The province's Justice on Target strategy is helping the people who work in Ontario's criminal courts reduce delay, get to decision points faster and complete non-complex cases more quickly. Doing so benefits victims and witnesses, and creates capacity for criminal justice participants to direct more attention to serious and difficult cases and justice services for the public.

Today – Every criminal court of the Ontario Court of Justice is identifying, implementing or sustaining initiatives to tackle delay. More than 360,000 court appearances have been eliminated since the strategy was launched in 2008.

August 2011 – Criminal court statistics from July 1 2010 to June 30, 2011 show that Ontario has reversed the trend in criminal court delay. The average number of appearances needed to complete a criminal charge province-wide has fallen more than seven per cent since the strategy was launched in June 2008. For nearly twenty years the number of appearances needed to complete a criminal charge went up. It is now going down.

February 2011 – Criminal court statistics from January 1 to December 31, 2010 are posted on the ministry website in addition to new information about the impact of Bench Warrants in measuring criminal court delay. The average number of appearances needed to complete a criminal charge province-wide continues to fall and is now reduced by more than five per cent since the strategy was launched. Factoring out the impact of bench warrant days, the provincial average number of days needed to complete a criminal charge is also down nearly two per cent.

November 2010 - Justice on Target is recognized with the top 2010 IPAC/Deloitte Public Sector Leadership Award. This award acknowledges and lauds the exciting and innovative work underway by justice participants across Ontario to address criminal court delay.

October 2010 - Criminal court statistics for the 12 months between July 1, 2009 and June 30, 2010 are posted on the ministry website showing the provincial average number of to appearances needed to complete a criminal charge has fallen by three per cent since the strategy was launched.

September 2010 - The Ontario Courts of Justice in Hamilton, Halton, St.Catharines, Welland and Thunder Bay are engaged as Action Sites.

June 2010 - The Ontario Courts of Justice in Oshawa, Barrie, Peterborough and Ottawa are engaged as Action Sites.

March 2010 - Criminal court statistics for 2009 are posted on the ministry website showing the provincial average number of appearances needed to complete a criminal charge went down after going up year after year for the previous 18 years.

January and February 2010 - Regional Committees are formed in the West, Central West, Central East, East, Northeast and Northwest Regions to assist 37 small and medium criminal courts across the province as they become engaged as Action Sites.

December 2009 - The Ontario Court of Justice at 2201 Finch Avenue West, Toronto is engaged as an Action Site.

November 2009 - The Ontario Courts of Justice in Windsor, Kitchener and Cambridge, Sudbury and Espanola, and the College Park and Scarborough sites in Toronto are engaged as Action Sites.

June 2009 - Two of the province's busiest court sites, Brampton and Toronto's Old City Hall, are designated as Action Sites. Justice participants are brought together to adapt and build on the work done to date and to implement new processes tailored to these large sites.

May 2009 - Leaders at the initial Action Sites identify and begin implementing seven initiatives to tackle criminal court delay at the local level. These initiatives are aimed at helping justice participants get to a decision point faster and ensure resources are available for the cases that need them the most.

March 2009 - Criminal court statistics for 2008 are posted on the Justice on Target strategy website showing the provincial average to complete a criminal charge in the Ontario Court of Justice growing to 9.4 court appearances in 2008 while the average number of days remains at 205.

November/December 2008 - Local Leadership Teams are formed in the three initial Action Sites bringing together Judges, Justices of the Peace, Crown Attorneys, Defence Counsel, Police, Corrections officials, Court staff, Victim Service workers, Legal Aid Ontario and other organizations. It is the first time that representatives of all these groups are brought to the same table to address issues of criminal court delay.

These teams meet regularly and are supported by multi-disciplinary experts conducting hundreds of one-on-one and group interviews, hours of court observation, process mapping and analysis to identify initiatives to reduce delay at the local level.

October 2008 - The Ontario Courts of Justice in Newmarket, North York and London are designated as "Action Sites". Work begins to ensure justice participants at these sites are engaged in the strategy.

July 2008 - A Justice on Target Expert Advisory Panel is formed to provide advice on how to move cases through the justice system faster. The panel brings together some of the best minds in the field of criminal justice.

June 2008 - Attorney General Chris Bentley announces the Justice on Target strategy, setting a four-year target to reduce by 30 per cent the provincial average number of days and appearances required to complete a criminal case.

• Toronto News Release
• Kitchener-Waterloo News Release
• London News Release
• Hamilton News Release
• Ottawa News Release
• Windsor News Release
• Thunder Bay News Release

For the first time ever, criminal court statistics dating back to 2000 are made publicly available so that Ontarians can follow the progress of courts in their local community towards reaching their targets.

Throughout the summer and fall of 2008 the Attorney General and the strategy's leaders, Justice Bruce Durno and Crown Attorney Ken Anthony, host roundtable discussions at courthouses across the province and consult with a wide variety of justice organizations.

2007 - The provincial average to complete a criminal charge in the Ontario Court of Justice has steadily increased over the past 15 years, reaching 9.2 court appearances and 205 days by 2007.

1992 - The provincial average to complete a criminal charge in the Ontario Court of Justice is 4.3 court appearances and 115 days.

Justice On Target

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