Impact of Race and Culture Assessments

Impact of race and culture assessments (IRCAs) are reports that help criminal justice professionals better understand the effects of poverty, marginalization, racism, and social exclusion on Black and racialized offenders and their life experiences. IRCAs are like Gladue reports, but are used primarily for Black offenders, both adults and youth. Currently they are mostly used at the sentencing stage of the criminal court process. IRCAs inform sentencing judges of the disadvantages and systemic racism faced by Black and other racialized Canadians, and the reports may recommend alternatives to incarceration and/or culturally appropriate accountability measures within a sentence of incarceration.Footnote 26

Justice Canada introduced the first funding agreements for IRCAs in fiscal year 2021-22, to provide IRCAs in Nova Scotia and Ontario. In 2022-23, agreements for IRCAs in British Columbia, Manitoba, and Newfoundland and Labrador were signed, and in 2023-24 an agreement was signed for IRCAs in Alberta. Figure 24 shows the number of IRCAs by year and jurisdiction. Over the past three years since funding was first introduced, Justice Canada has funded a total of 227 IRCAs, with the number increasing over time, up 82% in 2023-24 compared to 2021-22.

Figure 24

Almost 90% of IRCAs funded over the past 3 years were from Ontario and Nova Scotia, which were the first jurisdictions to receive federal funding for IRCAs.

Figure 24
Text version

This is chart map outlining the number of Impact of Race and Culture Assessments (IRCAs) in provinces that have signed funding agreements. Provinces with funding agreements are coloured in dark orange and include the number of IRCAs by year. Starting from left to right: in BC in 22-23 there were 4 IRCAs and in 23-24 there were 9; in AB in 23-23 there were 0 IRCAs; in MB in 22-23 there were 2 IRCAs and in 23-24 there were 12; in ON in 21-22 there were 9, 22-23 there were 33, and in 23-24 there were 50; in NS in 21-22 there were 51 IRCAs, in 22-23 there were 17, and in 23-24 there were 31; in NL in 22-23 there were 0 IRCAs and in 23-24 there was 1.

Source: Number of IRCAs produced by jurisdiction and year, Legal Aid Directorate, Department of Justice Canada.