Bill 226 explained in plain English
Fixing Tribunals Ontario Backlogs 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
Ontario Bill 226 changes how tribunal members are appointed, creates an advisory panel on access to justice for tribunals, and establishes temporary backlog reduction panels for the Human Rights Tribunal and Landlord and Tenant Board.
Bill 226, called the Fixing Tribunals Ontario Backlogs Act, 2024, makes changes to how Ontario's adjudicative tribunals (specialized decision-making bodies like the Human Rights Tribunal and Landlord and Tenant Board) operate. The bill changes the appointment process for tribunal members by requiring that appointments and reappointments be approved by the chair of the tribunal. It also requires the Public Appointments Secretariat to maintain a publicly available list of all people appointed to or intended to be appointed to tribunals, updated weekly. This list must include biographical information and details about whether appointees appeared before the Standing Committee on Government Agencies. The bill creates a new Access to Justice Panel that will be established within 60 days. This panel will make recommendations to the Attorney General about improving tribunal independence and access to justice. The panel must report its findings within six months, and the Attorney General must make these recommendations public within 30 days of receiving them. The Attorney General then has 90 days to tell the Assembly which recommendations the government intends to implement, and must report back one year later on progress made. The bill also creates two temporary Backlog Reduction Panels: - A Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario Backlog Reduction Panel to help resolve cases at the Human Rights Tribunal - A Landlord and Tenant Board Backlog Reduction Panel to help resolve cases at the Landlord and Tenant Board Both panels will be established within 60 days and will be composed of adjudicators appointed by the Standing Committee on Government Agencies. The Standing Committee on Government Agencies will decide which cases these panels handle. Each panel will be dissolved once all its assigned cases are resolved. The bill comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent. Members of tribunals who were appointed before the bill comes into force will remain in their positions until their terms end.
- Repeals and re-enacts Section 14 of the Adjudicative Tribunals Accountability, Governance and Appointments Act, 2009 to change appointment requirements for tribunal members
- Requires the chair of an adjudicative tribunal to approve all appointments and reappointments to that tribunal following assessment of qualifications and, for reappointments, performance on the tribunal
- Requires the Public Appointments Secretariat to maintain a publicly available list of all tribunal appointees and intended appointees, updated weekly, including biographical information and Standing Committee attendance details
- Establishes an Access to Justice Panel to be created within 60 days, composed of members with demonstrated expertise appointed by the Standing Committee on Government Agencies
- Tasks the Access to Justice Panel with making recommendations on enhancing tribunal independence and improving access to justice, including options for creating an independent Adjudicative Tribunal Justice Council
- Requires the Access to Justice Panel to report recommendations within six months, requires the Attorney General to publish those recommendations within 30 days, and requires the Attorney General to report on implementation progress one year later
- Establishes a Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario Backlog Reduction Panel within 60 days, composed of adjudicators appointed by the Standing Committee on Government Agencies, to resolve applications at the Human Rights Tribunal
- Establishes a Landlord and Tenant Board Backlog Reduction Panel within 60 days, composed of adjudicators appointed by the Standing Committee on Government Agencies, to resolve cases at the Landlord and Tenant Board
- Authorizes the Standing Committee on Government Agencies to determine which cases the Backlog Reduction Panels will handle
- Provides that each Backlog Reduction Panel will be dissolved once all assigned cases are resolved
- Requires the Minister to report on the scope and caseload of the Human Rights Tribunal backlog panel within six months of establishment
- The Attorney General of Ontario, who must establish the Access to Justice Panel, make its recommendations public, report on implementation of recommendations, and appoint members of tribunal panels
- The Minister responsible for the Human Rights Tribunal, who must establish the Backlog Reduction Panel and report on its scope and caseload
- Current and prospective members of Ontario's adjudicative tribunals, whose appointments now require chair approval
- Chairs of adjudicative tribunals, who must approve all appointments and reappointments
- The Standing Committee on Government Agencies, which appoints members to the Access to Justice Panel and both Backlog Reduction Panels, and determines which cases the backlog panels handle
- Applicants and parties appearing before the Human Rights Tribunal and the Landlord and Tenant Board, who may have their cases resolved by the temporary Backlog Reduction Panels
- Legal Aid Ontario-funded community legal clinics and the Administrative Justice Section of the Ontario Bar Association, who will be consulted by the Access to Justice Panel
- The responsible minister of an adjudicative tribunal must make public the recruitment process for tribunal members and specify the steps to be taken and the required skills, knowledge, experience, and qualifications
- The Public Appointments Secretariat must maintain and update weekly a publicly available list of tribunal appointees and intended appointees with specified information
- The chair of an adjudicative tribunal must approve all appointments and reappointments after assessing qualifications and, for reappointments, performance
- The Attorney General must establish the Access to Justice Panel within 60 days
- The Access to Justice Panel must report its recommendations within six months of establishment
- The Attorney General must make the Access to Justice Panel recommendations public within 30 days of receipt
- The Attorney General must inform the Assembly within 90 days which Access to Justice Panel recommendations the government intends to implement
- The Attorney General must report to the Assembly one year after informing them of intended implementations on progress made
- The Attorney General must establish the Landlord and Tenant Board Backlog Reduction Panel within 60 days
- The Minister must establish the Human Rights Tribunal Backlog Reduction Panel within 60 days and report on its scope and caseload within six months
- The Standing Committee on Government Agencies must determine criteria for which cases the Backlog Reduction Panels will resolve
- Both Backlog Reduction Panels must report directly to the Attorney General
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent (no specific date provided in the bill text)
- Access to Justice Panel must be established within 60 days after section 22.1 comes into force
- Human Rights Tribunal Backlog Reduction Panel must be established within 60 days after section 45.10 comes into force
- Landlord and Tenant Board Backlog Reduction Panel must be established within 60 days after section 182.3.1 comes into force
- Access to Justice Panel must report its recommendations within six months after being established
- Attorney General must make Access to Justice Panel recommendations public within 30 days of receiving the report
- Attorney General must inform the Assembly of which recommendations the government intends to implement within 90 days of receiving the report
- Minister must report on the Human Rights Tribunal Backlog Reduction Panel's scope and caseload within six months of its establishment
- Attorney General must report to the Assembly on progress implementing Access to Justice Panel recommendations one year after informing them of intended implementations
- The bill provides that remuneration and expenses for Access to Justice Panel members may be determined by the Lieutenant Governor in Council, but only if money has been appropriated by the Legislature
- The bill provides that remuneration and expenses for Human Rights Tribunal Backlog Reduction Panel members may be determined by the Lieutenant Governor in Council, but only if money has been appropriated by the Legislature
- The bill provides that remuneration and expenses for Landlord and Tenant Board Backlog Reduction Panel members may be determined by the Lieutenant Governor in Council, but only if money has been appropriated by the Legislature
- No specific budget allocation or cost estimates are provided in the bill text
- The bill text does not specify enforcement mechanisms or penalties for non-compliance with its requirements
- The bill does not specify what the Access to Justice Panel should recommend regarding funding for the proposed Adjudicative Tribunal Justice Council or how it would be funded if created
- The bill does not specify a deadline for dissolving the Backlog Reduction Panels or provide details on how long they may operate
- The bill does not specify how many members the Access to Justice Panel or the Backlog Reduction Panels should have
- The bill does not specify what qualifications or expertise the Access to Justice Panel members should have beyond 'demonstrated subject matter knowledge and dispute resolution expertise'
- The bill does not specify the scope or capacity of the Backlog Reduction Panels or how many cases they are expected to resolve
- The bill does not provide details on what happens to cases that cannot be resolved by the Backlog Reduction Panels
- The bill does not specify conflict resolution procedures or appeals processes for cases resolved by the Backlog Reduction Panels
- The bill does not specify how the Standing Committee on Government Agencies will determine which cases the Backlog Reduction Panels should handle
- The bill does not provide specific timelines for how long the appointment approval process will take
- The bill does not specify enforcement mechanisms if the required timelines are not met
Changes how tribunal members are selected and appointed; requires chair approval for appointments; requires the Public Appointments Secretariat to maintain and regularly update a public list of appointees with biographical and attendance information; establishes an Access to Justice Panel to advise the Attorney General on tribunal independence and access to justice improvements
Source: Section 1(1) and 1(2)
Creates a temporary Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario Backlog Reduction Panel composed of adjudicators appointed by the Standing Committee on Government Agencies to resolve cases at the Human Rights Tribunal; the panel will be dissolved once assigned cases are resolved
Source: Section 2
Creates a temporary Landlord and Tenant Board Backlog Reduction Panel composed of adjudicators appointed by the Standing Committee on Government Agencies to resolve cases at the Landlord and Tenant Board; the panel will be dissolved once assigned cases are resolved
Source: Section 3
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.
Official textProcess Snapshot
Vote Summary
This bill is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.
No published representative vote breakdown
This bill is still moving through the process. When a recorded division is published, representative positions can be listed here.
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.
How this data is sourced