Organization of the Department of Justice

The Department of Justice is headed by the Deputy Minister, who provides advice and support to the Minister and acts as the main interface between the political and administrative functions of government.

The Department of Justice is a medium-sized department with approximately 4,800 employees. While roughly one half of departmental staff are lawyers, there are a number of other committed professionals including paralegals, social scientists, program managers, communications specialists, administrative services personnel, computer service professionals and financial officers.

The Department provides legal services to government on a "portfolio" basis. Six Portfolios encompass the entire range of federal departments and agencies. The Six Portfolios are as follows: Government-at-large and the Justice Portfolio, Aboriginal Affairs Portfolio, Business and Regulatory Law Portfolio, Central Agencies Portfolio, Public Safety, Defence & Immigration Portfolio and the Tax Law Portfolio. The department delivers services through a mix of co-located departmental legal services units, specialized branches located within the Department of Justice and a network of six regional offices located across the country.

The Department also maintains a policy and program development capacity in order to fulfil core departmental responsibilities associated with the administration of justice in Canada and to support the government of Canada 's policy and program priorities related to safety and security. To these ends, the Department develops and maintains strong working relationships with policy and program partners across the federal government as well as with counterparts in the provinces and territories and partners in non-governmental organizations and international institutions and organizations.

The responsibilities of the Minister and the Attorney General are set out in the Department of Justice Act and 49 other Acts of Parliament. The Department of Justice fulfils three distinctive roles within the Government of Canada, acting as a:

• policy department with broad responsibilities for overseeing all matters relating to the administration of justice that fall within the federal domain;
• provider of a range of legal advisory, litigation and legislative services to government departments and agencies; and
• central agency responsible for supporting the Minister in advising Cabinet on all legal matters including the constitutionality of government initiatives and activities.

The Department of Justice Organizational Chart provides a display of the Department's overall structure.