Courts & Tribunals
Below please find some useful links to various court and tribunal websites, along with a brief description of the website and navigation tips.
Courts
Supreme Court of Canada
This site provides information about the Court and its library, judgments from 1877, and services and information for parties and counsel, as well as links to the Charter collection. The full-text judgments database is searchable by concept (key words), or with the help of a field search template.
Supreme Court Advocacy Institute
The Supreme Court Advocacy Institute is an organization which aims to “provide pro bono, non-partisan advocacy advice to lawyers appearing in an appeal before the Supreme Court of Canada”.
Lawyers will be able to apply to appear in front of a panel of senior counsel, former Supreme Court law clerks, and professors of law who will critique their presentation and advocacy skills.
As advised on the site, counsel wishing to enroll in the Institute’s advocacy program must contact the Institute at least thirty days in advance of their hearing before the Supreme Court. Counsel will be expected to provide a copy of written submissions at the time of registration in order to permit the Institute to organize a panel hearing. In cases of demonstrated hardship, the Institute will cover copying expenses.
Federal Court of Canada
This site provides information on Federal Court rules, reports and decisions, which you begin to access by clicking the appropriate tab on the top toolbar. After this, simple, uncluttered bars on the left allow access to the main sections of each component. Likewise the link to decisions is also located on the toolbar at the top, and this module is not only easy to search, but is also very up-to-date. If only all government funded ventures were this user-friendly.
Ontario Courts
This site provides something for everyone with useful information about the Ontario Courts system, in a logical and easy to use format. After the opening screen, the user is given some simple main choices: Court of Appeal, Superior Court of Justice, Ontario Court of Justice. Or you can jump to more specific information by clicking items such as Ontario Court Addresses, Notices and Rule Changes, or Ontario Statutes and Regulations. Best of all though, is the availability of recently released judgments and endorsements for the Ontario Court of Appeal, as well as full-text decisions back to 1998. This is a good place to check for recent decisions which may be hard to find in the usual sources. Also useful are the links to the various rules, such as the Family Court Rules and the forms are downloadable .pdf files. The site also to materials relating to the Ontario Court of Justice.
Ontario Court Forms
This site provides access to all forms under the Ontario Rules of Civil Procedure. Each form is available on this public website as a separate document in PDF and/or Microsoft Word. Some forms can be completed using the Forms Assistant program while others must be printed and filed in hard copy. The format of these forms is not in compliance with Rule 4 that governs the format of court documents. It is a party’s responsibility to ensure that any form they file complies with the Rules of Civil Procedure, e.g. Rule 4.01 (formatting).
An added identifier appears at the end of each form and comprises two elements: A form code, e.g., RCP-E 4A, and a version date, e.g. November 1, 2021. The version date of a form will depend on the date it is either amended, replaced by a new form, or added.
Ontario Daily Court Lists
The Ministry of the Attorney General has created an online service to make it easier for individuals, and more importantly their lawyers, to find out when and where they need to go to court. This online version of the daily court lists, primarily the Ontario Court of Justice, allows court users to search for basic information about next-day court appearances, including the case number, the names of the parties involved and the time, location and reason for that appearance. The website gives court users a faster, more convenient way to access daily court list information, which until now could only be obtained by calling or visiting the courthouse in person. The site is updated around 4:30pm each day and will hold that information for 24 hours.
Tribunals
CEIC Index to Jurisprudence
The Canada Employment Insurance Commission’s Index to Jurisprudence is a supplement to the Digest of Benefit Entitlement Principles. As its description says, it is primarily intended to provide Service Canada agents with significant and relevant decisions that support the entitlement application policy of the CEIC under the EI Act and its Regulations. Two useful features of the Index are the listings, Last 200 CUBS selected and Last 100 Court Decisions, which contain the most recently authored summaries. It can also be searched by issue or by case number.
Ontario Land Tribunal
As of June 1, 2021, the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal, Environmental Review Tribunal, Board of Negotiation, Conservation Review Board and the Mining and Lands Tribunal were merged into a new single tribunal called the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT). The Ontario Land Tribunal adjudicates matters related to land use planning, environmental and natural features and heritage protection, land valuation, land compensation, municipal finance, and related matters.
Ontario Workplace Tribunals Library
This is the website of the physical library for the tribunal, but it also serves as a valuable source of links to electronic sources for Employment Standards appeals, Occupational Health and Safety appeals from 1980 to date, WSIAT documents including medical discussion papers, practice directions and the current WSIAB operational manual, Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario decisions, and Pay Equity Hearings Tribunal decisions from 1989 to date. Some of these links are to the website of the tribunal in question; others are to the OLRB database on canlii.org. Librarians are available for research assistance, in person, by phone, fax or e-mail.
Tribunals Ontario
Tribunals Ontario is a group of 13 adjudicative tribunals that play an important role in the administration of justice in Ontario. This global site covers: Assessment Review Board, Animal Care Review Board, Child and Family Services Review Board, Custody Review Board, Fire Safety Commission, Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, Landlord and Tenant Board, Licence Appeal Tribunal, Ontario Civilian Police Commission, Ontario Parole Board, Ontario Special Education Tribunal (English), Ontario Special Education Tribunal (French) and Social Benefits Tribunal. Each tribunal has a sub-page that includes its laws, rules, and decisions, although the decisions link directs you to CanLII where all Ontario tribunal decisions are now posted.
Workplace Safety and Insurance Board
This site provides access to a variety of materials and has different tabs that tailor information to workers, employers and health care practitioners. The Operational Policy Manual is available here and updated policies are highlighted. You may also wish to subscribe to the E-mail Notification Service to receive an email notice whenever there is an update to the OPM.