Justice Canada Report on Federal Investment in Criminal Legal Aid

In the most recent Weekly Checklist of federal government publications,  there is a link to a recent report written for Justice Canada by the research firm Prairie Research Associates entitled Maximizing the federal investment in criminal legal aid:

"The purpose of this study was to explore and identify innovations/best practices in criminal legal aid that will enable the federal government to maximize its investment in criminal legal aid and help ensure that Canada’s system of justice remains accessible, efficient, and fair, particularly for economically-disadvantaged Canadians. The innovations/best practices can include efforts to promote greater efficiency (e.g., streamlining processes; reducing costs in some areas through use of new technology or using other legal practitioners or professionals to deliver services; enabling people to assist themselves for simple matters), or improved access to justice by increasing the scope, accessibility, and quality of criminal legal aid services."

"The study focused on the federal investment in criminal legal aid. However, innovations/best practices that did not directly address criminal legal aid but promoted more effective, accessible, and efficient legal aid service delivery and operations, regardless of the type of legal aid, were also considered relevant to this study."

Appendix C examines criminal legal aid in Australia, New Zealand, England/Wales, and Scotlan.

The Weekly Checklist includes a listing of titles made available by the Parliament of Canada, federal departments, and Statistics Canada to the Depository Services Program for distribution to a network of Depository Libraries in Canada and abroad.