Antoinette Rassi

The strategic plan for the Department of Justice Canada outlines its direction to be an outstanding government department and a leader in the national justice system. Its mission is to support the Minister of Justice in ensuring Canada is a just and law-abiding society with an accessible, efficient, and fair justice system, providing high-quality legal services, and promoting rights and freedoms. The plan is guided by three strategic directions: Serving Canadians by enhancing the justice system's relevance and accessibility; Providing High Value and Making Choices by focusing on leadership and excellence in key legal and policy areas; and Capitalizing on Our Strengths by integrating law and policy, leveraging national presence, and fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing.

This fourth annual progress report details the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act and its Action Plan from April 2024 to March 2025. It tracks progress across 181 measures, focusing on ensuring federal laws are consistent with the UN Declaration, advancing Action Plan implementation, and addressing key areas such as anti-Indigenous racism, health, economic and social rights, cultural and linguistic rights, education, and redress for Residential Schools. The report emphasizes consultation and cooperation with Indigenous partners, aiming to recognize and uphold the human rights of Indigenous peoples and advance reconciliation.

The Department of Justice Canada's 2019 report introduces the first performance monitoring framework for Canada's criminal justice system. This framework outlines nine broad outcomes: ensuring Canadians' safety, fairness and accessibility of the system, public understanding and confidence, operational efficiency, promotion of diversion and restorative justice, provision of rehabilitation services in corrections, respect for victims' rights, and reduction of Indigenous and marginalized populations' overrepresentation in the system. The report aims to identify trends, strengths, and areas for improvement, address data gaps, and enhance accountability and transparency in the criminal justice system.

This Departmental Action Plan for Official Languages outlines the Department of Justice Canada's strategic direction to ensure a fair, efficient, and accessible justice system for all Canadians by upholding linguistic duality. The plan focuses on providing leadership in official languages programs, ensuring comprehensive compliance with the Official Languages Act (OLA) across all relevant parts, and fostering a departmental culture that respects and promotes both official languages. Key priorities include delivering exemplary public service, offering second language training, ensuring equal employment and advancement opportunities, and objectively establishing language requirements for positions. A central component is the implementation of OLA Section 41, which involves raising awareness, integrating it into the organizational culture, and collaborating with official-language minority communities (OLMCs) and other partners to support their development and promote English and French in Canadian society, alongside robust accountability to federal authorities and Parliament.

This final report details the findings of a comprehensive review of Canada's criminal justice system, initiated by the Government of Canada in 2015 to ensure it is just, compassionate, fair, and promotes a safe and prosperous society. The review identifies key challenges and proposes solutions across four main areas: integrating restorative justice principles, reducing the overrepresentation of vulnerable populations, implementing further sentencing reform, and improving data and performance gaps. The overarching goal is to modernize the system, address root causes of crime through multi-sectoral collaboration, and foster a culture of respect, fairness, and inclusiveness, ultimately leading to a safer, more efficient, and more effective justice system for all Canadians.