2021

December 7, 2021

7 December 2021

Errors identified

In February 2021, the government launched an online consultation to get ideas and feedback on its plan to introduce a digital ID (digital identification).

December 7, 2021

7 December 2021

The award goes to…

We were contacted by a person who watched the Trillium Awards ceremony on Facebook on June 17, 2020, which was held in English only.

December 7, 2021

7 December 2021

Improvements on track

We were contacted by a Francophone woman after she tried to call Metrolinx. Although she chose the French phone line, she said the agent who took the call could only speak English.

December 7, 2021

7 December 2021

Cured by translation

We were contacted by a person who visited the Ontario Health Data Platform website to learn more about a Ministry of Health research project – only to discover the site was only available in English.

December 7, 2021

7 December 2021

Problem extinguished

A man working at a French-language school board contacted us because he wanted to obtain the French version of the Fire Code (Regulation 213/07 of the Fire Protection and Prevention Act) in order to know the provisions that apply to school facilities.

December 7, 2021

7 December 2021

Electrifying solution

We were contacted by a person living in a designated area of Eastern Ontario who requested the French version of an inspection report conducted by the Electrical Safety Authority (ESA).

November 29, 2021

29 November 2021

Duty to report

A mother complained to our Office that her son’s school didn’t notify the local children’s aid society (CAS) about allegations he made to his teacher that his grandmother had hurt him.

Issue: Children’s aid society; Duty to report

November 29, 2021

29 November 2021

Call Waiting

A woman told us that she wanted to get physiotherapy care for her father.

October 27, 2021

27 October 2021

Online schooling okayed

A 14-year-old in care told us her worker was insisting that she go to school in person, even though her preference was to continue to attend school online.

Issue: Rights (education)

October 27, 2021

27 October 2021

Clinical error

A Francophone woman complained to us that a dermatology clinic at an eastern Ontario hospital did not provide services in French when she booked her appointment on the phone, at reception or during the medical examination.

September 29, 2021

29 September 2021

Alerting all at once

The French Language Services Unit has received several complaints about the Amber alert system.

August 24, 2021

24 August 2021

The right words

A Francophone education professional complained to us about the inadequate quality of French on some of the forms for the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program (OYAP), a school-to-work transition program offered in high schools across the province.

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Long-term loan

A man with ALS complained that when he moved into a long-term care home in 2017 due to his deteriorating condition, he become ineligible for the ventilator that he had been provided through the province’s Ventilator Equipment Pool program.

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Un-fur treatment

A First Nations trapper sought our help in obtaining a refund from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry for licences to sell furs commercially, and a mandatory humane trapping course.

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Upstream battle

A homeowner complained to us about a pipe outlet on his property that was leaking foul-smelling fluid. His municipality referred him to the Ministry of Transportation, which denied responsibility.

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Home safe

A group home worker raised health and safety concerns with us after he and a few colleagues contracted COVID-19.

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Exclusion explanation

A personal support worker contacted us in frustration when he and his colleagues were denied “pandemic pay,” despite being in close contact with patients.

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Open and shut case

A woman who was waiting for the Fair Practices Commissioner (FPC – the WSIB’s internal ombudsman) to assist her with a loss-of-earnings assessment and prescription cost refund sought our help early in the pandemic.

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Family connection

A woman contacted us in frustration over delays and a lack of communication from the Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee (OPGT) regarding her brother, who was an OPGT client.

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Find us online

Several people who work as title searchers complained to us about the province’s decision to end in-person services at all 54 of its Land Registry Offices in October 2020.

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Bad form

A father whose child was born through a surrogate mother complained to us after the Registrar General asked him to resubmit the paperwork for registering the birth, and include an additional form swearing that his statements were true.

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Double time

A man complained to us about long delays in getting ServiceOntario and the Registrar General to correct a name error on his mother’s death certificate.

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Checked and re-chequed

A woman contacted us after she missed several cheques from the province’s Assistive Devices Program (ADP), which she required to cover the cost of ostomy supplies.

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Information, please

A woman who has several health issues and relies on Ontario Disability Support Program benefits complained to us that her request for coverage of her medications had been denied by the Ontario Drug Benefit program.

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Healthy extension

A woman who had lived in Canada for 76 years sought our help when she attempted to renew her health card and discovered she did not have Canadian citizenship.

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

No surrender

A driver complained to us after he was told the Ministry had no record of the licence he had surrendered to them 30 days earlier.

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Experience counts

A man who had driving experience in India and in British Columbia sought our help after he tried to obtain an equivalent Ontario driver’s licence.

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Kept in suspense

A driver whose licence was suspended as a result of a criminal charge successfully appealed the charge and had it removed from his record.

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Letter imperfect

The mother of a 21-year-old woman with developmental disabilities complained to us that she had not been reimbursed by the province’s Passport program for support services that she purchased for her daughter.

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Failed to send

An Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) recipient complained to us that her benefits had been cut off twice without warning.

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

After-life support

An unemployed woman who had been paying child support to her children’s father complained to us that the Family Responsibility Office was still intercepting 50% of her unemployment benefits, even though the man had died and the children were now in her care.

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Dogged determination

After a youth living in a treatment home complained that his request for a service dog was refused, we followed up with his CAS worker.

Issue: Rights (appropriate services)

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Talk or else

A 13-year-old in a group home complained that staff were forcing him to talk to them and share his feelings, rather than respecting his privacy.

Issue: Rights (reasonable privacy)

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Culture change

A Black 16-year-old complained that her CAS worker was dismissive of her requests for hair and skin products that met her cultural needs, making her feel like she was being treated differently because of her race.

Issue: Children’s aid society; Rights (culture and identity)

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Trucker stop

A would-be commercial truck driver complained to us after the private career college where he took his Mandatory Entry Level Training course was suspended by the Ministry of Colleges and Universities.

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Slow off the marks

A college graduate seeking to pursue studies at a university sought our help when he was unable to provide official transcripts from the college, whose offices were closed in spring 2020 due to COVID-19.

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Process upgrade

A university student who had completed two years of courses applied for late withdrawal because of a previously undiagnosed mental illness.

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Cleared up

After a woman told us her drinking water was discoloured and she feared it was unsafe to drink, we contacted her municipality and the Ontario Clean Water Agency, which runs its water system.

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Information flow

More than 30 people from the same municipality sought our help with concerns about leaking water pipes.

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Bad signs

A man who received a ticket for stopping in a “no stopping” zone complained that only a “no parking” sign was visible from the spot.

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Process undermined

Residents who live close to an open-pit mine contacted us in frustration after complaining to their municipality about noise, dust, and emissions for years.

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Under the gun

We received numerous complaints in 2020-2021 about delays in approvals by Ontario’s Chief Firearms Officer (CFO) for transfers of restricted firearms.

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Report duty

An inmate sought our help after he was involved in an altercation with another inmate and then pepper sprayed and assaulted by correctional officers.

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Search terms

Several inmates in the same facility complained to us that they were strip searched in a main hallway, in view of security cameras.

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Restraints cause concern

A youth revealed to us that her concerns about being physically restrained at her group home were not being heard.

Issue: Physical restraints

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

A difficult day

Our Office checked on a youth after we heard she was hurt when her group home staff physically restrained her self-injurious behaviour.

Issue: Physical restraints

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Restraining restraints

Our staff reached out to a youth after we learned that he had his arm broken while being restrained by staff at his group home.

Issue: Police involvement; Physical restraints; Rights (disability)

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Rethinking reliance on police

Our Office made inquiries when we learned that a children’s aid society (CAS) asked the police to bring back a youth who had left her foster home without permission to return to her family home.

Issue: Children’s aid society; Police involvement

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Whistleblower heard

A whistleblower came to us with several disturbing allegations about a group home serving children and youth who are medically fragile or have other vulnerabilities.

Issue: Whistleblower; Quality of care – group home

June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Delivered at last

A woman who had been granted full custody of her niece – with the support of a children’s aid society (CAS) – contacted us after waiting four months for a certified copy of the original court order, which she needed in order to apply for a health card and other important items for the girl.

Issue: Children’s aid society

May 26, 2021

26 May 2021

For service in French, dial OO

A Francophone student seeking information about scholarships via the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) contacted us when he discovered there was no option to select services in French in the automated phone system of the OSAP department he called.

April 30, 2021

30 April 2021

Repairing wrongs

A woman sought our help after her two foster children disclosed to her that their former foster parent had been physically and verbally abusive toward them.

Issue: Children’s aid society; Safety concerns in foster care

April 30, 2021

30 April 2021

Landing test

A woman returning from an overseas trip complained to us that she was not served in French during the COVID-19 test she was required to undergo at Toronto Pearson airport.

March 30, 2021

30 March 2021

Better bilingual service for landlords and tenants

While the Ombudsman’s systemic investigation into delays at the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) is ongoing, we have resolved many individual complaints, including from landlords and tenants who had difficulty receiving services in French.

March 30, 2021

30 March 2021

Payment received

A mother complained to us because she was not receiving any family support payments from her children’s father, even though the Family Responsibility Office (FRO) had the ability to garnish his wages.

February 25, 2021

25 February 2021

Seeking the right support

After her second suicide attempt, a 15-year-old girl contacted us from the hospital.

Issue: Children’s aid society; Rights (safety)

February 25, 2021

25 February 2021

Easier to complete

A French-speaking member of the board of directors of a small housing co-op in northern Ontario sought our help when he had trouble completing an annual form from the Condominium Authority of Ontario (CAO).

January 29, 2021

29 January 2021

The right balance

A 16-year-old youth complained to us that staff at his group home threatened to lock the refrigerator after he helped himself to food at night when he was hungry.

Issue: Group home; Rights (access to food)

January 29, 2021

29 January 2021

Email fail

After requesting information from the Ministry of Health in French and receiving answers in English twice, a Francophone journalist complained to our Office.

January 29, 2021

29 January 2021

Keep on truckin’

A truck driver who crosses the Canada-U.S. border weekly as an essential worker complained to us that a ServiceOntario location would not let him in and demanded he self-isolate for 14 days because he had recently crossed the border.