The Income Security Advocacy Centre (ISAC) is pleased that the Ontario Divisional Court has found that the Social Benefits Tribunal’s practice of issuing “boilerplate” reasons when denying a reconsideration breaches procedural fairness. In recent years, the Tribunal has issued boilerplate denial decisions that fail to address the circumstances or the arguments of an individual’s claim, violating their rights.
In the underlying appeal, Ms. M.I. was an Ontario Works recipient and a mother of three children who fled domestic violence. In 2021, the Ontario Works Administrator decided to cancel her income assistance and assessed an overpayment of over $95,000 for “not living as a single person” and failing to provide information about her estranged spouse. Ms. M.I. appealed this decision to the Tribunal.
At her hearing, the Tribunal upheld the Administrator’s decision. Ms. M.I. then made a freedom of information request to obtain her Ontario Works file. The file contained documents about her estranged spouse that confirmed her hearing testimony. The Administrator possessed these key documents but failed to disclose them to the Tribunal or Ms. M.I. at her hearing. Ms. M.I. provided the Tribunal with these documents during a reconsideration request, but the Tribunal issued a boilerplate denial decision that failed to acknowledge or address these crucial documents.
The Court agreed with ISAC that the Tribunal breached procedural fairness by providing inadequate boilerplate reasons during the reconsideration and ordered a new hearing. The Court found that the documents in the Ontario Works file were “highly material and had the potential to impact the outcome.”
The Court also considered that the Administrator failed to disclose Ms. M.I.’s file to her and the Tribunal. Instead, the Administrator only provided the Tribunal with documents supporting its decision to cancel Ms. M.I.’s social assistance and order her to pay over $95,000. Moving forward, advocates hope that the Court’s decision can assist the Tribunal in ordering the government to provide full and complete disclosure of a recipient’s entire file before a hearing. This process would improve access to justice and ensure the Tribunal had access to all relevant and necessary information before making decisions that impact the lives of those relying on social assistance.
Read the Divisional Court’s decision here.