Up-to-date Sector Information

OBA President Karen Perron attended Ontario’s annual Opening of the Courts Ceremony on September 14, 2021. For more about the event, see remarks of Ontario’s three chief justices: The Honourable George Strathy, The Honourable Geoffrey Morawetz, and The Honourable Lise Maisonneuve.  

The province has filed amendments to the regulation regarding Rules for Areas at Step 3 and the Roadmap Exit Step, to add provisions relating to compliance with any advice, recommendations and instructions issued by the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, or by a medical officer of health after consultation with the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, in relation to a COVID-19 vaccination policy.

The Judicial Appointments Advisory Committee (JAAC) has advised it is inviting applications for a judicial position in St. Catharines.

The Ministry of Government and Consumer Services has advised that on October 19, 2021 the new Ontario Business Registry System will launch and the Not-for-Profit Corporations Act, 2010 will be proclaimed into force.

The Ministry of the Attorney General (MAG) has advised that, effective August 9, the changes outlined below will be made to the Justice Services Online (JSO) platform. The OBA continues to meet with MAG and the Courts to advocate for improvements to the JSO. Any members with suggestions or feedback for improving the JSO are invited to email advocacy@oba.org.

Since July 2020 the Ministry of the Attorney General’s Recovery Secretariat (MAG-RS) has been providing daily Courthouse HVAC reports via email in response to stakeholder interest and concerns regarding COVID-19.  The OBA has been making these reports available through our Courthouse Status tab . The MAG-RS has advised that as of July 26, 2021, individuals will now be able to access up-to-date daily HVAC readings and ask questions directly to Infrastructure Ontario through a new Infrastructure Ontario website.

Tribunals Ontario has launched Navigate Tribunals Ontario, an online tool that guides users to identify situations in which the Landlord and Tenant Board can help resolve issues. The application provides users with information about their rights and responsibilities and tribunal specific rules and processes. It is not intended to provide legal advice. The OBA recently made a submission to Tribunals Ontario respecting the development of an online dispute resolution system, advocating for the essential elements in utilizing technology to ensure a system that facilitates access to lawyers and promotes fair and expeditious outcomes.

The Court of Appeal for Ontario has amended its Consolidated COVID-19 Practice Direction and revised its Counsel Slip and Hearing Information Form. The amendments to the Consolidated COVID-19 Practice Direction can be found at Appendix B of the Practice Direction. The Counsel Slip and Hearing Information Form has been revised to allow those that appear before the Court to provide their prefix, pronouns and/or name pronunciation (through phonetic spelling or a link to an audio recording

The Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal has announced that the Tribunal Decision Search Database will return to the WSIAT website on July 17, 2021. The database allows users to search decision summaries, and links to full text of decisions in HTML and pdf format. The full text of Tribunal decisions continues to be searchable on CanLII. The Librarians at the Ontario Workplace Tribunals Library (OWTL) may also assist you with searching for WSIAT decisions and other research. Library services are available by email; please contact the OWTL librarians at owtl@wst.gov.on.ca.

The Court of Appeal released today housekeeping amendments to the Practice Direction Concerning Civil Appeals at the Court of Appeal for Ontario.