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Making it clear

A woman renting a basement apartment sought our help after a municipal construction crew broke a water pipe near her unit, flooding her apartment and damaging her belongings. The municipality did not provide a clear process or information on how to submit a claim for such damage, but after our …
A woman renting a basement apartment sought our help after a municipal construction crew broke a water pipe near her unit, flooding her apartment and damaging her belongings.
/en/our-work/case-stories/making-it-clear

Faster lane

We helped a man who waited more than a year to hear back from his municipality about purchasing a portion of the laneway behind his house. Municipal officials told us there was a backlog in similar applications, but confirmed this one was nearly finalized. Less than a month later, the municipality …
We helped a man who waited more than a year to hear back from his municipality about purchasing a portion of the laneway behind his house.
/en/our-work/case-stories/faster-lane

Code found

A mall developer told us that local councillors were interfering with the development of her project, but she believed the municipality did not have a code of conduct or integrity commissioner. We contacted the municipality and learned that it does have a code of conduct and was in the process of …
A mall developer told us that local councillors were interfering with the development of her project, but she believed the municipality did not have a code of conduct or integrity commissioner.
/en/our-work/case-stories/code-found

Public Notice

Ombudsman Report Investigation into a complaint about the Elliot Lake Residential Development Commission “Public Notice” Paul Dubé Ombudsman of Ontario August 2017 Executive Summary 1 After the last uranium mine in Elliot Lake closed in 1996, the city looked for ways to encourage economic …
Investigation into a complaint about the Elliot Lake Residential Development Commission.
/en/our-work/investigations/public-notice

Tuition restitution

A student from outside of Canada, who was married to a Canadian citizen, chose to enter the country on an international student visa because it would be processed faster than her spousal visa. She enrolled at a college of applied arts and technology in fall 2013, and was enrolled during the fall …
A student from outside of Canada, who was married to a Canadian citizen, chose to enter the country on an international student visa because it would be processed faster than her spousal visa.
/en/our-work/case-stories/tuition-restitution

Uncredited

A man complained to us that he received a water bill and a late payment penalty even though he had a $600 credit with the utility. Our staff contacted the municipality and discovered that the man’s original account had been closed and a new account had been set up without the credit being …
A man complained to us that he received a water bill and a late payment penalty even though he had a $600 credit with the utility. Our staff contacted the municipality and discovered that the man’s original account had been closed and a new account had been set up without the credit being transferred over.
/en/our-work/case-stories/uncredited

Too far to go

A mother who had been commuting two hours every day to attend classes at an Everest College campus applied for funding to resume her studies elsewhere after the college closed. However, the only program available in her field would have required a five-hour daily commute. She was offered a partial …
A mother who had been commuting two hours every day to attend classes at an Everest College campus applied for funding to resume her studies elsewhere after the college closed.
/en/our-work/case-stories/too-far-go

Snow problem

A man told our Office he had tried for 10 years to find out why the municipality removed the snow from the sidewalk in front of his neighbours’ homes, but not his. We contacted the municipality’s infrastructure services staff, who discovered the location had been taken off the snowplow route some …
A man told our Office he had tried for 10 years to find out why the municipality removed the snow from the sidewalk in front of his neighbours’ homes, but not his.
/en/our-work/case-stories/snow-problem

Second chance

A PhD student who was given no opportunity to repeat his final exam when he failed on his first try after 16 months of course work complained to our Office that he had hit a dead end in the university’s appeal process. Our inquiries determined that staff had misapplied university policy, and as a …
A PhD student who was given no opportunity to repeat his final exam when he failed on his first try after 16 months of course work complained to our Office that he had hit a dead end in the university’s appeal process.
/en/our-work/case-stories/second-chance

Rental funding issues

A woman applied for Ontario Works benefits and was told she qualified for $1,850 to cover the first and last month's rent payments for an apartment she was moving into in August. However, a short time later, she was told she only qualified for $825 - the cost of the first month's rent - and …
A woman applied for Ontario Works benefits and was told she qualified for $1,850 to cover the first and last month's rent payments for an apartment she was moving into in August.
/en/our-work/case-stories/rental-funding-issues

Pressed for cash

A college student who was taking “compressed” courses over the summer questioned why she didn’t qualify for full-time OSAP funding, as her college had previously determined that her compressed course load made her eligible. Our inquiries determined that the college had made an error, and the woman …
A college student who was taking “compressed” courses over the summer questioned why she didn’t qualify for full-time OSAP funding, as her college had previously determined that her compressed course load made her eligible.
/en/our-work/case-stories/pressed-cash

No parking

A ​woman who was working temporarily in Ontario and renting a house with no private parking complained to us when the municipality denied her a street parking permit because her vehicle had out-of-province plates. We confirmed that this is the municipality's policy, but it is reviewing its permit …
A ​woman who was working temporarily in Ontario and renting a house with no private parking complained to us when the municipality denied her a street parking permit because her vehicle had out-of-province plates.
/en/our-work/case-stories/no-parking

No answer

A woman on a waiting list for a popular, limited-enrolment college program called our Office for help when she could not get any information from the college about whether she had been accepted. We discovered that for this program, the college only made acceptance offers to students over the phone, …
A woman on a waiting list for a popular, limited-enrolment college program called our Office for help when she could not get any information from the college about whether she had been accepted.
/en/our-work/case-stories/no-answer

Lack of clear mechanism

We received complaints of alleged violations of the councillor code of conduct in a township. While reviewing the complaints, we determined that the code of conduct wasn't readily available to the public, and there was no clear mechanism for making a complaint. Immediately following our inquiries, …
We received complaints of alleged violations of the councillor code of conduct in a township.
/en/our-work/case-stories/lack-clear-mechanism

Fee factor

A homeowner complained that a $1,950 fee he paid to make a severance application was not refunded when his application was denied. Our inquiries with the municipality revealed that the application fee is non-refundable, but this is not communicated to applicants before they pay. The municipality …
A homeowner complained that a $1,950 fee he paid to make a severance application was not refunded when his application was denied.
/en/our-work/case-stories/fee-factor

Fail safe

A student complained that he had failed a course due to false information provided to his professor by a teaching assistant. We directed him back to the university’s grades appeal process, explaining that we are an office of last resort and our role is not to overturn decisions, but if he is …
A student complained that he had failed a course due to false information provided to his professor by a teaching assistant.
/en/our-work/case-stories/fail-safe

Distance discount

A distance education student complained he was asked to pay fees for various services only available on campus, such as student lifestyle fees. We referred him to information on the university’s website about compulsory and non-compulsory fees, and provided information about how to get a refund of …
A distance education student complained he was asked to pay fees for various services only available on campus, such as student lifestyle fees.
/en/our-work/case-stories/distance-discount

Denied assistance

A homeless teenager who could not live with either parent was denied assistance through Ontario Works and was not provided with anything in writing about how to appeal the decision. After Ombudsman staff made inquiries with a supervisor at Ontario Works, the teen’s mother confirmed that he was …
A homeless teenager who could not live with either parent was denied assistance through Ontario Works and was not provided with anything in writing about how to appeal the decision.
/en/our-work/case-stories/denied-assistance

Clarifying our jurisdiction

A town clerk contacted our office after the local council, which was considering establishing a code of conduct, expressed the view that it did not need to appoint an Integrity Commissioner, because any complaints related to the code of conduct could be forwarded to the Ombudsman for review. We …
A town clerk contacted our office after the local council, which was considering establishing a code of conduct, expressed the view that it did not need to appoint an Integrity Commissioner, because any complaints related to the code of conduct could be forwarded to the Ombudsman for review.
/en/our-work/case-stories/clarifying-our-jurisdiction

Buy the book

A student who bought $1,000 worth of textbooks for her studies at the suddenly-closed Everest College complained that foot-dragging by officials at the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities caused her to miss a deadline to receive a 60% refund on the books, which were now worthless to …
A student who bought $1,000 worth of textbooks for her studies at the suddenly-closed Everest College complained that foot-dragging by officials at the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities caused her to miss a deadline to receive a 60% refund on the books, which were now worthless to her.
/en/our-work/case-stories/buy-book