A test case of national importance is a legal case brought before the courts to assert and clarify, in a novel way, one or more of the rights covered by the CCP. Thus, the purpose of a test case is not just to benefit the parties in the case itself, but better inform all Canadians of the scope of the right(s) in question.

The amount of money available from the CCP depends on the branch of the Program as well as the category of funding. The following are the maximum amounts available for each category of funding:

          Official Language Rights Branch:

Test Case Development $20,000
Litigation – trial level $150,000
Litigation – appeal
Leave to appeal $25,000
Appeal $60,000
Legal Intervention
Leave to intervene $10,000
Intervention $40,000

                  Human Rights Branch:

Test Case Development $20,000
Litigation – trial level $200,000
Litigation – appeal
Leave to appeal $25,000
Appeal $60,000
Legal Intervention
Leave to intervene $10,000
Intervention $40,000

In both branches of the Program, if you receive funding in the Test Case Development category and then apply for litigation funding for the same legal challenge, the amount that you received to develop the test case is deducted from the maximum amount available for litigation. For example, if you receive $20,000 in the Test Case Development category to develop an official language rights challenge and complete that file, and then apply for litigation funding, the maximum amount available for the litigation is $130,000.

In both branches of the Program and in each category of funding, up to an additional $5,000 may be available for accessibility-related needs. The purpose of accessibility funding is to ensure equal access to Program-funded activities by recipients with particular accessibility concerns.

These funding amounts are established by the Funding Guidelines for each branch:

CCP funding is meant to provide support for constitutional or quasi-constitutional cases. CCP funds can be used to pay for reasonable expenses like legal fees, costs related to legal research and drafting, community consultation, evidence development, and court costs.

Expenses are usually categorized as one of four types of expenses: legal fees, disbursements, external fees, or administrative expenses.
Legal fees can include research, evidence preparation, communications between funding recipients and their lawyer or other parties, and the preparation of court documents and costs related to court appearances.
Disbursements can include transcription expenses, costs related to serving or filing documents, interpretation or translation costs, photocopies, mail, courier, telephone calls, etc.
External fees can include external consultation fees, for example expert witness fees, preparation of expert reports, etc.
Administrative expenses can include reasonable travel or accommodation expenses for a funding recipient or their lawyer to attend a court hearing, witness fees, hearing fees, etc.

Accessibility funding can only be used to reimburse costs related to ensuring equitable access to Program-funded activities. These can include, for example, interpretation or production of documents in alternate media, travel costs for an attendant, and childcare costs.

For more details about what expenses are or are not eligible, please see the Funding Guidelines for each branch of the Program:

There are three categories of funding in both branches of the CCP: test case development, litigation, and legal interventions. When considering which category of funding to apply for, there are a number of factors to consider, including the amount of work still required to bring the case to court, your role in the case, and the steps taken in the case so far.

For more information about choosing a category of funding, please consult the Guide for Choosing a Funding Category.

No. Each category of funding is separate and you do not need to apply for test case development funding before applying for another category. If you already know what legal arguments you want to make and have enough evidence to bring your matter before the courts, or if your case is already underway, you may want to apply for litigation funding. To consider which category of funding is appropriate, it might be useful to consult this Guide for Choosing a Funding Category.

No. While it may be helpful to speak with a lawyer about your legal problem to determine whether your challenge meets the CCP’s eligibility criteria and to help you explain your legal arguments in the funding application, there is no requirement that you have a lawyer to apply for funding.

Please note, though, that if you receive funding from the CCP, the funds will need to be deposited into a lawyer’s trust account.

No. The Court Challenges Program is a funding body, not a legal clinic, and CCP lawyers cannot provide you with legal advice or information about your case. CCP lawyers can provide you with information about the Program’s eligibility criteria and the application process, and answer questions about the application forms. CCP lawyers can also provide you with follow up information, if any, on a funding application that you have submitted.

The Court Challenges Program cannot refer people to specific lawyers or organizations to help them with their legal problem.

Most Canadian law societies provides a lawyer referral service designed to connect members of the public with a lawyer who may be able to help. Below we have included links to those lawyer referral services as well as to other services that may be able to connect you with a lawyer or other legal information.

Alberta

British Columbia

Manitoba

New Brunswick

Newfoundland and Labrador

Northwest Territories

Nova Scotia

Nunavut

Ontario

Prince Edward Island

Québec

Saskatchewan

Yukon

Canada

The Expert Panels meet four times per year to make decisions about funding applications received during that cycle. For applications for official language rights funding, upcoming deadlines can be found on the Applying for Official Language Rights Funding page. For applications for human rights funding, upcoming deadlines can be found on the Applying for Human Rights Funding page.

Unfortunately, not all funding applications that seem to meet the eligibility criteria are selected for funding. The Expert Panels receive and consider a large number of funding applications, which requires them to make difficult decisions. Sometimes, more than one application on a particular legal question is received, and so even though a second application meets all the criteria, the Expert Panel cannot fund the same issue twice. Some legal questions are more novel than others, and some cases are expected to have a broader benefit. Other applicants may have demonstrated greater financial need. There are many factors that need to be balanced and considered.

This is why these hard decisions are entrusted to Expert Panels, who use their judgment on how best to allocate resources to achieve the CCP’s objectives. Because the Expert Panel’s decision is made in this specific context, it should not be interpreted as an opinion on whether your case should otherwise go forward.

The CCP is an independently-operated organization entirely funded by the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage (PCH). To ensure accountability for that funding, the CCP provides periodic reports to PCH on the expenditure of funds and how it is fulfilling its mandate.

PCH also coordinates the process by which the independent experts who serve on the CCP’s two Expert Panels are selected. Those experts are appointed by the Minister of Canadian Heritage and the Minister of Official Languages respectively.

However, to ensure the independence of the CCP’s decision-making process, and to protect the confidentiality rights of funding applicants and funding recipients, the CCP does not disclose the identity of any applicant or funding recipient to PCH or any other entity within the Government of Canada until a funded case is fully and finally concluded.

The University of Ottawa was selected by the Government of Canada to administer the Court Challenges Program and, for that purpose, the University of Ottawa and the Department of Canadian Heritage have signed a Contribution Agreement. The University provides the administrative infrastructure in which the Program operates, including, for example, human resources, accounting, facilities, and IT services. This support allows CCP staff to focus its time and resources on the Program’s core operations: processing applications for funding and ensuring the proper use of CCP funds by funding recipients. The University also appoints a Management Committee, to whom the CCP director reports, to ensure that the CCP is complying with the University’s obligations under the Contribution Agreement. However, the University of Ottawa plays no role in, nor has any knowledge of, decisions about which cases receive CCP funding.