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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 […]

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May 30, 2023
Public Request to the Ontario Auditor General

Introduction Tribunal Watch Ontario is a non-partisan, public interest organization, dedicated to promoting an independent and accessible adjudicative tribunal system in Ontario. Tribunal Watch Ontario advocates for accessible, efficient, timely and fair dispute resolution processes at Ontario tribunals. Tribunal Watch Ontario is filing this Public Request with the Office of the Auditor General of Ontario […]

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May 10, 2023
The Crisis at the Landlord and Tenant Board Background information

In this report, we compare the performance of the Landlord and Tenant Board as it was in 2018 with how it now, based on the Board’s Annual Reports and data from the Board’s website. According to its most recent Annual Report, published in July 2022, the Landlord and Tenant Board in 2021/22, as compared to […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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. […]

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August 10, 2021
Statement of Concern: Access to Justice Threatened at the Landlord and Tenant Board

Tribunal Watch Ontario is deeply concerned about the quality of justice currently being delivered at the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB). Ongoing delays in the processing of applications, inexperienced adjudicators, as well as hearing-day inefficiencies caused by the LTB’s new digital hearing format, are creating hardship for tenants and landlords across the province. However, Tribunal […]

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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 […]

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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 […]