Percentage change | Percentage of total | |
number | percent | number | percent | number | percent | |||
Newfoundland and Labrador | ||||||||
2007/2008 | 7,585 | 1 | 4,147 | 6 | 55 | 3,438 | -5 | 45 |
2008/2009 | 8,115 | 7 | 4,672 | 13 | 58 | 3,443 | 0 | 42 |
2009/2010 | 8,924 | 10 | 5,149 | 10 | 58 | 3,775 | 10 | 42 |
2010/2011 | 8,894 | -0 | 5,081 | -1 | 57 | 3,813 | 1 | 43 |
2011/2012 | 9,412 | 6 | 5,402 | 6 | 57 | 4,010 | 5 | 43 |
Prince Edward Island | ||||||||
2007/2008 | 1,855 | 0 | 1,391 | 4 | 75 | 464 | -10 | 25 |
2008/2009 | .. | ... | .. | ... | ... | .. | ... | ... |
2009/2010 | .. | ... | .. | ... | ... | .. | ... | ... |
2010/2011 | 1,943 | ... | 1,416 | ... | 73 | 527 | ... | 27 |
2011/2012 | 1,774 | -9 | 1,283 | -9 | 72 | 491 | -7 | 28 |
Nova Scotia | ||||||||
2007/2008 | 21,184 | 4 | 13,953 | 8 | 66 | 7,231 | -2 | 34 |
2008/2009 | 22,311 | 5 | 14,474 | 4 | 65 | 7,837 | 8 | 35 |
2009/2010 | 24,176 | 8 | 16,359 | 13 | 68 | 7,817 | 0 | 32 |
2010/2011 | 23,642 | -2 | 15,814 | -3 | 67 | 7,828 | 0 | 33 |
2011/2012 | 23,460 | -1 | 15,300 | -3 | 65 | 8,160 | 4 | 35 |
New Brunswick 2 | ||||||||
2007/2008 | 2,574 | 3 | 2,173 | 3 | 84 | 401 | 5 | 16 |
2008/2009 | 2,511 | -2 | 2,179 | 0 | 87 | 332 | -17 | 13 |
2009/2010 | .. | ... | .. | ... | ... | .. | ... | ... |
2010/2011 | 4,651 | ... | 2,045 | ... | 44 | 2,606 | ... | 56 |
2011/2012 | 4,858 | 4 | 2,103 | 3 | 43 | 2,755 | 6 | 57 |
Quebec | ||||||||
2007/2008 | 256,255 | -1 | 121,381 | 0 | 47 | 134,874 | -3 | 53 |
2008/2009 | 264,151 | 3 | 126,405 | 4 | 48 | 137,746 | 2 | 52 |
2009/2010 | 268,390 | 2 | 130,893 | 4 | 49 | 137,497 | 0 | 51 |
2010/2011 | 263,617 | -2 | 128,774 | -2 | 49 | 134,843 | -2 | 51 |
2011/2012 | 265,075 | 1 | 130,893 | 2 | 49 | 134,182 | 0 | 51 |
Ontario 3 | ||||||||
2007/2008 | 332,837 | -2 | 84,832 | -2 | 25 | 248,005 | -1 | 75 |
2008/2009 | 347,884 | 5 | 88,239 | 4 | 25 | 259,645 | 5 | 75 |
2009/2010 | 295,716 | -15 | 80,268 | -9 | 27 | 215,448 | -17 | 73 |
2010/2011 | 270,667 | -8 | 68,798 | -14 | 25 | 201,869 | -6 | 75 |
2011/2012 | 292,777 | 8 | 77,590 | 13 | 27 | 215,187 | 7 | 73 |
Manitoba 4 | ||||||||
2007/2008 | 22,110 | -6 | 14,699 | -5 | 66 | 7,411 | -7 | 34 |
2008/2009 | 21,887 | -1 | 14,525 | -1 | 66 | 7,362 | -1 | 34 |
2009/2010 | 30,629 | 40 | 22,401 | 54 | 73 | 8,228 | 12 | 27 |
2010/2011 | 30,294 | -1 | 22,315 | 0 | 74 | 7,979 | -3 | 26 |
2011/2012 | 31,597 | 4 | 23,115 | 4 | 73 | 8,482 | 6 | 27 |
Saskatchewan 5 | ||||||||
2007/2008 | 21,765 | -4 | 17,234 | -2 | 79 | 4,531 | -9 | 21 |
2008/2009 | 23,190 | 7 | 18,533 | 8 | 80 | 4,657 | 3 | 20 |
2009/2010 | 23,907 | 3 | 19,354 | 4 | 81 | 4,553 | -2 | 19 |
2010/2011 | 22,849 | -4 | 18,271 | -6 | 80 | 4,578 | 1 | 20 |
2011/2012 | 21,629 | -5 | 16,747 | -8 | 77 | 4,882 | 7 | 23 |
Alberta 6 | ||||||||
2007/2008 | 45,398 | 1 | 33,839 | 2 | 75 | 11,559 | 0 | 25 |
2008/2009 | 49,145 | 8 | 35,994 | 6 | 73 | 13,151 | 14 | 27 |
2009/2010 | 48,732 | -1 | 34,867 | -3 | 72 | 13,865 | 5 | 28 |
2010/2011 | .. | ... | .. | ... | ... | .. | ... | ... |
2011/2012 | 48,474 | ... | 30,120 | ... | 62 | 18,354 | ... | 38 |
British Columbia | ||||||||
2007/2008 | 42,647 | 2 | 29,314 | 1 | 69 | 13,333 | 5 | 31 |
2008/2009 | 45,238 | 6 | 30,039 | 2 | 66 | 15,199 | 14 | 34 |
2009/2010 | 40,732 | -10 | 26,761 | -11 | 66 | 13,971 | -8 | 34 |
2010/2011 | 42,101 | 3 | 27,878 | 4 | 66 | 14,223 | 2 | 34 |
2011/2012 | 40,290 | -4 | 26,594 | -5 | 66 | 13,696 | -4 | 34 |
Yukon 7 | ||||||||
2007/2008 | 1,464 | 0 | 1,088 | -1 | 74 | 376 | 1 | 26 |
2008/2009 | 1,455 | -1 | 1,089 | 0 | 75 | 366 | -3 | 25 |
2009/2010 | 1,533 | 5 | 1,235 | 13 | 81 | 298 | -19 | 19 |
2010/2011 | 1,501 | -2 | 1,142 | -8 | 76 | 359 | 20 | 24 |
2011/2012 | 1,441 | -4 | 1,091 | -4 | 76 | 350 | -3 | 24 |
Northwest Territories 8 , 9 | ||||||||
2007/2008 | 1,523 | 5 | 873 | 11 | 57 | 650 | -3 | 43 |
2008/2009 | 1,569 | 3 | 958 | 10 | 61 | 611 | -6 | 39 |
2009/2010 | 1,785 | 14 | 1,156 | 21 | 65 | 629 | 3 | 35 |
2010/2011 | .. | ... | .. | ... | ... | .. | ... | ... |
2011/2012 | 1,926 | ... | 1,133 | ... | 59 | 793 | ... | 41 |
Nunavut 8 , 10 | ||||||||
2007/2008 | .. | ... | .. | ... | ... | .. | ... | ... |
2008/2009 | 731 | ... | 498 | ... | 68 | 233 | ... | 32 |
2009/2010 | 343 | … r | 150 | … r | 44 | 193 | … r | 56 |
2010/2011 | .. | ... | .. | ... | ... | .. | ... | ... |
2011/2012 | 489 | ... | 203 | ... | 42 | 286 | ... | 58 |
Total | ||||||||
2007/2008 | 757,197 | … | 324,924 | … | 43 | 432,273 | … | 57 |
2008/2009 | 788,187 | … | 337,605 | … | 43 | 450,582 | … | 57 |
2009/2010 | 744,867 | … | 338,593 | … | 45 | 406,274 | … | 55 |
2010/2011 | 670,159 | … | 291,534 | … | 44 | 378,625 | … | 56 |
2011/2012 | 743,202 | … | 331,574 | … | 45 | 411,628 | … | 55 |
The sum of approved (tables 12, 13, 14, 15)
and refused (tables 17 or 18) 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.
Effective April 20, 2009, intake
services for family legal aid were expanded when eligibility screening for
services formerly captured under the Domestic Legal Aid program was transferred
to New Brunswick Legal Aid Services Commission from the Department of Justice
and Consumer Affairs.
Ontario has 77 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 2011/2012, the legal aid plan
received 121,264 applications for 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 171,513 case,
brief, advice and referral services.
In 2009/2010, Manitoba began to include
the number of applications that were used to generate secondary or tertiary
certificates in the total number of legal aid applications reported. This
led to an increase in the count for total and approved legal aid applications.
In 2008/2009, all youth matters became
eligible for legal aid under an agreement between the Saskatchewan Legal Aid
Commission and the Ministry of Justice’s Court Services Branch. This
led to an increase in the count for total and approved legal aid applications.
Application statistics were unavailable in 2010/2011,
in accordance with the way defined by the survey, due to changes to the service
delivery model commencing that year.
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.
Presumed eligibility counts are not included
in the data for the Northwest Territories or Nunavut. Territorial offences
are included with criminal matters.
The magnitude of the increase, between 2009/2010 and 2011/2012,
in the number of civil applications, may be an artefact of a new information
tracking system being introduced by the Legal Services Board of the Northwest
Territories beginning 2010/2011.
In 2009/2010, the capacity for statistical
reporting in Nunavut was limited due to issues with information tracking systems.
As a result, the number of applications may be underreported and is not comparable
to previous years.
Note(s):
For more details on legal aid concepts and terminology please refer
to the glossary.
Source(s):
Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Legal Aid
Survey 3308.
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