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Table 1
Number of active civil court cases, by type and reporting jurisdiction, 2019/2020

Table 1
Number of active civil court cases, by type and reporting jurisdiction, 2019/2020
Table summary
This table displays the results of Number of active civil court cases. The information is grouped by Cases (appearing as row headers), P.E.I., N.S., N.B., Ont., Sask., Alta., B.C., Y.T., N.W.T., Nvt. and Total, calculated using number units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Cases	P.E.I.^{Table 1 Note 1}	N.S.^{Table 1 Note 2}	N.B.^{Table 1 Note 3}	Ont.^{Table 1 Note 4}	Sask.	Alta.	B.C.	Y.T.	N.W.T.	Nvt.	Total
Cases	number
Family cases^{Table 1 Note 5}	1,366	12,724	7,553	124,447	9,466	61,892	56,001	429	757	661	275,296
Divorce cases without issues^{Table 1 Note 6}^{Table 1 Note 7}	561	4,159	765	38,481	2,528	15,409	13,922	160	62	21	76,068
Divorce cases with issues^{Table 1 Note 8}	40	107	1,518	6,018	2,658	12,704	8,265	60	34	9	31,413
Custody/access cases^{Table 1 Note 9}^{Table 1 Note 10}	2	912	1,869	20,459	2,079	9,807	8,876	63	127	48	44,242
Support only cases^{Table 1 Note 10}^{Table 1 Note 11}	153	315	1,233	8,760	571	2,841	5,154	32	23	15	19,097
Child protection cases^{Table 1 Note 12}^{Table 1 Note 13}	37	1,636	523	14,012	1,152	4,427	3,899	17	40	113	25,856
Family cases involving a civil protection application^{Table 1 Note 14}	75	186	511	1,729	22	8,232	9,781	14	85	47	20,682
Other and unknown family cases^{Table 1 Note 15}^{Table 1 Note 16}	498	5,409	1,134	34,988	456	8,472	6,104	83	386	408	57,938
Non-family civil cases^{Table 1 Note 17}	2,678	22,722	10,351	295,303	16,310	135,694	146,477	748	1,161	318	631,762
Lawsuits for injury or damage^{Table 1 Note 18}	508	4,183	Note .: not available for any reference period	91,797	Note .: not available for any reference period	31,479	69,381	162	77	10	197,597
Contract disuptes^{Table 1 Note 19}	779	8,325	6	62,718	1,282	49,264	5,905	226	807	152	129,464
Bankruptcy^{Table 1 Note 20}	220	1,912	886	9,884	1,011	6,950	3,661	17	47	9	24,597
Probate^{Table 1 Note 21}	538	4,807	1,307	5,437	3,604	11,383	14,782	167	62	31	42,118
Other and unknown non-family cases^{Table 1 Note 22}	633	3,495	8,152	125,467	10,413	36,617	52,748	176	168	116	237,985
Total caseload	4,044	35,446	17,904	419,750	25,776	197,586	202,478	1,177	1,918	979	907,058
	percent
Family cases as percentage of total caseload	33.78	35.90	42.19	29.65	36.72	31.32	27.66	36.45	39.47	67.52	30.35
. not available for any reference period Note 1 In Prince Edward Island, the issues of custody, access and support may be under-reported since these issues are typically not captured when cases are first initiated but rather are identified from activity (such as judgments) over the length of the case. Return to note 1 referrer Note 2 In Nova Scotia, divorce cases with issues identified and the subcategories of access, custody and support are under-reported due to limitations in the system capacity to report secondary issues of custody, access and support. Return to note 2 referrer Note 3 In New Brunswick, "Contract disputes" represent landlord/tenant disputes only. Return to note 3 referrer Note 4 In Ontario, the issues of custody, access and support may be under-reported since these issues are typically not captured when cases are first initiated but rather are identified from activity (such as judgments) over the length of the case. Return to note 4 referrer Note 5 Family cases are cases involving family law-related issues, including divorces, separation, custody and access arrangements, support payments and protection applications. Return to note 5 referrer Note 6 Divorce cases without issues involve applications to the court to dissolve a marriage where no issues of custody, access or support have been identified, though the couple may have dealt with these issues earlier in a separation agreement. These case types may include issues related to the division of matrimonial property. Return to note 6 referrer Note 7 Divorce cases initiated late in the fiscal year may be reported as a divorce without issues if an answer is not filed until the next fiscal year. Return to note 7 referrer Note 8 Divorce cases with issues involve applications made to the court to dissolve a marriage and resolve custody, access and/or support issues. These case types may include issues related to the division of matrimonial property. Return to note 8 referrer Note 9 Custody/access cases include cases in which custody and/or access have been recorded as matters requiring resolution. Custody refers to the living arrangements of a child or children and which parent will have decision-making authority. Access allows the parent with whom the child does not primarily reside to apply for parenting time. These case types do not include applications for divorce but may involve other issues such as requests for support. Return to note 9 referrer Note 10 Given that the data are derived from records originally kept for non-statistical purposes, complete survey information is not always available. For example, information related to issues, such as custody, access and support, may not always be available from the court information systems and, as such, may be under reported. Return to note 10 referrer Note 11 Support only cases include cases in which child or spousal support issues were identified. These case types may include support matters not specifically identified but it is important to note that applications for divorce are not included here. Return to note 11 referrer Note 12 Child protection cases include applications to the court by the government for orders seeking the supervision of parents, guardians or caregivers, or the apprehension of children into government care because of issues of parental abuse, neglect, or incapacity. Return to note 12 referrer Note 13 The child protection cases examined in this table include cases where child protection was identified as an issue and do not include applications for divorce. Return to note 13 referrer Note 14 Family cases involving a civil protection application include applications to the family court by individuals seeking orders to ensure their safety, such as protection orders and restraining orders. Return to note 14 referrer Note 15 Other family cases include issues of parentage, non-parental guardianship matters, enforcement of court orders, estate matters, adoptions, other family-related disputes and cases where issues have not yet been recorded. A portion of the active cases classified as “Other family” may change over time as more issues are identified in the case. Return to note 15 referrer Note 16 Unknown family cases include unidentifiable family-related matters. Return to note 16 referrer Note 17 A non-family civil case is any civil action that is not a family-related action, such as contracts, torts, bankruptcy, probate matters and other claims involving money. Return to note 17 referrer Note 18 Lawsuits for injury or damage include: motor vehicle actions, malpractice, defamation, negligence, other tort and unknown tort. Return to note 18 referrer Note 19 Contract disputes include landlord/tenant, employment, mortgage foreclosure, lien, other contract (contract cases not specifically listed) and unknown contract (contract cases where the details are unknown) cases. Return to note 19 referrer Note 20 Bankruptcy refers to proceedings initiated either by an insolvent individual or business (voluntary bankruptcy) or by creditors (involuntary bankruptcy) seeking to either have the debtor's remaining assets distributed among the creditors or to restructure debt. Return to note 20 referrer Note 21 Probate refers to cases involving the administration and distribution of the estates of deceased persons (whether they left a will or died intestate). Return to note 21 referrer Note 22 Other non family case types include: administrative law, enforcement, adult protection/committeeship, civil protection, constitutional/charter, and other, which includes all non-family action types in a jurisdiction that do not fit into the categories specifically collected by the survey. Unknown cases include all other non-family not specifically identified. Return to note 22 referrer Note: Active cases include all cases with activity (at least one court event, which moves all or part of the case through the court process) during the 2019/2020 fiscal year and thus include initiated cases. Based on information provided by Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Information excludes data from Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec and Manitoba, not yet reporting to the survey. Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics, Civil Court Survey.

Date modified:: 2021-06-28