Ministry Overview and Core Business Areas

Ministry Overview

The Attorney General is the law officer of the Crown and has a unique role in government as the person who must see that the administration of public affairs is in accordance with the law. The Ministry of Attorney General fulfills that role under the Attorney's direction and is responsible in government for law reform, the administration of justice and for providing legal services that ensure lawful public administration.

In June 2005, the Attorney General was assigned responsibility for multiculturalism. At the same time, the Treaty Negotiations Office, for which the ministry had been responsible, joined the Ministry of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation. This Service Plan Update reflects both responsibility changes.

For financial and administrative purposes, the ministry's responsibilities are organized into the core business areas described below.

Core Business Areas and Structure

Court Services

Through the Court Services Branch, the ministry delivers all administration services — including security and order enforcement — to support courts presided over by the independent judiciary at three separate levels: the Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court and the Provincial Court.

Court Services must function in a manner that supports the requirement for independent decision-making among other participants in the justice system. The Branch provides services to other justice system participants as follows:

• The Judiciary: The judiciary directs the scheduling of all court appearances and all judicial sittings. Court Services supports these court events by providing administrative services, personnel, case documentation and trial support, document production, management of jury selection, interpreter services, prisoner appearances and courtroom and courthouse security. Court Services develops operational policies and procedures to support court processes in consultation with the judiciary and stakeholders.
• Counsel: Court Services informs counsel of operational changes affecting court processes. Court Services also provides support through the standardization of documents such as reports, forms and requests. All are accessible to counsel on the Internet.
• Police and Corrections Authorities: Court Services works with these authorities in providing efficient and secure handling of persons in custody and in the development of case tracking and business reform initiatives.

Court Services also works with federal, municipal and aboriginal governments and delivers services to 44 staffed courthouses and 44 circuit courts.

Expenditures for Court Services

Legal Services

Through the Legal Services Branch, the Ministry of Attorney General provides legal services to government, including advice to ministries and Cabinet, legislative drafting and representing the government in court and before administrative tribunals. This core business helps fulfill the Attorney General's role as set out under the Attorney General Act and is central to the ministry's role of seeing that public affairs are administered according to the law and that legal risks associated with government and ministry operations are reduced.

Clients are government ministries, the Attorney General, Cabinet, Crown corporations and public agencies. All legal services to government on civil law matters are delivered directly or through ad hoc arrangements whereby the ministry supervises retainers or contracts with outside counsel.

The Legal Services Branch is one of only two government legal service providers in Canada¹ with an annual service level agreement with client ministries through which ministries fund a substantial portion of the costs of legal services. These comprehensive agreements set out financial commitments, service commitments and performance measures.

Expenditures for Legal Services

Prosecution Services

Prosecution Services undertakes the Attorney General's independent role of law officer of the Crown in assessing and conducting all prosecutions and appeals of offences under the Criminal Code of Canada, the Youth Criminal Justice Act and a number of provincial statutes. This role is central to the goal of an effective criminal justice system and contributes to public safety and public confidence in the administration of criminal justice within the province.

Prosecutorial functions and responsibilities of the Attorney General are governed by the Crown Counsel Act and must be carried out objectively and fairly, without regard to improper influence or interference from any source. Crown counsel make their prosecutorial decisions independently of the police and other investigative agencies, victims, witnesses, members of the public, the judiciary and the Court Services Branch of the ministry.

The charge approval process ensures that the cases which go to court are sufficiently supported by the anticipated admissible evidence, and that prosecutions are only pursued if they are in the public interest. This process contributes to efficiency and effectiveness: cases that do not meet the evidentiary or public interest criteria are not placed before the court; accused persons who can be adequately dealt with by a referral to the out-of-court Alternative Measures Program² are not brought into the court system; and those accused persons who present a high risk of violence are identified early in the process. The charge approval process can also reduce the potential for civil suits.

Expenditures for Prosecution Services

Justice Services

Justice Services leads the ministry's responsibilities for civil and family law reform, administrative justice reform and justice services. Justice services include developing and implementing dispute resolution alternatives to court, enforcing registered maintenance orders and agreements, and managing the provincial funding of legal aid in consultation with the Legal Services Society. Dispute resolution options allow parties to be engaged actively in creating enduring agreements designed to meet their needs. Examples of programs operated by Justice Services include:

• the Parenting After Separation Program, a three-hour free information session that is mandatory at some court registries and which helps parents make informed choices about separation and the best interests of their children;
• the Child Protection Mediation Program, which uses mediation to help families reach early resolution of child protection disputes;
• the Family Justice Dispute Resolution Program, which provides dispute resolution services to assist families undergoing separation and divorce with issues related to child custody, access, guardianship and child or spousal support; and
• the Maintenance Enforcement and Locate Services, which facilitates full payment of child and spousal maintenance by monitoring and enforcing maintenance orders and agreements.

The Administrative Justice Office promotes innovative policies, practices and procedures for the more than 30 quasi-judicial tribunals that deliver the province's administrative justice system and provides advice to the ministries that are responsible for their operation. Seventeen ministries are responsible in various ways for tribunals that are used by thousands of people every year to resolve disputes, such as residential/tenancy disagreements or human rights complaints.

In addition, the Justice Services Branch provides funding to volunteer boards that operate some programs. For example:

• the British Columbia Mediator Roster Society maintains a roster of civil and family mediators which is available to the public, litigants, lawyers and judges, and provides information about the Child Protection Mediation Program roster of mediators;
• the British Columbia Dispute Resolution Practicum Society operates the Court Mediation Program, which offers free mediation services to Small Claims Court litigants. Currently, registries in Vancouver, Surrey, North Vancouver, Nanaimo and Victoria participate in this program; and
• the Law Courts Education Society and the Public Legal Education Society (People's Law School) provide public legal education.

Justice Services is also involved in shared projects and initiatives, working with, for example:

• the Ministry of Children and Family Development and the Legal Services Society to expand the use of child protection mediation initiatives across the province;
• the Ministry of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation to introduce dispute resolution provisions for use in Agreements in Principle and Final Agreements; and
• the British Columbia Justice Review Task Force, which includes the Law Society of BC, the Canadian Bar Association, and the judiciary to identify potential civil and family justice reforms.

Expenditures for Justice Services

Multiculturalism and Immigration

Multiculturalism and Immigration is responsible for planning, implementing, funding and managing anti-racism, multiculturalism, and immigrant and refugee settlement programs. In doing so, the Multiculturalism and Immigration Branch contracts with third-party service providers to deliver settlement and adaptation services for new immigrants, and contracts with third-party organizations and works with communities and other partners on anti-racism and multiculturalism initiatives. The branch is also responsible for ensuring a coordinated approach across government in the implementation of the Agreement for Canada-BC Cooperation on Immigration and the Provincial Strategy to Expand the Social and Economic Benefits of Immigration.

Multiculturalism and Immigration services include:

• the BC Settlement and Adaptation Program, which funds third parties to provide basic adult English language instruction and other settlement service supports to newcomer immigrants;
• the BC Anti-Racism and Multiculturalism Program, which funds third-party initiatives designed to increase understanding of multiculturalism and promote the elimination of racism;
• the Critical Incident Response Model, a three-year, three-step process that assists communities throughout British Columbia to develop local responses to racism and hate activity; and
• support for the work of the Multicultural Advisory Council, which is composed of people appointed from across the province to advise the Minister Responsible for Multiculturalism on issues related to anti-racism and multiculturalism.

Expenditures for Multiculturalism and Immigration

Executive and Support Services

This core business area consists of the Attorney General's Office, the Deputy Attorney General's office, one branch and two other separate offices that support the ministry goals and objectives, as well as various agencies, boards and commissions. In particular:

• the Management Services Branch provides corporate, financial and administrative services, including information technology, records, and facilities services, to the Ministry of Attorney General, the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General and the Ministry of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation;
• the Criminal Justice Reform Office (CJRO) leads criminal justice reform and develops innovative solutions to criminal justice challenges. CJRO reports to the Deputy Attorney General with ties to the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General, and maintains working relationships with criminal justice system participants and with its counterparts in other jurisdictions.
• the Strategic Planning and Legislation Office (SPL) leads ministry strategic planning and related corporate initiatives. SPL also provides policy advice in areas such as human rights, personal planning instruments, the provincial electoral system, and judicial compensation, as well as with respect to the legislative framework governing the legal profession, notaries, and the independent agencies, boards and commissions reporting to the Attorney General.

Expenditures for Executive and Support Services