HRTO – Tribunal Watch Ontario

May 21, 2024

The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario: A Continuing Crisis

The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) continues to fail Ontarians badly. According to Tribunals Ontario’s most recent Annual Report, the HRTO backlog grew by another 500 applications over the 12-month period covered by the report, despite the fact that it received the lowest number of new applications since 2015/16. The HRTO’s unresolved caseload rose […]

January 19, 2024

HELP WANTED: Effective leadership at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario

The position of Associate Chair of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) is vacant for the fifth time in as many years. Reporting to the Executive Chair of Tribunals Ontario, a cluster of 14 adjudicative tribunals, the Associate Chair is effectively the Chair of the tribunal, with responsibility for the recruitment and training of […]

January 15, 2023

The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario: What Needs to Happen

The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) has a backlog of over 9,000 cases. This number continues to rise and there is currently no clear plan for how to manage and resolve these cases, many of which were filed years ago. The extraordinary delays are denying access to justice to thousands of Ontarians, and undermining […]

December 14, 2022

Justice Denied: The Access to Justice Crisis at Tribunals Ontario

The crisis continues in some of Ontario’s most important adjudicative tribunals. Tribunals Ontario posted its 2021/22 Annual Report on its website in September 2022, documenting the state of its 14 tribunals as of March 31, 2022, the end of its fiscal year. This latest Annual Report demonstrates that several key Ontario adjudicative tribunals are failing […]

May 25, 2022

Statement of Concern: The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario

Introduction The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) has not fared well over the last four years. The Tribunal has lost its most experienced adjudicators and the current complement of adjudicators is not sufficient to keep up with a growing number of incoming cases, let alone the 90% increase in a case backlog that now […]

March 10, 2022

Access to Justice in Crisis: Tribunals Ontario in 2022

Imagine if you will: If you applied to Tribunals Ontario for a remedy in any of these situations, you can now expect to wait months or even years for a hearing and final decision. In many cases, you will wait months for your tribunal to take even basic preliminary steps to move your application forward. […]

August 10, 2021

Appointment and recruitment process for Associate Chair of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario

Tamara Kronis, who was appointed Associate Chair for the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) on July 30, 2020, is stepping down to run for the Conservative Party in the next federal election. Tribunal Watch Ontario calls on the government and Tribunals Ontario to commit to a full and transparent recruitment and appointment process to […]

March 29, 2021

The “Digital Transformation” at Tribunals Ontario: The Impact on Access to Justice

Synopsis In the continuing 2020/21 public health crisis, it has become important for all jurisdictions to explore innovative ways to deliver justice, including administrative justice. More specifically, the expanded use of digital or electronic hearings has become essential, and increasingly, is accepted as an important option to maintain after the pandemic, where it can promote […]

November 30, 2020

The Face of Justice Denied

Under cover of our current health crisis, the current Government has been quietly and steadily reducing the quality of justice that Ontarians can expect from our administrative justice system, including, for example, the Social Benefits Tribunal, the Landlord and Tenant Board and the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. By stripping tribunals of experienced and trained […]

August 06, 2020

Concerns Arising from the Recent Associate Chair Appointment to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario

In May, Tribunal Watch Ontario reported on the crisis in the adjudicative tribunal system in Ontario. It noted that Tribunals Ontario had lost almost half of its most experienced adjudicators and the tribunals within it could no longer fulfil their mandate to adjudicate in a variety of areas such as human rights. Specifically, the Human […]