Civil Court Survey

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Civil courts in seven provinces and territories handled almost 817,000 cases in 2007/2008. Civil courts typically deal with cases that involve a dispute between two private parties, such as divorce and breach of contract matters.

Compared with the previous year, the civil court caseload was up in Ontario (+2%) and British Columbia (+5%). The remaining four jurisdictions reported decreases ranging from declines of 2% in both Yukon and the Northwest Territories to a 13% drop in Nunavut.

In general, there were fewer cases added to the civil court caseload in 2007/2008, with Nova Scotia, Ontario, Yukon and Nunavut registering declines from the year before. The number of new cases remained about the same in British Columbia, while it increased in the Northwest Territories.

In all reporting jurisdictions except Nunavut, general civil cases accounted for the majority of the civil court caseload in 2007/2008, ranging from 51% in the Northwest Territories to 66% in Ontario. These included cases relating to injury caused by a motor vehicle, bankruptcy matters and probate cases.

Family cases, relating to issues such as divorce, child and spousal support, custody of children and access to children, represented the remaining civil court caseload, ranging from 34% of all civil cases in Ontario to 72% in Nunavut.

Note: The figures for 2007/2008 include data for Nova Scotia, Ontario, British Columbia, Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut and partial data for Alberta. These seven jurisdictions represent 66% of the Canadian population.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 5052.

Data for 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 are now available upon request only. For more information, or to enquire about concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Information and Client Services (toll-free 1-800-387-2231; 613-951-9023), Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics.