A man shared with us his family’s experience after their dying mother was admitted to a designated hospital in Northern Ontario. On several occasions, he and his family were unable to obtain services in French when visiting their mother. They noticed that their mother received very few services in …
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A man shared with us his family’s experience after their dying mother was admitted to a designated hospital in Northern Ontario.
/en/our-work/case-stories/please-speak-english
Positive result
A man complained to us about the lack of French language services at a COVID-19 vaccination clinic. The clinic was organized and operated by a hospital partially designated under the French Language Services Act . We contacted the facility and they acknowledged that the recruitment and deployment …
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A man complained to us about the lack of French language services at a COVID-19 vaccination clinic.
/en/our-work/case-stories/positive-result
Services in French at home
A woman contacted us because she was unable to obtain home care services in French for her spouse, who had lost the ability to speak English due to health problems. She explained to us that the health care services provided in French through her local Home and Community Care Support Services office …
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A woman contacted us because she was unable to obtain home care services in French for her spouse, who had lost the ability to speak English due to health problems.
/en/our-work/case-stories/services-french-home
Skills in French required
A crane operator attempted to contact Skilled Trades Ontario (STO) to request an explanation regarding an invoice and was unable to obtain services in French. We contacted STO to raise the issue. As a result of our intervention, the telephone system was modified to ensure that clients requesting …
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A crane operator attempted to contact Skilled Trades Ontario (STO) to request an explanation regarding an invoice and was unable to obtain services in French.
/en/our-work/case-stories/skills-french-required
Entitled to inclusion
We were contacted by a Francophone mother whose child identifies as female – which represented a change from the gender assigned to the child at birth. The child wanted a name change so that legal documents would reflect her identity. The child began the name change process with the Office of the …
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We were contacted by a Francophone mother whose child identifies as female – which represented a change from the gender assigned to the child at birth.
/en/our-work/case-stories/entitled-inclusion
“Help wanted” in both languages
A man filed a complaint about Ontario Health’s job postings. The link for applications transferred job seekers to a third-party site. That site and the job postings on it were in English only. A message at the end of each job description indicated that the French version would be available shortly. …
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A man filed a complaint about Ontario Health’s job postings.
A woman informed us that French subtitles had disappeared from the videos on the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development’s Facebook page entitled “ Lieux de travail de l’Ontario [Ontario At Work].” Although this page is in French, the majority of the videos are in English …
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A woman informed us that French subtitles had disappeared from the videos on the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development’s Facebook page entitled “Lieux de travail de l’Ontario [Ontario At Work].”
/en/our-work/case-stories/without-subtitles
2021-2022 Annual Report of the French Language Services Commissioner of Ontario
Annual Report of the French Language Services Commissioner of Ontario O F F I C E O F T H E O M B U D S M A N O F O N TA R I O . 2021 2022 O N TA R I O O N TA R I O ’ S WAT C H D O G Office of the Ombudsman of Ontario We are: O N TA R I O An independent Office of the Legislature that resolves and …
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Commissioner's Message - The future begins now
This is already my third Annual Report as French Language Services Commissioner, within the Office of the Ombudsman of Ontario.
When I reflect on the progress we have achieved since May 1, 2019, I am proud of the work we have accomplished. My objective with this report is to take stock and to seize the opportunity to look to the future, in light of possibilities arising from the modernization of the French Language Services Act.
A Francophone man who wanted some information about renewing his licence plate contacted our Office because he was unable to obtain service in French from a ServiceOntario office in a designated area. We raised the issue with the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery, which ensured that …
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A Francophone man who wanted some information about renewing his licence plate contacted our Office because he was unable to obtain service in French from a ServiceOntario office in a designated area.
/en/our-work/case-stories/help-en-route
Continuing education
A woman contacted us to complain about her experience with inadequate French services from the Ministry of Colleges and Universities, both during telephone conversations and in written communications in response to her access to information request. We contacted Ministry staff, who committed to …
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A woman contacted us to complain about her experience with inadequate French services from the Ministry of Colleges and Universities, both during telephone conversations and in written communications in response to her access to information request.
/en/our-work/case-stories/continuing-education
Post-mortem refund
A man who had continued to make regular family support payments to his former mother-in-law, who had cared for his now-adult daughter, complained to us after he learned the older woman had been dead for more than a year. He alerted the Family Responsibility Office (FRO) – which had administered the …
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A man who had continued to make regular family support payments to his former mother-in-law, who had cared for his now-adult daughter, complained to us after he learned the older woman had been dead for more than a year.
/en/our-work/case-stories/post-mortem-refund
Voicemail jail
An Ontario Works (OW) recipient urgently needed help when her benefits were suspended because she submitted some paperwork late. She had been in and out of hospital, and needed drug coverage to continue her medical treatments, but could not reach her OW caseworker. When we contacted OW staff, we …
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An Ontario Works (OW) recipient urgently needed help when her benefits were suspended because she submitted some paperwork late.
/en/our-work/case-stories/voicemail-jail
Breaking the bank
A woman who was owed more than $10,000 in support payments from her ex-husband complained to us that she had provided documents to the Family Responsibility Office (FRO) proving that he had the money in a bank account, but the FRO would not take action. Our inquiries determined that the man’s money …
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A woman who was owed more than $10,000 in support payments from her ex-husband complained to us that she had provided documents to the Family Responsibility Office (FRO) proving that he had the money in a bank account, but the FRO would not take action.
/en/our-work/case-stories/breaking-bank
Found money
A mother had been waiting for months to access support funding to assist with her nine-year-old son’s developmental mental health conditions. She was concerned that his behaviour was escalating and putting himself and others at risk. After we contacted officials at the Ministry of Children, …
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A mother had been waiting for months to access support funding to assist with her nine-year-old son’s developmental mental health conditions.
/en/our-work/case-stories/found-money-0
Power arrangers
A woman who was behind on her hydro bills asked Ontario Works (OW) for help to avoid getting disconnected. The agency granted the request, but accidentally transferred an extra $1,600 to the utility, which added it to the woman’s account. She assumed it was additional COVID-19 support, as OW had …
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A woman who was behind on her hydro bills asked Ontario Works (OW) for help to avoid getting disconnected.
/en/our-work/case-stories/power-arrangers
Please try again later
We received a complaint from a Francophone who contacted the Ministry of Finance regarding provincial property taxes in an unorganized territory in Northern Ontario. He said he had to wait on the phone for about an hour before he could reach a bilingual agent. After this call, the man tried to call …
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We received a complaint from a Francophone who contacted the Ministry of Finance regarding provincial property taxes in an unorganized territory in Northern Ontario.
/en/our-work/case-stories/please-try-again-later
French connections
A person complained that some LinkedIn accounts of the Ontario government and its agencies, including those of the Ministry of Transportation and Ontario Health, showed a unilingual English logo and title. We contacted the Cabinet Office, which completed a ministry-wide audit to ensure that all …
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A person complained that some LinkedIn accounts of the Ontario government and its agencies, including those of the Ministry of Transportation and Ontario Health, showed a unilingual English logo and title.
/en/our-work/case-stories/french-connections
Transit news, now bilingual
A man informed us that although he had chosen to receive the Metrolinx e-newsletter about the Ontario Line in French, it was still being emailed to him in English every week. Through our discussions with Metrolinx, a government agency under the Ministry of Transportation, we found out that the …
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A man informed us that although he had chosen to receive the Metrolinx e-newsletter about the Ontario Line in French, it was still being emailed to him in English every week.
Strengthening the Designation: A Collaborative Effort
O N TA R I O O N TA R I O ’ S WAT C H D O G Strengthening the Designation: A Collaborative Effort Investigation into Laurentian University’s cuts to French-language programming during restructuring and into the administration of the university’s designation by the Ministry of Francophone Affairs …
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Investigation into Laurentian University’s cuts to French-language programming during restructuring and into the administration of the university’s designation by the Ministry of Francophone Affairs and the Ministry of Colleges and Universities
We were contacted by a person who requested a bilingual hearing at a courthouse in Northern Ontario. However, at the time of the hearing, the judge present could only speak English and no other means of providing services in French were available. The self-represented person could not follow the …
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We were contacted by a person who requested a bilingual hearing at a courthouse in Northern Ontario.