The department helps the federal government to develop policy and to draft and reform laws as needed.

The 53rd and current Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada is Arif Virani.

At Confederation, the Crown Law Department, Canada West began to act as the new Department of Justice, reporting to John A. Macdonald, who was Minister of Justice, Attorney General, and the new prime minister.

Regional offices were opened in Montreal (1965), Toronto (1966), Vancouver (1967), Winnipeg (1969), Halifax, Edmonton, Saskatoon, the Northwest Territories, and Iqaluit (Nunavut).

[2] The department employs 5,000 people, nearly half of whom are lawyers, in offices across the country mostly under the Public Prosecution Service of Canada.