Reports, Cases and Submissions

A woman who was born in Ontario but living in Quebec applied for a name change after discovering that her birth registration listed the wrong name.

A woman applied for a replacement birth certificate for her adult son, who has a disability, but her request was cancelled because her ex-husband had also applied for a birth certificate for him (ServiceOntario does not permit individuals to have two birth certificates).

A woman who immigrated to Canada as a child sought our help in changing her name on official documents.

A mother complained to us about delays in obtaining long-form birth certificates for her two university-aged children, who needed the documents to apply for post-secondary education funding.

A mother contacted us in frustration after waiting several months for her son’s name change to be processed.

As large numbers of Ukrainians have sought refuge in Ontario in the wake of Russia’s invasion of their country, Ontario has made efforts to help them settle. However, we recently heard of some having difficulty in obtaining driver’s licences.

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.

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.

A small business owner reached out to us after he was unable to update the information attached to his business licence through ServiceOntario, despite several attempts.

A father whose wife died in childbirth sought our help in obtaining a birth certificate and Social Insurance Number for the new baby, which he needed in order to claim survivor benefits.

A woman sought our help in getting the Registrar General to help her correct an error she made on her mother’s death certificate.

A man complained to us after trying for years to resolve a name discrepancy with ServiceOntario.

A woman sought our help after she was provided with a temporary accessible parking permit with a duration of only six months, when she had previously had one that lasted five years.

A woman complained to us that the Registrar General’s website froze when she was in the midst of applying for death certificates for two family members.

An international student who had completed post-secondary studies in Ontario and was now employed sought our help in communicating with ServiceOntario about getting an Ontario Health card.

A transgender man seeking a name change complained to us when his application was rejected because the sex on his birth certificate differed from the gender on his name change application.

An elderly woman needed our help with obtaining new identification after she lost her OHIP card, her primary photo ID.

We helped a father renew his daughter’s OHIP card after she had gone three years without a valid one and her application had been rejected.

A woman who moved to Ontario from Alberta for work sought our help after her application for OHIP coverage was rejected due to inadequate proof that she resided in Ontario.

A mother of two boys complained to our Office when she had trouble changing her children’s names on their birth certificates, documents they needed soon to make a trip to Disneyland in the U.S.

An almost-retired man who wanted to get a passport to travel sought our help after three frustrating years of trying to obtain a birth certificate from the Office of the Registrar General.

When a woman hit a pothole on a county road that damaged her vehicle, she tried to seek reimbursement.

A woman who had surrendered her driver’s licence for medical reasons complained to us that she was having trouble obtaining a photo identification card from ServiceOntario.

In 2001, after years of using his stepfather’s surname, a man decided to revert to his original birth surname. He was issued a short-form Ontario birth certificate reflecting the change.

A man who needed to renew his Ontario Security Guard licence for work contacted our Office for help in speeding up the process with the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services.

A transgender man complained to our Office because he was having difficulty obtaining an updated birth certificate from the Registrar General.

After living on the streets for many years, a man sought our help in obtaining valid identification so he could apply for full-time work.

A woman turned to the Ombudsman for help when she had trouble renewing her Ontario Health Insurance Plan coverage. She had been living with friends and was struggling to provide proof that she was an Ontario resident so she could renew her OHIP card before it expired on September 30.

A man contacted our Office in frustration when the Ministry repeatedly sent mail to his address for a former tenant. He had returned the envelopes several times with a note stating “this person does not reside at this address,” but the Ministry mail did not stop.

A new driver complained to our Office after waiting six months for his permanent driver’s licence. He had passed the written test and turned over his Ontario-issued government photo ID to ServiceOntario, expecting a replacement card in the mail, but he never received it.

 

A 65-year-old man had his driver’s licence suspended in May 2014 after hospital staff reported to the Ministry of Transportation that he had suffered a fall that knocked him unconscious. After this incident, the man provided the Ministry with letters from three different doctors confirming he was in good health, but two months later, his licence was still suspended.

After signing up for “Back on Track,” a remedial program for people convicted of impaired driving, a man phoned the program to book a one-hour assessment interview. He was given the choice of several time slots. He arrived at 3:30 on the appointed day, believing he was half an hour early for the 4 p.m. slot. Instead, he was told the interview had actually been booked for 3 p.m.

A driver who suffered what he believed to be a seizure in April 2013 was diagnosed by a neurologist and, as required by the Ministry of Transportation, had his licence suspended pending a medical review. On October 28, 2013, his doctor faxed documentation to the Ministry to prove that he had been seizure-free for six months, and thus eligible to have his licence reinstated.

 

SORT’s probe of complaints of delays in processing of registrations of births, deaths marriages and name changes found an improvements since the previous Ombudsman’s investigation in 2004. In 2007, the government announced guaranteed 15-day service for post-1991 events.