What does deemed abandoned mean at the HRTO?

It means the Tribunal has closed your file because you stopped responding to it — to a direction, a notice, or a scheduling letter. It is not a ruling on whether discrimination occurred. In the 344 Ontario corrections matters we traced, 28.8% ended this way.

What is a Notice of Intent to Dismiss?

A letter stating that the Tribunal is considering dismissing your application, with a short window to respond. It is not a decision. Not responding is generally treated as agreement, so the response window is the point at which the outcome is still open.

Can you appeal an HRTO decision?

There is no appeal from the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. The internal route is a request for reconsideration by the Tribunal itself, and the external route is judicial review to the Divisional Court, which asks whether the decision was reasonable rather than whether it was right.

Does abandoned mean I lost?

No. It means nothing was decided. In our Durham corpus, dismissal as abandoned is the single largest ending — 13 of 37 matters — and none of them involved any assessment of the evidence.

Request reconsideration, explaining what happened and why. Do it in writing and immediately.

How long do I have for judicial review?

Thirty days, under a deadline added in 2021 where none existed before. Extensions are discretionary.

Does this happen more to unrepresented people?

In our record, 46% of unrepresented matters ended as abandoned against 0% of represented ones.

Is it ever the Tribunal's own error?

Sometimes. In 2023–24, 29 of 39 successful reconsiderations province-wide were granted because of the Tribunal's own administrative errors, mostly failures to upload documents applicants had in fact filed.

How long does deferral last?

Until the other proceeding concludes. In practice this has meant multi-year pauses. Nothing restarts automatically.

Whose job is it to restart the case?

Yours. Put the reactivation request in writing to the Tribunal, copied to the other side, as soon as the other process ends.

Can I refuse to be deferred?

You can make submissions opposing deferral. Whether they succeed depends on how closely the other process overlaps with your Code claim.

What if the other process already dealt with it?

Then the Tribunal may dismiss under s. 45.1 as appropriately dealt with elsewhere. In the Thunder Bay record, an officer's application was dismissed on exactly this basis after WSIB addressed the substance.

Who do I name as respondent?

For a municipal or regional service, the police services board is the usual respondent. You may also name individual officers, but be aware that where the institution accepts responsibility, individually named respondents are routinely removed as parties.

Does it cost anything?

No. There is no filing fee at the HRTO, and no costs are awarded against you if you lose — unlike civil court.

Since 2025, mediation is effectively mandatory and your absence can end the case. A respondent's absence merely limits their later participation — the consequences are not symmetrical.

Yes. What is said in mediation cannot be used at a hearing, and settlement terms are usually confidential.

Should I sign a non-disparagement clause?

That is a decision to take advice on. Our record contains matters where such clauses were later litigated on both sides — including one where a police board brought its own application against a former applicant.

There is usually a form to file confirming the outcome. Missing it can close your file without further notice.

What should I ask for?

Name each type: the complete General Occurrence hardcopy including all pages, officer notebook entries, the CAD dispatch chronology, 911 and radio audio, body-worn and in-car video, attachments listed on the checklist, and the accountability layer — audit and access logs, supervisory approvals, internal emails, retention and destruction records.

How long does it take, and what does it cost?

$5 to file, and a statutory response period. A non-answer is a deemed refusal you can appeal to the Information and Privacy Commissioner for $10.

What if they refuse or black things out?

Ask for a record-by-record exemption index; blanket citations are a known and appealable deficiency. Ask whether the public-interest override was considered.

Can I get body-worn camera footage?

Usually through a separate application with its own fee. Ask first for an index of what footage exists — which also fixes in writing that it existed.

What does the record actually show?

In our Durham corpus, 89% of represented matters survived every procedural gate against 18% of unrepresented ones; 46% of unrepresented matters ended as abandoned against 0% of represented ones.

Where do I get free help?

The Human Rights Legal Support Centre (1-866-625-5179) is the first call. Community legal clinics through Legal Aid Ontario are the second.

Who represents the police side?

Institutional counsel, consistently. In our Durham corpus, one management firm appears in 68% of matters with recorded respondent counsel, while no applicant-side representative appears in more than two.

Is screening a decision on my case?

No. It is a threshold check. Nothing at this stage weighs the evidence or decides whether discrimination happened.

What are the most common problems?

No clear link between what happened and a protected ground; events outside the one-year period; the wrong respondent named; or an incomplete form.

Does representation change survival at this gate?

In our Durham corpus, 89% of represented matters survived jurisdictional screening against 39% of unrepresented ones. Across all procedural gates the gap widens to 89% against 18%.

The deadline is on the letter and is short. Diarise it twice — the date, and fourteen days before.

Will there be a hearing?

Since October 2024, summary hearings have been eliminated. The written process is now the process — filters without hearings replaced filters with them.

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Reference · questions and answers · modified 7 Aug 2026

Frequently asked questions

Answers to the questions people actually ask

Every question below is answered somewhere on this site with its source attached. This page collects them in one place, grouped, searchable, and linked back to the full explanation. If your question is not here, ask us and we will add it.

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