We help municipalities and municipal officials deliver local services fairly and respect people’s rights.
How we work with you
We regularly share best practices with municipalities through our reviews and investigations of municipal issues.
The Municipal Act, 2001 requires municipalities to have policies for issues such as hiring, sale of land or procurement. It is also helpful to have policies governing other aspects of municipal administration, especially areas that can be confusing for staff and the public.
As experts in complaint resolution, we recommend that municipal governments:
- Develop clear and robust local complaint resolution policies
- Remove barriers such as fees or affidavits to make a complaint
- Designate a staff person (or persons) to address complaints and escalate them if needed
- Develop policies to help staff deal with unreasonable conduct from the public (including harassment, vexatious or frivolous complaints)
- Set out when and how your municipality might restrict service or issue a trespass notice
- Ensure that integrity commissioners and other local accountability officers use best practices in responding to, investigating and communicating results of complaints and investigations or reviews
These policies can empower frontline municipal staff to respond to and resolve problems efficiently and effectively at the local level.
Find out what to expect if we receive a complaint about your municipal government.
Resources for municipalities
We develop resources such as guides and tip cards to help municipal administrators and councils apply best practices in local government. These include:
Municipal investigations
Discover the results of Ombudsman reviews and investigations about municipalities.
Municipal open and closed meetings
Open Meetings: Guide for Municipalities
The Open Meetings guide contains:
- A quick reference to open meeting rules, as found in the Municipal Act, 2001
- How we review and investigate these complaints
- Best practices for municipalities and local boards
Open Meetings Case Digest
Municipal meetings should always be open to the public, with a few exceptions. Ontario municipalities must have an investigator for complaints about municipal meetings that are not open to the public. The Ombudsman is the default investigator, or the municipality can appoint an investigator.
We created the Open Meetings Case Digest for municipal staff, councillors and the public to understand how we apply the open meeting rules in the Municipal Act, 2001. It makes the Ombudsman’s closed meeting reports and letters searchable, including by keyword or municipality.
Municipal closed meeting investigation reports
Access the results of the Ombudsman’s reviews and investigations into complaints about municipal council meetings that have been closed to the public.
Codes of Conduct and Integrity Commissioners: Guide for Municipalities, including best practices for integrity commissioners
This guide for municipalities is a reference to the rules and legislation surrounding municipal codes of conduct and integrity commissioners. It includes best practices for integrity commissioners.
Tip cards
Our tip cards help municipalities meet their obligations under the Municipal Act and cover topics including:
- Local complaint processes
- Enforcing property related by-laws
- Trespass notices and service restrictions
- Codes of conduct and integrity commissioners
- Closed meetings: Best practices
- Closed meetings: What is a meeting?
- Closed meetings: Know the exceptions
- Closed meetings: Resolutions
- Closed meetings: Tips for local services boards
- Note: Local services boards are also required to hold open meetings, however but the requirements differ slightly from those in the Municipal Act, 2001
- Tips for municipal complaint resolutions policies
We update our tip cards regularly and release new ones.
Fairness by Design
Canada’s provincial and territorial ombudsmen developed the "Fairness by Design" self-assessment tool to help public organizations – including municipalities – ensure their policies, programs and practices are fair and consistent with the principles of administrative law and the standards of fairness.
By following these best practices when reviewing or developing public programs, policies and procedures, those who deliver public services are more likely to treat people fairly and provide excellent service.
Video resources
Take a look at our video resources for municipalities, including:
- Electronic meetings: How to keep virtual meetings open and accessible
- Best practices for municipal complaint processes
- Best practices for electronic municipal meetings
- Local complaints are best resolved locally: How to create an effective municipal complaint policy