Section 1 – Overview of the Survey

Introduction

The Department of Justice Canada (the Department) conducts a cyclical Client Feedback Survey (CFS) on the legal services provided.Footnote 3 This report presents the results of the Cycle V CFS, which was administered during the period of October 2023 to May 2025. Previous iterations of the CFS include Cycle I (2006–2009), Cycle II (2009–2012), Cycle III (2016–2019), and Cycle IV (2020–2022).

For Cycle V, invitations to participate were intended for employees at the EX-minus-1 level and above in the National Capital Region (NCR) and the EX-minus-2 level and above in the regions, as well as client contacts identified through the Department’s legal case management system (LEX) with active legal files or legal files closed within the year preceding the survey.

It is important to note that only respondents who identify as having received legal services in the previous 12 months provide feedback regarding the quality of the legal services received. Respondents who identify as non-service users are not offered the opportunity to complete the survey.

Survey Context

The Department is committed to providing high-quality legal services to support the federal government and its departments and agencies. As one of many ongoing initiatives to support this commitment to service quality, the Department has implemented the CFS as a standardized approach to obtaining client feedback on its legal services. The CFS is intended to help the Department, legal services portfolios, sectors, legal services unit managers and legal services providers incorporate client perceptions into decision-making regarding the delivery of legal services. It is also used to identify areas where service improvements may be needed and, to jointly monitor with clients, progress in meeting client needs and expectations over time. Progress on CFS action plans is regularly monitored and reported to the Department’s Performance Measurement and Evaluation Committee.

The Department’s Service Standards for the Provision of Legal Services in Government,Footnote 4 which were updated in November 2022, are included in all Standardized Legal Service Agreements. The CFS is aligned with the Service Standards, enabling the Department to gather feedback on its performance against these. As part of the CFS, standards are assessed for each legal service type (i.e., legal advisory, litigation, legislative drafting, and regulatory drafting services), with the aim of enabling the Department to better ascertain and address any potential issues and areas of improvement.

The Department’s Service Standards for legal services are an essential component of the Memoranda of Understanding between the Department and its client departments and agencies. The Service Standards, in combination with the CFS, provide senior managers with ongoing reliable information on client perceptions of the provision of legal services relative to service commitments.

The CFS is a key element of the Department’s Results Framework, which is prescribed by the Treasury Board’s Policy on Results. Specifically, CFS results are an essential source of evidence used to demonstrate the Department’s achievements regarding the delivery of high-quality legal services to government, which constitutes approximately 31.8% of overall departmental spending.Footnote 5

Changes for Cycle V

In 2021, the Client Feedback Survey Cycle V Working Group (CFSVWG) was established to conduct a comprehensive review of the Client Feedback Survey (CFS).Footnote 6 One of the most significant outcomes of this initiative was the updating of the Department’s Service Standards, which had remained unchanged since their original establishment in 2006. These standards form the foundation of the CFS, and their modernization led to substantial changes in the survey questionnaire. These changes included modifications to the wording of existing survey elements, the addition of new elements to reflect evolving departmental priorities, and the removal of outdated elements from previous survey cycles. Furthermore, new sections were introduced to assess client experiences with information and training received, the integration of Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus) and Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) considerations, and the accessibility of legal services.

In addition to updating the questionnaire, the CFSVWG explored alternative methods for developing the CFS mailing list to more effectively target legal service users. LEX emerged as the most viable option and was piloted alongside the traditional approach to generate the Cycle V mailing lists. This dual approach resulted in a 37.7% increase in service users, as individuals at lower service levels (who would have otherwise been excluded from the survey population) were successfully captured in the survey sample.

All amendments to the CFS practices and questionnaire were reviewed by senior methodologists at Statistics Canada prior to implementation. Due to the changes in survey content and the expansion of the target population, the ability to conduct historical comparisons of results has been impacted. To address this limitation, the report has been structured so that Section 2 presents survey results for the entire survey population, while Section 3 focuses on survey elements that remain comparable for senior-ranking service users.