Ontario Ombudsman - Current Ombudsman and Mandate

Current Ombudsman and Mandate

André Marin was appointed as Ontario's sixth Ombudsman in April 2005. He reorganized the office in an effort to make it more efficient and reallocated resources to handle broad systemic issues affecting large numbers of people, as well as individual complaints. The "Special Ombudsman Response Team" (SORT) was created to handle these large field investigations, using a dedicated team of experienced investigators. More than 25 SORT investigations have been completed since 2005 and virtually all of the Ombudsman's recommendations have been accepted and implemented by the government. This has resulted in dramatic reforms to, among other things, the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation, compensation of crime victims, support payments for the disabled, the screening of newborn babies for preventable disorders, legal aid and the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation. These investigations are detailed in the Ombudsman's special reports.

In every annual report since he was appointed, Marin stressed the positive changes brought about by the government as a result of these investigations, but lamented the continuing lack of oversight granted to the Ombudsman's office in the so-called "MUSH sector," i.e. municipalities, universities, school boards and hospitals - as well as long-term care facilities, children's aid societies and police. The Ontario ombudsman's office is the only one in Canada that does not have a mandate to investigate in at least some of these areas.

The Ombudsman's jurisdiction was expanded, however, in January 2008 to include the new responsibility for enforcement of the Ontario Municipal Act's requirements that all municipal councils, committees and most local boards keep their meetings open to the public. The Act designates the Ombudsman as the investigator of public complaints about closed meetings in all municipalities that have not appointed their own investigator. To further understanding of these new requirements, Marin published The Sunshine Law Handbook: Open Municipal Meetings in Ontario, a guide to the new legal provisions. He also created a new investigative team similar to SORT, called OMLET - the Open Meeting Law Enforcement Team - to specialize in investigations of closed meeting complaints, and in 2012, he published the Office's first annual report devoted entirely to that subject.

In his 2009 annual report, Marin emphasized the importance of oversight and accountability at a time of economic downturn and budget shortfalls. He stressed the value that his office has been able to deliver for millions of Ontarians by conducting systemic investigations as well as resolving individual complaints and reiterated his call for his mandate to be expanded to the MUSH sector. As well, he noted that Ontario's SORT model is being emulated by ombudsmen and other administrative watchdogs in many other countries and across Canada, thanks to "Sharpening Your Teeth," an annual training course started by SORT in 2007 that has trained (on a complete cost-recovery basis) hundreds of investigators and ombudsmen from around the world. Marin was also awarded the Ontario Bar Association's Tom Marshall Award of Excellence in 2009, in recognition of outstanding achievements in the practice of public sector law in Ontario.

The Ombudsman's five-year term expired March 31, 2010. Marin applied for a second term and was reappointed as the Ombudsman of Ontario on June 1, 2010 for another 5-year term. He has since received awards from the University of Ottawa (2011), Carleton University Alumni Association (2011), the Ontario Bar Association (2012) and the Canadian Bar Association (2012), and the U.S.-based National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE), as well as being inducted into the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law’s Common Law Honour Society (2012).

In November 2011, the Ontario Ombudsman launched a mobile version of the office's website. This 'web app', believed to be the first of its kind in the ombudsman world, will let mobile users browse the Office's website more quickly and efficiently. They will be able to file an online complaint from their mobile device, as well as search the full site and read Ombudsman Ontario news and reports.