Alternative measures are intended to address the commission of an offence outside of the regular criminal justice system. As early as 1996, the federal legislature adopted a legislative framework enabling provinces to establish alternative measures programs, with the aim of reserving judicial recourse to serious offences and reducing the courts workload. However, some programs are very restrictive and make it difficult to achieve this goal. This research is intended to provide a rigorous and systematic overview of provincial alternative measures programs, and analyze their capacity to reduce courts workload. The federal legislature has given considerable discretion to the provinces in this regard. By understanding the eligibility requirements of these programs in terms of offences, characteristics of offenders and procedures used, this study highlights the timidity of the recently introduced Quebec alternative measures program.