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A young person in custody contacted us last year to complain that he wasn’t able to vote in the federal election, although he had expressed his interest in voting to the youth facility’s staff members.

A trailer park owner contacted us when a dispute arose about responsibility for the municipal sewage system servicing the park.

After firefighters used foam containing PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) to put out a fire at her property, a woman complained to us about how long it was taking to ensure her water was safe to drink.

A group of Indigenous inmates complained to us that they were strip-searched before attending a smudging ceremony, leaving them feeling violated, discriminated against and targeted because of their Indigenous spirituality.

An inmate who uses a customized wheelchair to support his spine sought our help because he was being repeatedly transferred to a second institution without his chair.

An inmate complained to us after a sergeant at his facility penalized him by taking away 30 days of earned remission (time off his sentence) for refusing a transfer to another facility.

A woman who runs a commercial fishing business complained that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry had not responded to her request for a refund of more than $31,000 she had overpaid in Crown lease fees over several years.

After our staff assisted a Tesla owner in having his Electric and Hydrogen Vehicle Incentive Program application approved, he returned to us for help in February 2019, after he received only half of his $14,000 rebate.

An inmate sought our help in reaching the appropriate correctional officials after her father passed away and she could not get a response to her request to attend his funeral.

An inmate complained to us that staff at his correctional facility had taken his eyeglasses and refused to return them.

A woman who had been pursuing her case at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario for several years sought our help after she learned that the adjudicator assigned to her case was no longer able to continue.

In addressing the changes proposed by Bill 57, I will devote most of my comments to those amendments that affect the Office of the Ombudsman of Ontario, and the Ombudsman Act. Most notable among these are amendments that will expand the mandate of this office into areas that are presently within the mandate of my fellow Officers of the Legislature, the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth (Child Advocate) and the French Language Services Commissioner.

A man sought our help with his local hydro company, which was sending him late notices and charging him interest on his quarterly water heater rental bill.

A woman was trying without success to have hydro reconnected at a rental property and was concerned about a delay and lack of communication from the local hydro company.

We referred a man to the right internal complaint mechanism at the Office of the Children’s Lawyer so he could voice concerns about delays in receiving documents and in setting his court date, all of which resulted in added legal costs for him.

A man serving weekend time in jail who required anxiety medication three times a day sought our help because the correctional facility would not give him his medication on Saturday mornings when he arrived, or on Sunday evenings before he left.

We helped a woman from Manitoba who had struggled for six months to get Legal Aid Ontario to recognize her approval for legal aid in a custody case in Ontario.

A woman who broke her collarbone before she was sent to jail complained to us that she had been waiting for eight days for a sling for her arm.

The Ontario Ombudsman has a long history of independently and impartially resolving and investigating concerns about Ontario’s provincial correctional facilities. Of the more than 21,000 complaints we receive each year, close to 4,000 are about correctional facilities. In addition to resolving countless individual matters, my Office has actively monitored and, when necessary, investigated serious systemic issues within the correctional system.

Since 1974, there have been dozens of cases in which the use of force by police in Ontario – especially the use of lethal force on people in crisis – has raised profound questions about policing standards, training and accountability. As a result, there have been more than a dozen reviews and numerous recommendations for reform. Despite incremental improvements through the years, Ontario’s police oversight system has continued to attract criticism and undermine public confidence in policing.