Bill 166 explained in plain English
Strengthening Accountability and Student Supports Act, 2024
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
Bill 166 requires Ontario colleges and universities to have policies on student mental health, racism and hate prevention, and to disclose student attendance costs, with the Minister authorized to issue directives on these matters.
Bill 166, the Strengthening Accountability and Student Supports Act, 2024, amends Ontario's Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities Act to impose three main requirements on colleges of applied arts and technology and publicly-assisted universities. First, every college and university must create and implement a student mental health policy that describes all programs, services, and supports available to students regarding mental health. These institutions must publish the policy on their website, make it available to anyone who requests it, and review it at least every five years. Each year, colleges and universities must report to their board of governors on how well the policy is working. Second, every college and university must establish policies and rules to address and combat racism and hate in all its forms, including anti-Indigenous racism, anti-Black racism, antisemitism, and Islamophobia. Like the mental health policy, these policies must be published on the institution's website, reviewed at least every five years (or more often if the Minister directs), and reported on annually to the board of governors. Third, the Minister of Colleges and Universities is given the power to issue directives requiring colleges and universities to provide public information about the costs of attending, including ancillary fees and costs of textbooks and learning materials. Institutions must comply with these directives by the dates specified. The bill also allows the Minister to issue directives specifying what topics must be addressed and what elements must be included in these policies, and what steps the Minister may take if an institution fails to comply. The Minister can require institutions to submit reports about their compliance. Most of the Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent (May 16, 2024), but Section 2 (the student mental health policy requirement) comes into force on a date to be set by the Lieutenant Governor's proclamation, which has not yet been announced.
- Requires all colleges of applied arts and technology and publicly-assisted universities in Ontario to develop a student mental health policy describing programs, policies, services, and supports related to student mental health.
- Requires all colleges and universities to implement, publish, and review their student mental health policy at least once every five years.
- Requires colleges and universities to provide annual reports to their boards of governors on the implementation and effectiveness of their student mental health policy.
- Requires all colleges and universities to have policies and rules to address and combat racism and hate, including anti-Indigenous racism, anti-Black racism, antisemitism, and Islamophobia.
- Requires colleges and universities to implement, publish, and review their racism and hate policies at least once every five years (or more frequently if directed by the Minister).
- Requires colleges and universities to provide annual reports to their boards of governors on the implementation and effectiveness of their racism and hate policies.
- Authorizes the Minister of Colleges and Universities to issue directives to colleges and universities specifying topics and elements that must be included in student mental health policies and racism/hate policies, and the dates by which these must be addressed.
- Authorizes the Minister to issue directives to colleges and universities requiring them to provide public information about the costs of attendance, including ancillary fees, textbooks, and other learning materials.
- Authorizes the Minister to specify steps the Minister may take if a college or university fails to comply with these requirements.
- Allows the Minister to require colleges and universities to submit reports regarding their compliance with student mental health policies, racism/hate policies, and cost disclosure directives.
- Repeals subsection 4.1(4) of the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities Act.
- Every college of applied arts and technology in Ontario
- Every publicly-assisted university in Ontario
- Students attending these colleges and universities
- Families and prospective students seeking information about costs and available supports
- The Minister of Colleges and Universities
- Boards of governors of colleges and universities
- Members of the public who request copies of policies
- Colleges and universities must have a student mental health policy in place (Section 19(2)).
- Colleges and universities must publish student mental health policies on their website and provide copies to anyone who requests them (Section 19(6)(a)).
- Colleges and universities must review and amend their student mental health policy at least every five years (Section 19(6)(b)).
- Colleges and universities must provide annual reports to their boards of governors on student mental health policy implementation and effectiveness (Section 19(7)).
- Colleges and universities must have policies and rules to address and combat racism and hate in specified forms (Section 20(2)).
- Colleges and universities must publish racism and hate prevention policies on their website and provide copies to anyone who requests them (Section 20(7)(a)).
- Colleges and universities must review and amend racism and hate prevention policies at least every five years, or more frequently if directed by the Minister (Section 20(7)(b)).
- Colleges and universities must provide annual reports to their boards of governors on racism and hate prevention policy implementation and effectiveness (Section 20(8)).
- Colleges and universities must comply with Minister's directives regarding student mental health policy contents and racism/hate policy contents (Sections 19(3) and 20(3)).
- Colleges and universities must comply with Minister's directives regarding cost disclosure (Section 21(5)).
- Colleges and universities must provide annual reports to their boards of governors on implementation of cost disclosure directives (Section 21(6)).
- Colleges and universities must comply with written requests from the Minister for reports on these matters (Section 22).
- The Minister may issue directives specifying what topics and elements must be included in policies and the dates for compliance (Sections 19(4), 20(4), 20(5), 21(2), 21(3)).
- The Minister may require colleges and universities to provide reports by a specified date and in a specified manner (Section 22).
- Bill 166 received Royal Assent on May 16, 2024.
- Most of the Act comes into force on May 16, 2024 (the day of Royal Assent) (Section 4(1)).
- Section 2 (the student mental health policy requirement) comes into force on a day to be named by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor, which has not yet been announced (Section 4(2)).
- The bill requires colleges and universities to disclose information about costs of attendance, including ancillary fees and costs of textbooks and learning materials, but does not directly impose new costs on students or require changes to fees (Section 21).
- The bill does not specify funding for the implementation of student mental health policies or racism and hate prevention policies, leaving the costs of policy development and implementation to individual institutions.
- The bill authorizes the Minister to specify steps the Minister intends to take if a college or university fails to comply with student mental health policy requirements, though the specific enforcement steps are not detailed in the bill (Section 19(4)(b)).
- The bill authorizes the Minister to specify steps the Minister intends to take if a college or university fails to comply with racism and hate prevention policy requirements, though the specific enforcement steps are not detailed in the bill (Section 20(5)(b)).
- The bill authorizes the Minister to specify steps the Minister intends to take if a college or university fails to comply with cost disclosure directives, though the specific enforcement steps are not detailed in the bill (Section 21(3)(b)).
- Non-compliance with Minister directives on student mental health policies and racism/hate policies is subject to undefined enforcement actions to be determined by the Minister (Sections 19(4)(b) and 20(5)(b)).
- Non-compliance with cost disclosure directives is subject to undefined enforcement actions to be determined by the Minister (Section 21(3)(b)).
- The bill does not specify when Section 2 (the student mental health policy requirement) will come into force; it requires a proclamation by the Lieutenant Governor, and this date has not been announced.
- The bill does not detail what specific enforcement steps the Minister may take if colleges and universities fail to comply, only that the Minister may specify such steps in directives.
- The bill does not specify what topics must be included in student mental health policies beyond requiring they describe 'programs, policies, services and supports'; the details will be set by future Minister directives.
- The bill does not specify what elements racism and hate prevention policies must include beyond describing 'how the institution will address and combat racism and hate'; the details will be set by future Minister directives.
- The bill does not specify what cost information must be disclosed or in what format; these details will be set by future Minister directives.
- The bill does not specify penalties or consequences for non-compliance, only that the Minister may take steps as outlined in directives.
- Subsection 4.1(4) of the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities Act is repealed, but the bill text does not explain what this subsection contained or why it was repealed.
- The bill exempts Minister directives from Part III (Regulations) of the Legislation Act, 2006, meaning they are not subject to the normal regulatory review process, but the implications of this are not explained.
The Act is amended to add new sections 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23 that establish requirements for colleges and universities regarding student mental health policies, racism and hate prevention policies, cost disclosure directives, and reporting obligations.
Source: Sections 2 and 3 of Bill 166
Bill 166 clarifies that the new powers given to the Minister regarding colleges do not limit the Minister's existing power to issue policy directives under that Act.
Source: Section 23 of Bill 166
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
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Vote Summary
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Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
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