Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Members of the Justice Committee, it is my pleasure to appear before you to answer questions regarding funding of Legal Aid and the Drug Treatment Court Funding Program.
The department will continue working closely with our provincial and territorial counterparts to promote the development and implementation of legal aid policy under the auspices of the federal-provincial-territorial permanent working group on legal aid.
I would now like to turn your attention to the drug treatment court funding program. It is managed jointly by the Department of Justice and Health Canada and was initiated in May 2003. The objectives of the program are to promote and strengthen the use of alternatives to incarceration, with a particular focus on youth, aboriginal men and women, and street prostitutes; to build knowledge and awareness among criminal justice, health, and social service practitioners and the general public about drug treatment courts; and to collect information and data on the effectiveness of drug treatment courts in order to promote best practices and continue refining approaches.
Drug treatment courts were established as pilot projects in Toronto in December 1998, and in Vancouver in December 2001. They are based on the successful drug treatment courts in the United States, of which there are now more than 1,000. Both the Toronto and Vancouver courts have shown promise in reducing addiction and repeat offences in those areas. The drug treatment court funding program supports four new courts in Edmonton, Regina, Winnipeg, and Ottawa, and continues to fund existing courts in Toronto and Vancouver.
Each of the funding recipients must report annually on the results of their activities. These results are used to support annual reports to Parliament and the Canadian public and to inform others who may want to establish drug treatment courts in their communities. This reporting activity also helps to ensure that best practices and standards are consistent across the various jurisdictions, while supporting the needs of individual communities where courts are located.
The courts use court-monitored treatment and community service support for non-violent offenders with drug addictions. The participants must enter a structured outpatient program where they must attend both individual and group counselling sessions, receive appropriate medical attention such as methadone treatment, and submit to random drug tests. Participants must also appear regularly in court, where judges review their progress. If that progress is positive, judges may reward participants verbally. However, should conditions not be met, judges may impose sanctions ranging from verbal reprimands to expulsion from the program.
The drug treatment court system understands that participants have other basic needs, such as safe housing, stable employment, and job training. Staff members worked with partners in the community to help address those needs as well.
Once a participant gains a measure of social stability and can demonstrate control over the addiction, he or she is likely to receive a non-custodial sentence, meaning restrictions other than going to jail. However, if an offender is unsuccessful, the offender will be sentenced as part of the regular court process.
Funding from the Department of Justice and Health Canada is helping to support court-monitored treatment of drug-addicted offenders who have committed crimes to support their drug habits. The program promotes drug abstinence and holds offenders accountable for their actions.
Now that I've briefly described the two programs, we would be pleased to answer any questions the committee may have in this regard. Thank you.