MINISTRY OVERVIEW

The Ministry of the Attorney General is responsible for providing a fair and accessible justice system that reflects the needs of diverse communities across the province.  The ministry employs approximately 8,100 staff who provide services in criminal, civil, family and small claims courts, the prosecution of crime, services to victims, support of vulnerable people and legal services to Government.

The ministry is guided by four key strategies that support the government priority of Justice and the commitment to "keep families feeling safe and secure."  They are:

Improve the Effectiveness of the Criminal Justice System

The ministry helps protect community, family and personal safety through the effective prosecution of offences.

The criminal justice system receives almost 600,000 new criminal charges each year.  The ministry is determined to improve the effectiveness of the criminal justice system and has implemented initiatives to reduce delay in Ontario’s criminal courts and move major criminal cases through the justice system faster and more effectively.

On June 3, 2008, the Attorney General announced the Justice on Target strategy.  The strategy seeks to achieve faster, focused justice by reducing by 30 per cent the provincial average number of days and court appearances needed to complete a criminal case.

The ministry continues to support and work with Legal Aid Ontario as it provides high-quality legal services to low-income Ontarians.

As part of Ontario’s new approach to Aboriginal Affairs, the province supports a variety of programs that provide equitable, coordinated, effective and responsive criminal justice services, including victim services, to Aboriginal people.

The Bail Verification and Supervision Program enables people accused of criminal offences who are not a threat to the community, but do not have the resources to meet bail conditions, to be released from pre-trial custody.  

Better Protect Ontario's Families and Children

The ministry delivers or supports special services for Ontario’s youth, including:

• Representing children through the Office of the Children’s Lawyer
• Assisting families with custody and access issues through the Supervised Access Program.

The government provides transfer payment funding to community-based, non-profit organizations to provide Supervised Access services throughout the province in 52 court districts.

Protect the Interests of the Most Vulnerable

The ministry provides support services for victims of crime through initiatives such as the Victim/Witness Assistance Program and community victims services.  As an advisory agency, the Office for Victims of Crime works to strengthen victims’ services by consulting with victims and advising government on ways to improve services to victims.  The Criminal Injuries Compensation Board awards compensation to victims of crimes committed under certain Criminal Code offences.

The ministry provides and supports a wide array of services for vulnerable people through community, agency and court-based initiatives, including decision-making by the Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee for mentally incapable people with no one else to act on their behalf. 

The ministry is responsible for the Ontario Human Rights Code and for the arm’s-length agencies that administer the Code.  Ontario’s human rights system is made up of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, the Ontario Human Rights Commission and the Human Rights Legal Support Centre.

Deliver a Modern and Efficient Court System

The ministry is responsible for administering criminal, civil, family and small claims courts.  In these courts, ministry employees provide courtroom and administrative support, maintain records, enforce civil orders, collect fines and fees and give information to the public.  The ministry also works with the judiciary and justice partners on measures to improve access to justice.

The ministry is guided by a strategy that supports the government commitment to "serve the public interest."

The ministry supports the role of the Attorney General as Chief Law Officer of the Crown.  It provides the government with expert legal services, advocacy and representation before tribunals and at all levels of the court.

The ministry also maintains public accountability for the administration of:

• The Special Investigations Unit
• The Office of the Independent Police Review Director
• Public Inquiries
• The Environment and Land Tribunals Ontario, which includes:

• The Assessment Review Board
• The Ontario Municipal Board
• The Board of Negotiation
• The Environmental Review Tribunal
• The Conservation Review Board.

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ORGANIZATIONAL CHART (PDF)

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MINISTRY LEGISLATION

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AGENCIES, BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS REPORTING TO THE MINISTRY

Description	Accrual 2010/11 Estimates		2009/10 Interim Actual
	Expenditure	Revenue	Expenditure	Revenue
	$	$	$	$
Assessment Review Board	8,972,600	3,200,000	8,352,400	3,157,000
Ontario Municipal Board	7,932,400	250,000	7,663,900	208,000
Environmental Review Tribunal	1,699,900		1,703,400
Criminal Injuries Compensation Board	43,507,200	5,000,000	29,450,400	16,800,000
Ontario Human Rights Commission	5,561,300		7,235,600
Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario	9,112,900		9,638,100
Human Rights Legal Support Centre	5,314,900		5,632,400
Public Inquiries	1,000		5,182,200
Office of the Independent Police Review Director	8,445,200		7,154,000
Legal Aid Ontario	317,781,100	53,026,615	302,781,100	52,661,485

Interim Actuals reflect the numbers presented in the Ontario Budget

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MINISTRY FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Table 1: Ministry Planned Expenditures 2010-11

OPERATING EXPENSE	1,444,618,214
CAPITAL EXPENSE	218,184,100
Total	1,662,802,314

Table 2: Operating and Capital Summary by Vote 2010-11

Vote	Estimates 2010-11	Change from 2009-10 Estimates		Estimates 2009-10	Interim Actuals 2009-10	Actuals 2008-09
	$	$	%	$	$	$
OPERATING AND CAPITAL EXPENSE
Ministry Administration	193,091,800	2,488,400	1.3	190,603,400	193,562,100	194,704,773
Prosecuting Crime	259,255,900	10,943,300	4.4	248,312,600	248,262,900	243,929,436
Policy, Justice Programs and Agencies	465,644,800	28,295,800	6.5	437,349,000	454,689,600	445,547,739
Legal Services	30,915,200	2,788,200	9.9	28,127,000	29,525,500	28,111,243
Court Services	588,673,900	52,193,300	9.7	536,480,600	478,824,600	552,420,383
Victim Services	120,047,500	(12,679,700)	(9.6)	132,727,200	101,342,800	111,567,375
Total Including Special Warrants	1,657,629,100	84,029,300	5.3	1,573,599,800	1,506,207,500	1,576,280,949
Less: Special Warrants	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total Operating and Capital Expense to be Voted	1,657,629,100	84,029,300	5.3	1,573,599,800	1,506,207,500	1,576,280,949
Special Warrants	-	-	-	-	-	-
Statutory Appropriations	5,173,214	370,200	7.7	4,803,014	32,026,014	24,472,326
Ministry Total Operating and Capital Expense	1,662,802,314	84,399,500	5.3	1,578,402,814	1,538,233,514	1,600,753,275
Consolidation & Other Adjustments	46,987,000	(27,257,000)	(36.7)	74,244,000	74,244,000	68,321,000
Total Including Consolidation & Other Adjustments	1,709,789,314	57,142,500	3.5	1,652,646,814	1,612,477,514	1,669,074,275

View a larger version of the table

 

Vote	Estimates 2010-11	Change from 2009-10 Estimates		Estimates 2009-10	Interim Actuals 2009-10	Actuals 2008-09
	$	$	%	$	$	$
OPERATING AND CAPITAL ASSETS
Ministry Administration	15,000	15,000	-	-	-	-
Prosecuting Crime	232,000	20,000	9.4	212,000	-	-
Policy, Justice Programs and Agencies	287,000	20,000	7.5	267,000	-	-
Legal Services	148,500	148,500	-	-	-	-
Court Services	1,766,000	1,455,000	467.8	311,000	-	-
Victim Services	331,000	331,000	-	-	-	-
Total Operating and Capital Assets To Be Voted	2,779,500	1,989,500	251.8	790,000	-	-

 

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MINISTRY RESULTS-BASED PLAN 2010-11

Through its Results-based Plan, the Ministry of the Attorney General supports the government’s Justice priority and its commitment to "keep families feeling safe and secure" and to "serve the public interest".

Keep Families Feeling Safe and Secure

The government has committed to the result, "keep families feeling safe and secure".  To achieve this, the ministry has established four strategies with a number of related objectives for 2010-2011.

Improve the Effectiveness of the Criminal Justice System

The ministry works to protect community, family and personal safety through the prosecution of offences in all criminal matters and all criminal appeals before all levels of courts in the province.  The ministry employs over 1,000 Crown attorneys for that purpose.  The ministry is working to improve the effective functioning of the criminal justice system, which receives almost 600,000 new criminal charges per year. 

Justice on Target

Justice on Target and resulting initiatives will enable the ministry to fulfill its commitment to improve the effectiveness of the criminal justice system, and to protect public confidence in the administration of justice.

Announced on June 3, 2008, the strategy seeks to achieve faster focused justice by reducing by 30 per cent the provincial average number of days and court appearances needed to complete a criminal case by 2012.  In the interest of transparency, the ministry has made criminal court statistics dating back to 2000 publicly available on the Justice on Target website, and will continue to update the site as the strategy progresses.

Statistics for 2009 are now available on the Justice on Target website.

Throughout 2010-2011, criminal courts across Ontario will see further results as more sites are engaged, new approaches are implemented, best practices are shared and cases begin moving through the system faster.

Legal Aid Ontario

Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) is an independent, arm’s-length agency funded largely by the Province of Ontario.  LAO is responsible for the delivery of legal aid services to low-income Ontarians.

In September 2009 Ontario announced a Legal Aid transformation plan which included an investment of an additional $150 million over four years in Legal Aid Ontario. This will increase Legal Aid Ontario's base funding by $60 million a year by 2012.

Legal Aid Ontario has also been working to modernize the organization to provide services more effectively and efficiently in a manner that improves access to justice.

The ministry will continue to work with Legal Aid Ontario throughout 2010-11 to put legal aid application offices in Ontario courthouses, helping people have faster access to legal advice and support. The goal for 2010-11 is that 70% of decisions on LAO applications will be made within one business day.

Aboriginal Programs

As part of Ontario's New Approach to Aboriginal Affairs, Ontario is committed to a criminal justice system that is inclusive and shares responsibility, while encouraging, promoting and enhancing increased Aboriginal participation in the system.

Ontario currently funds 10 Aboriginal community justice programs in 24 communities across the province, as well as four Gladue Service programs providing services to Aboriginal accused appearing in courts in Toronto, Kitchener-Waterloo, Hamilton region, Sarnia, London, Thunder Bay and Manitoulin Court District.

The government also delivers the Aboriginal Court Worker Program, where court workers help Aboriginal accused persons navigate the court process in 48 court sites across the province. 

Throughout 2010-2011 the Ministry of the Attorney General will continue to implement the Aboriginal Justice Strategy, a framework that was developed in consultation with Aboriginal stakeholders and other ministries, aimed at providing equitable, coordinated, effective and responsive criminal justice services to all Aboriginal people in Ontario. 

The Aboriginal Justice Strategy addresses issues such as the over-representation of Aboriginal people as both offenders and victims in the criminal justice system and improves access to justice services.

During the summer of 2009, Ontario began to announce the recipients of Aboriginal Victims Support Grant Program which awarded $2 million in grants to community based projects to help First Nations, Métis, and Inuit victims of crime.  The ministry will continue to announce recipients in early 2010-11.

Mental Health

In February 2009, the Attorney General began a series of stakeholder roundtables to identify and address present challenges facing people with mental health issues in the justice system.

In 2010-11, the ministry will continue to build on existing mental health court initiatives to strengthen the systemic response to challenges facing people with mental health and/or addiction needs in the criminal justice system.

In collaboration with its justice partners and stakeholders, the ministry is working to develop initiatives that will:

• Reduce the number of people with mental health needs entering the criminal justice system
• Increase the criminal justice system’s capacity to identify specific mental health needs of persons entering the criminal justice system
• Expedite proceedings for those with mental health needs in the criminal justice system
• Ensure consistent expertise and enhanced knowledge in the field of mental health and justice
• Increase emphasis on the impact of trauma and victimization on mental health.

Better Protect Ontario's Families and Children

In 2009 the ministry embarked on a plan to develop an approach to family law that is easier, more focused and more affordable.

The Family Statute Law Amendment Act, 2009, received Royal Assent in May 2009.

In October 2009 a portion of the Act aimed at strengthening restraining orders came into effect, and as of March 1, 2010 a number of reforms were implemented to help children and families in times of family breakdown and distress.

Additionally, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) is leading the work related to pension division and valuation amendments to help people involved in marriage breakdown.  MOF is developing a regulation that will set out the pension valuation methodology under the Pension Benefits Act.
               
Throughout 2010-11 the ministry will continue to implement family law reforms aimed at making the family courts easier to use, more focused and more affordable. 

The ministry is committed to protecting Ontario’s children and offers a range of services provided by the Office of the Children’s Lawyer and the Supervised Access Program.

The government provides transfer payment funding to community-based, non-profit organizations to provide Supervised Access services throughout the province within 52 court districts. The objective of these centres is to provide a safe, neutral and child-focused setting for visits and exchanges between a child and a non-custodial parent or other person, such as a grandparent, in cases where there are concerns about the safety of the child and/or custodial parent.

Some key measures that demonstrate the performance of these programs are:

• Percentage of custody/access cases where the child is represented by counsel with the Office of the Children’s Lawyer that are settled without a trial

• Percentage of safe visits and exchanges without incident between children and their non-custodial parent in Supervised Access Centres

Protect the Interests of the Most Vulnerable

The ministry provides and supports a wide array of services for vulnerable people through community, agency and court-based initiatives.  This includes decision-making by the Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee for mentally incapable people with no one else to act on their behalf.  A key measure that demonstrates the performance of this program is:

• Percentage of requests for medical treatment decisions for mentally incapable adults responded to within 24 hours by the Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee

The ministry is responsible for the Ontario Human Rights Code and for the arm’s-length agencies that administer it.  The new human rights system was launched in June 2008, and consists of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, the Ontario Human Rights Commission and the Human Rights Legal Support Centre.  The new system reinforces Ontario’s leadership in human rights and addresses systemic discrimination.

The ministry is also responsible for providing administrative support to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board (CICB), which awards compensation to victims of certain Criminal Code offences.   The Board provides a fair, caring and sensitive forum for victims to be heard.

In 2009, the Victim/Witness Assistance Program provided services to 77,966 people in Ontario.  In 2010-11, the program will continue to provide support and information throughout the court process to the most vulnerable victims and witnesses of crime, including victims of domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault, and hate crimes, as well as elderly victims and the families of homicide victims.  The program is available in all 54 court districts across the province.

The ministry has also extended two existing programs under the Ontario Victim Services Secretariat.  Services will continue to victims in 2010-11 for the Victim Quick Response Program, which provides victims with effective and compassionate support in the immediate aftermath of a crime. The Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) Counselling Program, which pays for counselling for survivors of Internet sexual exploitation, will also continue to offer services to victims.

In April 2010, the Attorney General presented the annual Victim Services Awards of Distinction at Queen’s Park. The awards recognize both victims of crime whose courage and dedication raise the profile of victims’ issues in Ontario, and volunteers and professionals who provide outstanding service to victims.

Deliver a Modern and Efficient Court System

The ministry is responsible for the administration of criminal, family, civil and small claims courts in Ontario. It is committed to providing a modern and professional court service that supports accessible, fair, timely and effective justice. Services include:

• Providing public information at court counters and information centres
• Maintaining court records
• Providing courtroom support for the judiciary
• Managing juries
• Delivering family and civil mediation programs
• Enforcing court orders
• Providing administrative support for the appointment of judges and other judicial officials.

Some key performance measures that show how these services enhance access to justice include:

• Percentage of Civil Court customers with single filings who were served in less than 20 minutes
  

• Percentage of cases that proceeded to Family Mediation that were fully or partially settled

• Percentage of Small Claims Court customers with single filings who were served in less than 30 minutes

Ontario is creating a modern, effective and accessible justice system by funding an accelerated new courthouse construction program and investing in existing courthouses.

With construction complete, the official opening of the Durham Region Courthouse is expected in spring 2010.  Construction of the new Waterloo Region Consolidated Courthouse is expected to begin in spring 2010 and sites have been selected for the Quinte, Thunder Bay, Toronto West and St. Thomas Consolidated Courthouses.

The ministry continues to work to increase accessibility in Ontario courthouses.  In 2009-10 the ministry launched an Accessibility Coordinator function for all full-time court locations and will be expanding the function to satellite and fly-in court locations by winter 2010

Serving the Public Interest

Through its Legal Services Division, the ministry supports the role of the Attorney General as Chief Law Officer of the Crown. It provides the government with expert legal services, advocacy and representation before tribunals and at all levels of court. The percentage of government clients satisfied with services provided by the Legal Services Division was 93.5 per cent in 2008-09 and 91.9 per cent in 2009-10. This satisfaction rate is expected to be similar for 2010-11.

Legislation

In spring 2009 the Attorney General introduced the Accounting Professions Act, 2009, that would, if passed, clarify the authority of the three accounting bodies, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario, the Certified General Accountants Association of Ontario and the Society of Management Accountants of Ontario. 

The Attorney General also introduced the Ticket Speculation Amendment Act, 2009, that would, if passed, prohibit related primary and secondary ticket sellers from selling tickets to the same event, helping to ensure that Ontario consumers have fair access to tickets.

In December 2009 the Attorney General introduced the Elections Statute Law Amendment Act, 2009, which responds to the recommendations of a Select Committee of the Legislature to modernize and depoliticize the election process in Ontario.

The ministry proposed legislation will continue through committee and the Legislature in 2010-2011.

Tobacco lawsuit

The Tobacco Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act, 2009 received Royal Assent in May 2009 and allows the government to sue tobacco companies for alleged wrongdoing to recover past and ongoing health care costs borne by Ontario taxpayers due to tobacco-related illness.

After the passage of the new legislation, Ontario filed a $50 billion lawsuit on September 29, 2009 against a group of tobacco companies seeking damages for past and ongoing health care costs linked to tobacco related illness.

Ontario will continue with the litigation in 2010-11.

For more information on the Ministry’s programs and services, please contact the Ministry of the Attorney General at 1-800-518-7901 or visit www.attorneygeneral.jus.on.ca.