Funding

Access to Justice in Both Official Languages Support Fund

The Access to Justice in Both Official Languages Support Fund was created in 2003 after the release of the federal government's action plan for official languages entitled The Next Act: New Momentum for Canada's Linguistic Duality (PDF Help, 327Kb). The purpose of the investments in the Support Fund is to contribute to making the justice system accessible, relevant, and capable of meeting the needs of Canadians by ensuring improved access to justice in both official languages.

Projects and initiatives financed by the Support Fund must meet one of the following objectives:

• Increasing the ability of the justice system and its stakeholders to provide services in both official languages;
• Raising awareness among the legal community and official language communities on the exercise of their rights and on issues related to access to justice in both official languages.

The Support Fund can provide financial assistance for projects and initiatives aimed at improving access to justice in both official languages in provincial, territorial, municipal and regional administrations, in Canadian educational institutions (including jurilinguistic centres) and in Canadian non-profit organizations with a mandate to represent their members or their community.

Since its inception, the Support Fund has provided financial aid to approximately 190 projects and initiatives. The Support Fund can currently draw on a $41-million investment until March 31, 2013 to pursue its objectives; this amount includes a $20-million investment to step up training efforts toward improving the language abilities of people already working in the justice system as well as to train and recruit young bilingual Canadians who show an interest in justice-related careers.

To truly target investments in training, the Canada-Wide Analysis of Official Language Training Needs in the Area of Justice, conducted in 2009 at the request of the Department of Justice Canada, recommends priority strategies for directing the Department's efforts and actions in order to improve the ability of the judicial system to provide services in both official languages.

The Support Fund's terms of reference are listed in detail on the Programs Branch Web site.