The cost of justice

More than $1 billion was spent on the operation of courts in Canada in 2000/01, employing nearly 10,000 court staff and 2,000 judges. Adult corrections cost nearly $2.5 billion in 2000/01. The average daily cost of housing an inmate was $189 at the federal level and $137 at the provincial level.

Legal aid expenditures increased throughout the first half of the 1990s, peaking in 1994/95, then declining consistently until 1998/99. Accounting for inflation, per capita expenditures on legal aid in 2001/02 were 15% above that of 1997/98, rising from $14.40 per Canadian to $16.62. Total spending on legal aid in 2001/02 was $593 million. Tightened eligibility criteria and reductions in the types of cases covered have led to significant decreases in legal aid expenditures across Canada. Although there was a slight decrease in the number of approved legal aid applications in 2001/02 (511,000 applications), the number was 6% higher than it was in 1997/98.