Ontario Making it Easier to Access Justice Services Online

Ministry of the Attorney General

Province Releases New Roadmap on Digital Services

Toronto, ON – Nov 29, 2017

Ontario is modernizing the justice system to make it more accessible, efficient and responsive to the needs of people across the province.

Today, Attorney General Yasir Naqvi was at Ryerson University’s Legal Innovation Zone to launch Putting Justice Within Reach: The Foundation for User-Focused Justice in Ontario. This roadmap supports a shift to digitized justice services and streamlined court processes that increase access to justice and improve the way people interact with the justice system.

The plan includes:

Developing digital tools, such as online questionnaires and e-mail summonses, to make it faster and more convenient to go through the jury process
Expanding the civil filing online pilot province wide to allow all Ontarians to file their civil claims online, 24/7, from any location
Developing a new digital service by spring 2018 to help people save time and money by going online to look up the status of their traffic tickets and other provincial offences, and request early resolution meetings
Exploring online dispute resolution options to potentially allow people who receive a traffic or similar ticket to resolve matters from their computers or smart phones
Providing the convenient option of filing joint divorce applications online by April 2018
Delivering an online service to set up or update child support to help parents save money on legal fees and avoid unnecessary trips to the courthouse
Building an online dispute resolution platform model with the Landlord and Tenant Board to help identify and develop the right tools so that tenants and landlords in Ontario can avoid and resolve disputes without formal legal processes
Funding start-ups that use artificial intelligence to develop solutions that help lawyers and consumers, or increase access to justice.

Modernizing the justice system is part of Ontario’s plan to create fairness and opportunity during this period of rapid economic change.The plan includes a higher minimum wage and better working conditions, free tuition for hundreds of thousands of students, easier access to affordable child care, and free prescription drugs for everyone under 25 through the biggest expansion of medicare in a generation.