Table 12
Approved legal aid applications by type of matter

Approved legal aid application counts refer to full service applications only. An approved application for full service refers to an application for legal assistance which is granted as described in a certificate, referral, or any other authorization denoting that the applicant is entitled to legal aid services.

For civil cases, there is one matter per application. For criminal, there can be multiple charges per application and these can be handled separately (i.e., by different lawyers).

The population estimates used to calculate per capita figures are provided by Statistics Canada, Census and Demographic Statistics, Demography Division. Populations as of July 1st: final intercensal up to 2006, final postcensal for 2007 and 2008, updated postcensal for 2009 and 2010 and preliminary postcensal for 2011.

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, these clinics accounted for 98% of approved legal aid applications assigned to staff lawyers.

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. The number of applications excludes applications received during 2011/2012 but deemed “discontinued” for administrative purposes as at March 31, 2012, because the client ceased contact with the Saskatchewan Legal Aid Commission before obtaining legal aid services from a lawyer.

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 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.