Skip to content Leave Site Now

Legal Aid Ontario will be closed on October 2
Please note that we will be closed on Monday, Oct. 2 to commemorate Truth and Reconciliation Day. Offices and the call centre will resume regular business hours on Tuesday, Oct. 3.

X
Legal Aid Ontario
  • Services
    • Temporary service changes due to COVID-19
    • COVID-19 and the courts: Answers to frequently asked questions
    • Our services
    • Criminal legal issues
    • Domestic violence
    • Family legal issues
    • Mental health legal issues
    • Refugee and immigration legal issues
    • Youth legal issues
    • Legal clinics
    • How to apply
    • Find a lawyer
      • Finding the right legal aid lawyer
    • What do you think about our services?
    • Languages
    • Contact us
  • For legal professionals
    • COVID-19: Ongoing list of supports for lawyers
    • LASA 2020 process updates for lawyers
    • Changes to policies and certificate coverage
    • Roster resources
      • Audit & Compliance
      • Billing
      • Case management
      • Forms library
      • Legal Aid Services Act, 2020 policies
      • Legal Aid Online
      • LAO LAW
      • Minimum experience requirements
      • More resources
    • Do legal aid work
    • Mentoring
    • Test case funding
    • News for lawyers
    • B3 Newsletters
    • Contacts for lawyers
  • Corporate
    • About
      • By-laws
      • Our clients
      • Board of Directors
      • Executive Team
      • Board Advisory Committees
      • Sidney B. Linden Access to Justice Award
      • French Language Services
    • Legal Aid Services Act, 2020
      • LASA 2020 Rules and Policies
      • LASA 2020 glossary
    • Consultations
    • LAO Consultation Registry
    • Open Government
    • Reports
    • Publications
    • News
    • Social media
    • Careers
    • Contact Us
  • FAQ
Français LAO Client Portal
Français LAO Client Portal
  • Services
    • Temporary service changes due to COVID-19
    • COVID-19 and the courts: Answers to frequently asked questions
    • Our services
    • Criminal legal issues
    • Domestic violence
    • Family legal issues
    • Mental health legal issues
    • Refugee and immigration legal issues
    • Youth legal issues
    • Legal clinics
    • How to apply
    • Find a lawyer
      • Finding the right legal aid lawyer
    • What do you think about our services?
    • Languages
    • Contact us
  • For legal professionals
    • COVID-19: Ongoing list of supports for lawyers
    • LASA 2020 process updates for lawyers
    • Changes to policies and certificate coverage
    • Roster resources
      • Audit & Compliance
      • Billing
      • Case management
      • Forms library
      • Legal Aid Services Act, 2020 policies
      • Legal Aid Online
      • LAO LAW
      • Minimum experience requirements
      • More resources
    • Do legal aid work
    • Mentoring
    • Test case funding
    • News for lawyers
    • B3 Newsletters
    • Contacts for lawyers
  • Corporate
    • About
      • By-laws
      • Our clients
      • Board of Directors
      • Executive Team
      • Board Advisory Committees
      • Sidney B. Linden Access to Justice Award
      • French Language Services
    • Legal Aid Services Act, 2020
      • LASA 2020 Rules and Policies
      • LASA 2020 glossary
    • Consultations
    • LAO Consultation Registry
    • Open Government
    • Reports
    • Publications
    • News
    • Social media
    • Careers
    • Contact Us
  • FAQ

Legal Aid Ontario: Race-based data for legal aid certificates 2019-20

Published: July 10, 2020

Updated: September 3, 2020

As part of its commitment to better serve its clients, Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) began in 2018 to ask its clients to voluntarily indicate if they self-identified as part of a racialized group and, if so, how they identified themselves.

Over the past two years, 85 per cent of our clients have indicated their willingness to answer to these questions. What we learned from the data in these early stages helped inform LAO in the final phases of LAO’s Racialized Communities Strategy (RCS) and its final report and action plan. A similar self-identification question for Indigenous people is also assisting LAO’s Aboriginal Justice Strategy as it is currently working on its final report.

LAO is currently one of the only organizations in the justice system in Ontario that collects race-based data on its clients.

The data is based on all legal aid certificates that were issued in the 2019‑20 fiscal year in all areas of law. The data does not include any information collected through duty counsel in courthouses at this time.

LAO’s numbers confirm known trends within the justice sector in Ontario, particularly the overrepresentation of Black and Indigenous populations. Black Ontarians make up 4.7% of the population according to the most recently available data from Statistics Canada, yet comprise 17.2% of LAO’s clients (and 14.3% of its clients in criminal law). Indigenous peoples make up 2.8% of Ontario’s population but comprise 13.8% of LAO clients (19.8% of clients in criminal law).

Race-based Category Ontario1 Criminal CYFSA Domestic Family Law I&R Civil Total
Indigenous 2.8% 19.8% 15.4% 7.8% 0.0% 15.8% 13.8%
Asian2 18.7% 4.5% 2.2% 7.5% 19.1% 5.8% 7.4%
Asian–East
  0.4% 0.6% 1.0% 8.6% 1.0% 1.9%
Asian–South-East
  1.0% 0.7% 1.7% 1.1% 1.4% 1.2%
Asian–South
  3.0% 0.9% 4.9% 9.4% 3.4% 4.3%
Black 4.7% 14.3% 6.4% 10.6% 38.3% 17.0% 17.2%
Latin American 1.5% 1.4% 1.5% 3.3% 13.0% 1.4% 3.7%
Middle Eastern, North African 2.8% 2.5% 1.3% 5.0% 18.2% 2.6% 5.5%
Visible minority, n.i.e.3 0.7% 4.0% 3.3% 3.5% 5.5% 4.8% 4.1%
White 67.8% 52.2% 68.4% 61.0% 5.7% 51.2% 47.0%
Multi-racial 1.4% 1.4% 1.5% 1.3% 0.3% 1.4% 1.2%
Total 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
Non-response4   14.5% 7.1% 5.4% 2.0% 59.6% 13.1%

1 Ontario population breakdown is an aggregation of Ontario data from the 2016 census.

2 July 17, 2020: The new data and information contains a more detailed breakdown of the ‘Asian’ category. Individuals previously included in an aggregated ‘Asian’ category will now be included in one of the following aggregated categories: Asian–East, Asian–South‑East, Asian– South, or Multi‑racial.

3 The category called “Visible minority, n.i.e.” is an aggregation of: Indian Caribbean, Roma, and Other categories from LAO’s data collection.

4 This represents the number of records where no response was recorded to the race-based question. Non-response records were not included calculating the distribution by race-based category.

Note: Due to rounding, the numbers may not add up precisely to the totals provided

There is more that can be done with this data, and the information is not only invaluable for LAO as it determines services in future, it is of great importance to researchers, students, stakeholders and advocates who are working towards a more equitable justice system.

To this end, LAO is making available the data sets for its race-based information. Consistent with LAO’s open data guidelines, the information is anonymized so that there is no identifying information about its clients.

Please contact LAO’s Racialized Communities Strategy for more information.

For more information:

  • LAO’s open data policy
  • Racialized Communities Strategy final paper and Racialized Communities Action Plan
  • Aboriginal Justice Strategy
  • This form is feedback only.
Go back to top

Site footer

Sign-up for email alerts about upcoming consultations.

Need legal help?

Call us toll free at 1‑800‑668‑8258 Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (EST) for help in over 300 languages.

Current wait time: The CLSC is currently closed.

Wait times: Monday is our busiest day. For faster service, try calling Tuesday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Legal Aid Ontario is a safe and respectful space for our clients and employees. Verbal or threats of physical abuse will not be tolerated. Abusive behaviour may result in refusal of service.

Links

  • Freedom of information requests
    • Privacy policy
  • Accessibility policy
    • Terms of use
  • What do you think about our services?
    • Contact us
  • Sitemap

Legal Aid Ontario on social media

  • Social
    • Facebook
    • Intagram
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
Legal Aid Ontario

Legal Aid Ontario land acknowledgement

Land acknowledgement: Legal Aid Ontario recognizes that its work, and the work of its community partners take place on traditional Indigenous territories across the province.

Legal Aid Ontario copyright information

Legal Aid Ontario © 2023