2024

When visiting the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto with his family, a Francophone noticed that the touchscreen ticket vending machines at the entrance were only available in English.

During a visit to the Legislative Assembly, we noticed that the security staff were welcoming visitors in English only, and the ID cards they gave to visitors were also in English only.

During a visit, an Ottawa Francophone noticed that the name of the Upper Canada Village tourist site in Eastern Ontario was in English only.

A Francophone with more than a decade of experience with a professional association in the education field contacted us after he noticed some errors on the French version of the association’s website.

A Francophone woman contacted us to share an experience she found particularly distressing.

A Francophone received an automated speed enforcement camera ticket in the mail from their municipality.

An employee of a Francophone non-profit organization in eastern Ontario was responsible for organizing French language training for members of the employer’s joint health and safety committee.

To prepare for a virtual hearing where he was representing himself without the help of legal counsel, a Francophone man tried to access a secure portal on the Ministry of the Attorney General’s website.

In February 2024, we learned via the news media of possible changes happening at Le Petit Chaperon Rouge, a Francophone daycare centre in Toronto that appears in Ontario Regulation 398/93 as a government agency designated under the French Language Services Act.

Ontario Northland, a government agency, is responsible for providing transportation services in Northern Ontario.

A Francophone man told us about a workplace accident that left him unable to use his legs for a few years.

We noticed that the same text – in English only – appeared on both sides of the provincial plaque at Old City Hall in downtown Toronto.

The Ontario Autism Program, administered by the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, offers support to families of children and youth on the autism spectrum.

A Francophone reached out to us after taking part in a webinar hosted by a non-profit organization that receives funding from the Ministry of Long-Term Care.

While watching the livestream of the tabling of the province’s 2024 budget on the Government of Ontario’s French YouTube channel, a Francophone noticed that, when the Minister of Finance spoke in French near the end of the video, the interpreter translated what he said into English.

A Franco-Torontonian looking for a family activity in his neighbourhood was interested in the exhibition called “Lumière: The Art of Light” at Ontario Place.

In fall 2023, a Francophone contacted us to report the lack of French in the social media posts of an Ontario museum.

After completing truck driver training in Ottawa, a Francophone tried multiple times to get a certified bilingual driver examiner for his test at a DriveTest centre in southern Ottawa, a designated area under the French Language Services Act.

Two Francophone students who were new to Ontario contacted us to report that the financial aid staff at an English-language college who administer the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) were unable to process their applications, as none of them could review the documents the students had submitted in French.

While riding the Viva Blue bus line, operated by York Region Transit (YRT) between Newmarket and Toronto, a Francophone woman noticed that a Metrolinx brochure available in the bus was in English only.

A Francophone who was interested in taking a firearm safety course visited the Firearms Safety Education Service of Ontario (FSESO) website, as the FSESO offers firearm handling courses.

In the Commissioner’s 2022-2023 Annual Report, we mentioned a Francophone who had received a bill from the Ministry of Transportation’s Highway Incident Claims Unit following a car crash in the Ottawa area.

The Child and Family Services Review Board conducts reviews and hearings on a number of matters that affect children, youth and families in Ontario.

The future Ontario line will be a 15.6-kilometre subway line in Toronto. A Franco-Torontonian who wanted to know how work on the line was coming along complained to us that the social media content on X (@OntarioLine) for this Metrolinx project was in English only.

A Francophone from British Columbia received a ticket from an Ontario municipality requiring him to pay thousands of dollars in fines.

GO Transit, the public transit service for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, is a division of government agency Metrolinx.

A Francophone father contacted us after visiting the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto with his family in the summer of 2023.

A transgender inmate contacted our Office after she was involved in an altercation with correctional officers.

We received complaints from a group of 10 inmates, all women, that they were strip searched by correctional officers in their unit, in view of one another.

We received complaints from two inmates at the same facility, alleging they had been sexually assaulted.

A business owner complained to us after his municipality informed him that a set of stairs on the back of his building encroached on municipal property.

We were contacted by the leaseholder of Crown land that included ski trails and a drainage system that had previously been installed by his municipality.

A homeowner reached out to us when the land around her home was rezoned from agricultural to industrial.

A woman who could not pay her property taxes due to financial hardship sought our help after her municipality refused her request to cancel her debt.

A group of 50 students at a university reached out to our Office for help after they all failed the same course.

A student sought our help after his college told him he would have to retake a trade course he had already effectively completed, which would delay his graduation and the full-time employment he had arranged.

An international student at a college of applied arts and technology requested a tuition refund when he decided to leave his program and return home to India.

A woman who had been living outside of Canada for 15 years sought our help in obtaining more than $25,000 in child support through the Family Responsibility Office (FRO).

A woman sought our help because she hadn’t received Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) payments or drug benefits from August 2020 to October 2021.

A woman had her ODSP application denied after a year of waiting.

A father in crisis sought our help to find services and supported living for his son, a 15-year-old with complex special needs.

After giving a presentation at a group home, our staff were conducting private conversations with the residents, as we normally do.

Issues: Children’s aid society; Group home; Quality of care; Rights (Good care)

A young person in a youth justice centre complained to us that he was being routinely strip-searched by staff after every visit he had with his lawyer.

Issues: Youth justice facility; Rights (Safety)

Three months after he turned 18, a young man told us he had been forced to rely on social assistance because he had never been registered for “Ready, Set, Go” funding, which supports young people transitioning out of care.

Issues: Children’s aid society; Voluntary Youth Services Agreement (VYSA)

A staff member from a youth residence contacted us, concerned that a youth with special needs and physical disabilities wasn’t receiving adequate support, such as grab bars in the shower and railings on porch stairs.

Issues: Duty to report; Disability; Rights (Identity)

A woman contacted us in frustration over delays and a lack of communication from the Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee (OPGT) regarding a deceased relative who had been an OPGT client.

A woman complained to us that her friend, who was a client of the Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee (OPGT), was struggling to pay for her day-to-day expenses with the weekly $50 the OPGT provided.

A landlord who claimed her tenant was threatening to kill her and her children asked for an urgent hearing with the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB).

A woman called us for help on the morning that she, her partner and three children were being evicted.

A transgender woman who changed the name and sex designation on her driver’s licence contacted us in frustration after being told that her car insurance would now cost more.

A senior sought our help when his driver’s licence was suspended, just seven months after he had gone through an extensive process with the Driver Medical Review Office to get it reinstated.

A man noticed that the driver’s licence he’d had for four years did not indicate that he was also qualified to drive a motorcycle.

A man had been waiting to receive a new wallet card from Skilled Trades Ontario – proof of his skilled trade credentials – for more than a year.

A man sought our help in obtaining his Joint Health and Safety Committee Certification through the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development.

A man lost his house when his Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) benefits were cut off.

A woman reached out to us after contacting the Ministry of Long-Term Care’s Action Line with concerns about her mother’s death in a long-term care home.

A woman whose daughter had to have an emergency root canal procedure – at a cost of $700 – sought our help in obtaining coverage through Healthy Smiles Ontario, a provincial program that covers dental care for eligible children and youth who are 17 and under.

A low-income senior complained that her utility provider had been incorrectly applying her Ontario Electricity Support Program credit to her water bill for more than five years.

A woman whose medical condition makes her reliant on an electric wheelchair, bed and lift was facing having her hydro disconnected because of an outstanding bill of $15,000.

A landlord complained to us that his municipality had put his tenant’s unpaid water and wastewater charges on his property tax bill, without notifying him in advance.

A man came to us for help when a problem with his birth certificate prevented him from applying for federal employment insurance (EI).

We heard from a man who was waiting for a new long-form birth certificate for his son.

A bride whose name was misspelled on her marriage certificate sought our help after waiting in vain for ServiceOntario to send her a form to request a correction.