Summary of the Evaluation of the Court Challenges Program, 2017-18 to 2022-23

Evaluation Services Directorate
May 31, 2024

On this page

• List of acronyms and abbreviations
• List of tables
• Overview
  • Relevance
  • Effectiveness
  • Efficiency
• Recommendations

List of acronyms and abbreviations

CCP

Court Challenges Program

List of tables

• Table 1: Requests for funding, Human Rights
• Table 2: Requests for funding, Language Rights
• Table 3: Applications funded by type of activity, 2018-19 to 2022-23

Alternate format

Summary of the Evaluation of the Court Challenges Program, 2017-18 to 2022-23 [PDF version - 1.01 MB]

Overview

The Court Challenges Program (CCP) supports certain legal procedures to allow Canadians to clarify and strengthen their linguistic and human rights.

The CCP is funded by the federal government and managed independently by the University of Ottawa.

The evaluation examined the relevance, effectiveness, and efficiency of the CCP from 2017–18 to 2022–23, with an emphasis on its implementation and impact.

Relevance

The CCP plays a decisive role in clarifying and ensuring respect for the rights covered within its scope.

The CCP enables individuals and groups to undertake the complex and lengthy steps to advance certain fundamental rights. These legal procedures would be largely beyond their reach without the financial support offered by the program.

529 applications received, despite the impact of COVID-19

• 368 human rights
• 161 language rights

275 applications funded

• 168 human rights
• 107 language rights

The CCP is aligned with the federal government’s priorities regarding official languages, inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility.

There are unmet needs due to the exclusion of certain fundamental rights and the type of challenged legislation from the scope of the CCP.

Effectiveness

All types of activities were funded. No eligible applications were rejected due to a lack of CCP funding.

The Program has made an important contribution to the advancement of language rights and the clarification of human rights.

Several landmark decisions in the fields of language rights and human rights have involved parties that received financial support from the program.

While there have been some promotional activities, CCP remains less well known among certain groups that could benefit from its support. Access to the CCP is reduced by the lack of knowledge and visibility of the program among the general public.

Efficiency

The existing model of program delivery by an independent organization (University of Ottawa) works well. No alternatives to the existing model were identified or suggested to improve program efficiency.

The team at the University of Ottawa was a decisive and sustained factor in achieving the program’s results.

The University of Ottawa has managed the CCP effectively, and the provisions of the contribution agreement with the Department of Canadian Heritage have been respected.

80% of the budget is devoted to funding legal remedies and 20% to program administration.

Expert committees respect their agreed upon mandates.

However, there are gaps in the expertise of expert committees on litigation costs across the country and different types of courts.

The performance measurement strategy is incomplete and inadequate. Performance information provides only a partial picture of program activities and their impact.

Recommendations

Based on the findings, the evaluation recommends that the Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy, Planning and Corporate Affairs:

1. In collaboration with the University of Ottawa, ensure that both expert panels have access to expertise on litigation costs in different regions of the country and different types of courts.
2. In collaboration with the University of Ottawa, confirm reporting requirements to adequately document funded cases, including their outcomes and their impacts on the clarification of the rights covered by the program.

© His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of Canadian Heritage, 2024
Catalogue No.: CH7-74/2-2024E-PDF
ISBN: 978-0-660-73150-6