Backlogged tribunals creating 'distress' for Ontarians waiting months or years to be heard

Long backlogs at four tribunals mean Ontarians are waiting months or even years to have their cases heard, and critics, lawyers and advocates are calling on the government to fix what they say is a broken system.

The backlogs are preventing timely resolutions to legal disputes and impeding access to justice, according to opposition MPPs and Tribunal Watch Ontario, a non-partisan, public interest organization. Lawyers say the system isn't working for some human rights cases.

Politicians and the public interest group say thousands of cases are being upheld at the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB), the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO), the Social Benefits Tribunal (SBT) and the Automobile Accident Benefits Service (AABS), a division of the Licence Appeal Tribunal.

The SBT hears appeals from people who have been refused social assistance or who disagree with decisions affecting their eligibility, social assistance amount or benefits. The AABS deals with claims involving car accident victims and their insurance companies.

"We are seeing many people struggling as they are waiting for their hearing date, and of course, while they're waiting, that means everything is in limbo," said New Democratic Party MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam.

"It benefits no one when the tribunal system doesn't work."

Wong-Tam said she and her colleagues at Queen's Park are hearing complaints from constituents about the delays and are urging Premier Doug Ford's government to address the backlogs before an impending Ontario Ombudsman's report on the LTB is released. 

The ombudsman received 1,110 complaints about Tribunals Ontario in 2021-2022, an increase from 935 the previous year, according to its last annual report. The majority, 964 complaints, were about the LTB. 

Tribunals Ontario, the umbrella organization of 13 adjudicative tribunals that administer justice, declined to provide current backlog numbers, saying those figures are not yet available. It said the number of cases at the human rights tribunal that are 18 months or older is about 5,200 as of Dec. 31, 2022. It also said the SBT has reduced its "active caseload" from 11,000 to fewer than 6,700 since May 2021.

While it did not provide figures for the LTB or AABS, Tribunals Ontario said its annual report shows the LTB had 32,800 "active cases at year end," while the AABS had 16,204 "active appeals at fiscal year end."

The organization said it is working to reduce the backlogs.

"Tribunals Ontario has taken steps to address delays as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we are making significant progress," spokesperson Janet Deline said in an email to CBC Toronto.

"The tribunals and boards experiencing service delays have implemented a number of strategies to improve services, including by increasing the number of adjudicators so as to reach full complement and enhancing the efficiency of caseload management."

Last April, the province committed $4.5 million over three years to help reduce LTB backlogs. Then, in November, it said it would spend an additional $1.4 million to help resolve those cases faster. In 2020, the tribunal system adopted a digital-first strategy, which means hearings are conducted virtually except when people ask for accommodation.