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Asubpeeschoseewagong Netum Anishinabek (Grassy Narrows First Nation)

The Ombudsman and staff met with community members and leaders. During this visit, the Ombudsman was told there had been a delay in Hydro One installing the poles to bring electricity to these homes, and there appeared to be a communication breakdown between the community and Hydro One.  RESULT: …

The Ombudsman and staff met with community members and leaders. During this visit, the Ombudsman was told there had been a delay in Hydro One installing the poles to bring electricity to these homes, and there appeared to be a communication breakdown between the community and Hydro One. 

RESULT: The Ombudsman reached out to Hydro One’s Ombudsman, and by working together, they were able to communicate the urgency of the situation to the corporation. The hydro line was installed within the month.

Water clarity

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. He told us he was frustrated because he could not obtain detailed information about the water account – which was in the tenant’s …
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.

Powerful help

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. Given her vulnerable situation, we prioritized her case, working closely with the hydro company. RESULT: The company arranged …
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.

Billing blunder

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. Because of this error, the woman was being asked to repay approximately $1,800. RESULT: We inquired with the utility …
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.

Stress reducer

A man lost his house when his Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) benefits were cut off. Although this decision was eventually reversed and his benefits were reinstated through the WSIB, he was diagnosed in the meantime with severe depression. He told our Office he was having difficulty …
A man lost his house when his Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) benefits were cut off.

Bridging the gap

A man sought our help in obtaining his Joint Health and Safety Committee Certification through the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development. He said the Ministry refused to recognize his training because there was a 14-year gap between his completion of the first and second …
A man sought our help in obtaining his Joint Health and Safety Committee Certification through the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development.

Proof of skills

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. He told our Office he received conflicting information about the reasons for the delay. RESULT: After we raised the case with Skilled Trades Ontario …
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.

Motorcycle mix-up

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. He told us that DriveTest and the Ministry said his only recourse was to start the motorcycle licensing process all over again. RESULT: After we intervened, Ministry …
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.

Kept in suspense

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. RESULT: When we raised the case with Ministry officials, they clarified that although they had asked the man …
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.

Correcting the record

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. She said that in making the changes, the Ministry had given her an entirely new licence number, which was no longer connected …
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.

Flood of concern

When a conservation authority approved a permit to fill regulated flood plains, we received several complaints from local residents concerned about the negative effects on the environment. Officials at the conservation authority told us the permit was unprecedented, but found no grounds to deny the …
When a conservation authority approved a permit to fill regulated flood plains, we received several complaints from local residents concerned about the negative effects on the environment.

A grey area

An environmental group complained to us when they didn’t hear back from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry about their concerns related to a development project’s unregulated grey water and natural septic systems. They were worried the development would affect a nearby lake, as well as …
An environmental group complained to us when they didn’t hear back from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry about their concerns related to a development project’s unregulated grey water and natural septic systems.

Dues blues

A Francophone man in Quebec had been told he still owed dues for his trade licence, dating back to when he lived in Ontario a decade ago. He couldn’t understand what was owing, or why, and he had trouble getting information in French. We intervened on two fronts: We connected with supervisors at …
A Francophone man in Quebec had been told he still owed dues for his trade licence, dating back to when he lived in Ontario a decade ago.

Expense suspense

An injured worker had been approved by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) to see a doctor some distance from his home. He tried to claim travel and meal expenses from the WSIB, but both were denied. He appealed the decision, but only his travel expenses were approved – and he had to …
An injured worker had been approved by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) to see a doctor some distance from his home.

Wait for it

A woman who had been approved for a second payment of $10,000 from the Ontario Small Business Support Grant program, sought our help after months of waiting. She said program officials had told her just to wait. At our urging, they reviewed her case and said they would expedite her second payment – …
A woman who had been approved for a second payment of $10,000 from the Ontario Small Business Support Grant program, sought our help after months of waiting.

Tricky ticket

A woman contacted us after a difficult experience trying to resolve a traffic ticket. She had paid off the ticket in 1998, but in 2019, she was notified that there was $26 owing on her file for a late fee she hadn’t been told about, and her driver’s licence would be suspended if she did not pay it. …
A woman contacted us after a difficult experience trying to resolve a traffic ticket.

Wurst case scenario

An aspiring hot dog vendor complained to us after waiting for two years for a letter from the Ministry to confirm that his custom-built propane-fueled hot dog cart did not require a vehicle identification number or licence plate. He had received no response to his calls and faxes to the Ministry. …
An aspiring hot dog vendor complained to us after waiting for two years for a letter from the Ministry to confirm that his custom-built propane-fueled hot dog cart did not require a vehicle identification number or licence plate.

Name shame

A mother contacted us in frustration about the conduct of a driving instructor towards her son, a student driver. The student was in the process of a gender transition, and the name on his legal documents was not the same as the name he had chosen to use in daily life. The mother complained that …
A mother contacted us in frustration about the conduct of a driving instructor towards her son, a student driver.

At your service

A mother sought our help when a DriveTest centre wouldn’t let her daughter bring her certified service dog on her road test. The third party that administered testing at this centre told us that they don’t allow any animals, including service animals, in vehicles. We raised this case with officials …
A mother sought our help when a DriveTest centre wouldn’t let her daughter bring her certified service dog on her road test.

Errant pass

A woman sought our help after she purchased an annual Ontario Parks pass by mistake – she had meant to buy a Parks Canada pass (for national parks) instead. Her request for a refund was initially turned down but after we put her in touch with a more senior official at the Ministry of the …
A woman sought our help after she purchased an annual Ontario Parks pass by mistake – she had meant to buy a Parks Canada pass (for national parks) instead.