Tribunals Ontario – Tribunal Watch Ontario

August 18, 2025

Increased judicial intervention to correct unfairness at key tribunals

Ontario’s administrative tribunals are facing increased scrutiny by the courts for unfairness in dismissing claims brought by tenants, landlords, employees, car accident victims, and people who believe they have experienced discrimination or who are seeking disability benefits. Tribunals Ontario has been “laser focused” on managing backlogs at its constituent tribunals which include the Landlord and […]

February 14, 2025

Executive Summary for Statement of Concern – Under the Ford Government: Justice Delayed and Denied at Tribunals Ontario

This is an executive summary of our Statement of Concern about Tribunals Ontario. In December 2024, Tribunals Ontario released its much-delayed Annual Report for 2023/24, and despite some self-congratulatory messaging, the data inside, and on the Tribunals Ontario website, demonstrates that there are serious deficits in the quality, accessibility and timeliness of justice at three […]

February 13, 2025

Statement of Concern – Under the Ford Government: Justice Delayed and Denied at the Landlord and Tenant Board, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario and the Licence Appeal Tribunal

In December 2024, Tribunals Ontario released its much-delayed Annual Report for 2023/24, and despite self-congratulatory messaging, the data inside demonstrates that there are serious deficits in the quality, accessibility and timeliness of justice at three of its busiest tribunals – the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB), the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) and the […]

June 14, 2024

Inexcusable: The absence of permanent, competent Associate Chairs at Tribunals Ontario

The absence of permanent, competent Associate Chairs at Tribunals Ontario spells disaster for adjudicative tribunals and betrays a lack of commitment to providing leadership when and where it is most needed. Why are there ongoing vacancies of key leadership positions at Tribunals Ontario? With rumours of a snap election circulating in the media, what is […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]