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Reform of Ontario Tribunals

ACTO works with other legal clinics and lawyers to lobby the Ontario government to end patronage appointments to boards and tribunals, including the new Landlord and Tenant Board. A clinic network, called the Government Adjudicative Appointments Group (GAAG), has joined with a broader coalition of lawyers (Administrative Justice Working Group (AJWG)) to push for structural reforms to the administrative justice system.

ACTO, together with GAAG and AJWG, supports a truly competitive recruitment process, so that the best candidates are appointed to decide evictions and other important applications that affect people's basic entitlements, including eligibility for workers compensation and disability benefits. A key component of our proposed reform package is the establishment of a process for stakeholder input at every Ontario tribunal.

ACTO has assisted GAAG and AJWG with a submission to the Ontario Auditor General on the need for tribunals to be recognized as unbiased decision-making bodies that are independent from the government, particularly when the government is a party before the tribunal. This paper was submitted because of concerns raised by the 2006 and the 2004 audit reports of the Social Benefits Tribunal.

Several key justice sector bodies have joined in the call for reform, including the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Ontario Bar Association, Legal Aid Ontario, the Advocates Society and the Society of Ontario Adjudicators and Regulators. Letters to the Attorney General from some of these organizations are attached. To review the position of the Society of Ontario Adjudicators and Regulators, visit: http://www.soar.on.ca/soar-appoint.htm.

ACTO is participating in on-going consultations with the Public Appointments Secretariat in the Premier's Office. Perhaps in part as a result of these efforts, the Government introduced a number of improvements to the appointments process in 2005 and 2006 that are expected to support better quality appointments including: advertisement of adjudicator openings; competitive recruitment; improved compensation; re-appointments based on performance. Information on these reforms can be found on the Public Appointments pages of the Ontario Government's website at: http://www.pas.gov.on.ca/scripts/en/generalInfo.asp