Evaluation of the Justice Partnership and Innovation Program

2. Profile of the JPIP

The JPIP is a discretionary grants and contributions (G&C) program that funds initiatives for the purpose of assisting the Department of Justice in a number of its priority areas and supporting its goal towards an accessible, efficient, and fair system of justice. The JPIP is delivered and managed by the Innovations, Analysis, and Integration Directorate of the Departments’ Programs Branch.

2.1 Overview and Program Objectives

The overall objective of the JPIP is to support the policy directions of the Department on issues related to access to justice, family violence, missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG)/violence against Indigenous women, and the harmonization of private international law. As such, the Program provides funding in support of stimulating knowledge development and dissemination, promoting partnership building and collaboration, and building community capacity (Department of Justice, 2015a).

The specific objectives of the JPIP are to:

2.2. Program Components

The JPIP funding to support these objectives is allocated through four sub-activities:

2.2.1. Operational Funding

Named grants:

Named grant organizations annually receiving JPIP grant funding include the following:

Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police
The Law Amendment Committee of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police consults with other justice stakeholders in the criminal justice fields, and provides advice and input to the Department on matters related to criminal justice policy, legislative initiatives, and possible amendments to the law.
Canadian Association of Provincial Court Judges
The Canadian Association of Provincial Court Judges takes part in a number of activities to ensure a responsive justice system including those related to law reform, judicial independence of the courts, acting as an educational body and disseminator of information for judges across Canada, and providing advice to governments and other bodies with respect to law reformation.
Canadian Society of Forensic Science
The Canadian Society of Forensic Science maintains professional standards for forensic science and, among other things, serves as an advisory body to the Department on matters related to alcohol and breath analysis, as well as policy related to drugs and driving.
National Judicial Institute
The National Judicial Institute develops and delivers educational programs to federal, provincial, and territorial judges focussing on three main areas including substantive law, skills training, and social context issues.
Uniform Law Conference of Canada
The Uniform Law Conference of Canada (ULCC) works to harmonize the laws between provinces and territories, as well as with federal law, as relevant; identify where changes are need in federal criminal legislation and make appropriate recommendations to the federal government; and harmonize Canadian commercial law.
PLEI organizations:

The JPIP provides core funding annually to 10 PLEI organizations across Canada (one per province).Footnote 3 PLEI materials and activities provided by these organizations assist the public in understanding the law, their rights and obligations, the Canadian justice system, and how they might deal with their legal matter.

ICCLR:

The JPIP also provides core annual funding to the ICCLR, an international organization that” promotes the rule of law, democracy, human rights, and good governance in criminal law and the administration of criminal justice, domestically, regionally and globally” (International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy, n.d.). It does this through research; the development of tools, materials, programs, and policy advice; and through looking for ways of international cooperation in areas of criminal law reform and criminal justice.

2.2.2. Educational Funding

Educational funding for the Legal Studies for Aboriginal People (LSAP) is administered through Indspire, an Indigenous-led NGO that delivers bursaries, scholarships, and awards programs to assist Indigenous students in their post-secondary studies. JPIP funding is delivered through the LSAP component of Indspire’s Building Brighter Futures: Bursaries, Scholarships, and Awards program (Indspire, n.d.). Métis and Non-Status Indian students pursuing a law program are eligible for JPIP financial assistance.

2.2.3. Funding to the HCCH and UNIDROIT

Canada pays an annual assessed contribution as a component of its membership in both the HCCH and UNIDROIT; JPIP funding provides the annual assessed contribution amounts for both of these organizations. Based out of The Hague, Netherlands, with regional offices in Buenos Aires and Hong Kong, the HCCH is an intergovernmental world organization concerned with the harmonization of private international law. The members of the HCCH work to adopt private international law rules to help resolve situations that may be affected by the differences in legal systems between countries (Hague Conference on Private International Law, n.d.). Based out of Rome, Italy, UNIDROIT is an intergovernmental world organization concerned with “modernising, harmonising and co-ordinating private and in particular commercial law as between States and groups of States” (International Institute for the Unification of Private Law, n.d.). UNIDROIT works to develop uniform law instruments, principles, and rules to achieve this unification of private law.

2.2.4. Contribution Funding

Contribution funding is provided to NGOs to assist them in delivering initiatives related to family violence and MMIWG/violence against Indigenous women and girls. The funding of initiatives related to family violence is intended to raise public awareness on family violence issues and improve the justice system’s and the public’s response to family violence (Department of Justice, n.d.). The funding of initiatives related to violence against Indigenous women and girls are intended to contribute to reduced victimization of Indigenous women and girls, and to reduce their vulnerability to violence. Initiatives are expected to do so through the provision of tools, resources, and programs that empower Indigenous women and girls and provide them with alternatives to scenarios in which they may be victimized (Department of Justice, 2016b).

2.3 Eligible Activities

The JPIP funding to these organizations supports a variety of eligible activities including research; the development and dissemination of informational materials, models, and tools; pilot projects and demonstrations; conferences, workshops, symposia, and other types of meetings; developing and providing resource tools and supports to victims of violence; empowerment and leadership development; culturally-appropriate healing and support projects; bursaries to Métis and Non-Status Indians; and contribution for membership to the HCCH and UNIDROIT (Department of Justice, 2015a, 2015b).

2.4. Resources

Approximately $3.0 million was allocated to the JPIP annually between 2012–13 and 2016–17, as well as $330,000 annually for the assessed contributions to the HCCH and UNIDROIT (Table 1 and Table 2). Funding to organizations receiving annual funds in the form of operational funds, educational funds, or the assessed contributions to the HCCH and UNIDROIT accounted for 65% of total JPIP funds in 2016–17 ($2.18 million). The distribution between sub-activities was similar for other years of the evaluation period.

The JPIP, as with many programs, experienced reduced funding due to the federal government’s 2012 Economic Action Plan, with the Department reducing JPIP funding by $1 million as part of their Deficit Reduction Action Plan (DRAP) (Department of Justice Canada, 2014, p. 5).

Table 1: Annual allocation of JPIP to recipients, 2012–13 to 2016–17
Sub-activity and recipient type 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2016–17 %
Operational funding
Named grants $493,345 $493,345 $493,345 $493,345 $493,345 16%
PLEI organizations $1,030,813 $1,030,813 $1,030,813 $1,030,813 $1,030,813 34%
ICCLR $215,000 $215,000 $215,000 $215,000 $215,000 7%
Educational funding
Indspire $115,000 $115,000 $115,000 $115,000 $115,000 4%
Initiative funding
Family violence $597,725 $597,725 $597,725 $597,725 $597,725 20%
MMIWG $350,000 $350,000 $350,000 $326,054 $326,054 11%
Other JPIP activities $260,218 $260,218 $260,218 $260,218 $260,218 9%
Total JPIP resources $3,062,101 $3,062,101 $3,062,101 $3,038,155 $3,038,155  

Source: Data provided by program.

Table 2: Annual allocation to assessed contributions, 2012–13 to 2016–17
Assessed contribution 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17
HCCH $250,000 $250,000 $250,000 $250,000 $250,000
UNIDROIT $80,000 $80,000 $80,000 $80,000 $80,000
Total HCCH & UNIDROIT $330,000 $330,000 $330,000 $330,000 $330,000

Source: Data provided by program.