Introduction

We aim to foster a workplace culture in CSD rooted in anti-racism, reconciliation, accessibility and inclusion, that reflects the diverse communities we serve. In 2024–2025, we continued to make progress on implementing initiatives intended to support our people, improve employee engagement, and champion mental health and wellness.

Feature initiatives

Court staffing

Court Services Division made significant effort in 2024–2025 to identify and implement a suite of inter-connected initiatives that – together – aim to reduce workload, improve the workplace experience for our staff, and improve staffing stability (retention) across our courts.

Areas of focus – including training, workload reduction, communications, recruitment and attraction – have been informed by extensive research conducted by CSD in 2023–2024. This research included consultation with CSD staff and managers, a literature review, and interviews with 17 jurisdictions across Canada and globally, highlighting common challenges and opportunities.

Some key progress made in 2024–2025 includes:

  • new Court Jobs public webpage established, to better promote frontline court jobs
  • more modern outreach to job candidates through social media
  • new, professionalized job fair marketing materials developed for consistent branding and use across the province
  • implementation of a more consistent, efficient recruitment process for frontline court staff, which has allowed CSD to bring in new hires more quickly and has improved the relevance of assessment methods
  • rollout of Lean foundational white-belt training for all CSD managers, in an effort to build a Lean culture across the organization
  • launch of a new weekly bulletin to centralize information, reduce email volume and workload and improve the quality and consistency of communications across the organization
  • launch of a staff feedback survey to better understand the drivers of turnover in the courts. Feedback received and divisional action are transparently communicated back to staff in a summary dashboard and posted on the intranet quarterly
  • launch of a new centralized training repository, now serving as a hub for court staff to easily access the tools and resources they need.

Communications

In February 2025, a new weekly bulletin was launched in CSD that compiles information into one email summary each Friday.

This centralized communication effort directly responded to feedback received from CSD staff and managers, where we heard there were too many emails — contributing to workload — and that staff wanted more:

  • consistent communication from leadership
  • awareness of training, and learning and development opportunities
  • recognition and celebration of our success stories

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Mental Health Needs Assessment project

Mental health is a top priority for CSD. In 2024, CSD began to work with CAMH on a mental health needs assessment project.

This needs assessment is intended to support the division’s understanding of the unique mental health and trauma-related needs and priorities of frontline court staff, and to support mental wellness and resiliency across the organization. An action plan will be developed in 2025–2026, in response to CAMH recommendations.

Lean knowledge development

Lean white-belt training was launched to CSD managers in 2024–2025, with the goal of building foundational knowledge and embedding a culture of efficiency across our organization. In 2024–2025, close to 220 managers received this training, with white-belt sessions continuing to rollout to CSD staff in 2025–2026.

Training

Court Services Division staff and managers continued to identify training as a top priority in 2024–2025.

This year we began work on the development of a long-term strategy, with a focus on strengthening the current skills of our people, preparing for upcoming modernizations and operational change (like CDT) and supporting professional growth.

In the short-term, we also continued to:

  • develop essential training material to fill current gaps
  • deliver training to our court staff across the province to ensure operational continuity
  • expand our training reach, including through use of video and tip sheets

In 2024–2025, we delivered 201 training sessions that reached over 2,800 employees across the province, including our centrally coordinated Orientation and Basic Training Program for new hires.

Diversity and inclusion

Fostering a culture of diversity and inclusion are key priorities for CSD. In 2024–2025, we offered numerous training opportunities and moved forward with initiatives aimed at increasing education and awareness — and that provided our staff and managers practical tools to make our workplaces more inclusive and equitable.

These efforts included:

Key training

As an example, in May 2024, over 150 CSD leaders attended in-person divisional management training on the topic of "Facilitating Conversations on Diversity, Inclusion, and Anti-Racism." The session received a 91% satisfaction rate, with leaders committing to applying the tools they were provided in their workplaces to support meaningful anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion conversations.

Diverse Interview Panel Program (DIPP)

Court Services Division participates in the DIPP, a program that aims to make it easier for hiring managers to build diverse interview panels that are reflective of the public we serve. The DIPP enhances fairness and reduces bias and perceived systemic barriers that may be inherent in the recruitment process.

Mentoring for Career and Inclusion Program (MCIP)

Court Services Division participates in the MCIP, a mentoring initiative that offers participants the opportunity to engage in both career development and diversity and inclusion conversations with seasoned public service mentors.