September 16, 2024
Tribunals Ontario is observing the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on September 30, 2024. Our offices will be closed on September 30 and proceedings will resume as scheduled on October 1. Filing deadlines for September 30 will be extended to October 1 and applicable timelines that are calculated by business day will be extended one day.
TO Laws, rules and decisions
Learn about the laws, rules and decisions at Tribunals Ontario.
Legislation and regulation
Adjudicative Tribunals Accountability, Governance and Appointments Act
The Adjudicative Tribunals Accountability, Governance and Appointments Act, 2009 (ATAGAA) lets the government group adjudicative tribunals into an organization called a cluster, when “the matters that the tribunals deal with are such that they can operate more effectively and efficiently as part of a cluster than alone”.
ATAGAA requires adjudicative tribunals to publish governance and public accountability documents including: a mandate and mission statement, qualifications for members (adjudicators), service standards, a complaints policy and an ethics plan. ATAGAA also requires that appointments of members are made following a competitive, merit-based competition.
The full text of the legislation and regulations can be accessed on ontario.ca.
Statutory Powers Procedure Act
The Statutory Powers Procedure Act (“the Act”) provides a general framework for the conduct of hearings before Ontario’s administrative tribunals. Effective June 3, 2021, a new provision has been added to the Act making it an offence to record or publish a tribunal hearing unless an exception applies. Exceptions include unobtrusive recordings made by a party, representative or member of the media if authorized by the tribunal. Learn more about this amendment.
Practice directions and policies
Practice directions
Practice directions support the rules of procedure and provide guidance about what the tribunal expects of the parties and what the parties can expect of the tribunal. They help parties to understand the rules.
- Memo Regarding References to the Crown (October 20, 2022)
- Updated Practice Direction on Hearing Formats (effective November 30, 2020)
Policies
Decisions
Decisions issued by Tribunal Ontario’s tribunals are available on the Canadian Legal Information Institute’s (CanLII) website. CanLII is a non-profit organization that makes Canadian law accessible for free on the Internet.