Canada's Court System

How Does Canada's Court System Work details the different levels of courts that exist within Canada's justice system, the means of organization of the courts and the roles each levels of the judiciary play. It speaks to the alternative methods for dispute resolution that exist including Sentencing Circles for Indigenous communities and Alternative Dispute Resolution. The most current update to the publication addresses the Judiciary and the work being done to improve the Bilingual Biystemism (the coexistence of civil and common law systems in English and French) specifically in the Superior Courts. There has been a list of commonly used terms added and defined in plain language to improve accessibility.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field	Value
Last Updated	April 17, 2026, 19:30 (UTC)
Created	April 17, 2026, 19:30 (UTC)
contact_email	OG-GO@justice.gc.ca
criticality_level	["general_public"]
geographic_scope	[]
open_canada_collection	publication
open_canada_date_modified	2017-09-25 00:00:00
open_canada_date_published	2015-01-01 00:00:00
open_canada_keywords	{"fr": ["Ministère de la Justice", "L'appareil judiciaire du Canada", "Les mécanismes de règlement extrajudiciaire des différends", "bilinguisme"], "en": ["Department of Justice", "Canada's Court System", "Bilingualism", "Alternative Dispute Resolution"]}
open_canada_subject	["government_and_politics", "law", "processes"]
sensitivity_level	unrestricted
title_fr	L'appareil judiciaire du Canada
update_frequency	as_needed