Canada’s Black Justice Strategy: Consultations and Engagements

Consultations and the online survey are now closed.

It is critical that Canada’s Black Justice Strategy be grounded in the experiences of Black people in Canada, reflecting the diverse history, backgrounds, experiences and regional realities of Black communities.

To do so, Justice Canada established contracts with 12 Black-led community-based organizations to lead consultations and engagements with Black communities across Canada from September to October 2023. For people who were unable to participate in community consultations and engagements, Justice Canada also launched an online survey which was available between September and October 2023. A summary of the consultations is now available.

Both processes informed the external Steering Group’s report, A Roadmap for Transformative Change, which presents recommendations for concrete actions to address the overrepresentation of Black people in Canada’s criminal justice system, including as victims of crime, and to reform and modernize the criminal justice system.

Community consultations and engagements

Community consultations and engagements were guided by the Framework, a document developed by the Steering Group for Canada’s Black Justice Strategy. Using the Framework, 12 Black-led community-based organizations from across Canada led consultation and engagement activities to validate existing information and recommendations included in the Framework, identify missing or outdated information and recommendations, and highlight gaps in policies, legislation, data, services, initiatives, programs and community supports. This work took place from September to October 2023.

Visit the websites of the 12 Black-led community-based organizations to learn more about their work:

Reporting on community engagement

Each of the 12 organizations leading community consultations and engagements delivered a summary report on what they heard to the Steering Group. These reports informed the Steering Group’s report, A Roadmap for Transformative Change.

Read the Summary of Site Reports for Canada’s Black Justice Strategy here:

Online survey

Black people of all ages living in Canada and representatives of organizations that provide justice-related services and supports to Black communities in Canada who were unable to participate in community engagements in their region, were invited to share their views by completing the online survey. For privacy protection reasons, youth involved in matters under the Youth Criminal Justice Act were not permitted to participate in this online survey.

The survey was developed from the Framework prepared by the external Steering Group for Canada’s Black Justice Strategy.

The online survey is now closed.

Reporting on the online survey

Using data collection tools, Justice Canada compiled the anonymous, aggregated data for analysis. Justice Canada also shared the results of the online survey with the external Steering Group to inform their report.

Read the summary report, Engaging with Black communities on Canada’s Black Justice Strategy – Online survey complementing the community-led consultations: