ISAC Staff Lawyer Adrian Merdzan was recently quoted in an article about the Ontario government’s forthcoming guide dog benefit, which is required to be changed as it was found to be discriminatory.
The article focuses on the delay between the court’s finding that the policy is discriminatory and the current situation that some clients on social assistance who have service dogs find themselves in.
Adrian’s comments focus on the unexplained delay on updating the policy. It has been over a year since Divisional Court upheld the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario’s decision that the policy is discriminatory.
Read the full article on the CBC’s website here.
Read the most recent post about the court case here (May 2025). You can also find more information about the Divisional Court hearing (Ontario (Minister of Children, Community and Social Services) v. Robinson-Cooke, 2024 ONSC 3556 (Div. Ct.)) from June 2024 here, and more about the Tribunal’s decision and the timeline leading up to the Divisional Court case here and here.