Mandatory mediation aimed at decreasing backlog of cases – but is it enough?

BY Lorenzo Lisi and Zachary Sippel 12 Jun. 2025

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On April 8, 2025, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) announced several changes to its rules of procedure in an attempt to address its significant backlog of cases. Notably, the changes include mandatory mediation for all applications and changes to the discovery and hearing timelines. But the question arising from these changes remains: will it be enough to fix the issues that have plagued the HRTO in recent years?

As of June 1, 2025, the HRTO has implemented mandatory mediation for all new applications. Our review of the HRTO’s internal statistics indicate that nearly 60 per cent of cases have resolved at mediation, which explains the rationale behind the tribunal’s intended push. However, it is important to note that only mediation carried out through the HRTO’s process will satisfy this new requirement.

While more changes may be coming from the tribunal, what we currently know is that in addition to mandatory mediation, the tribunal intends to impose stricter disclosure obligations post-mediation, as well as a significantly more stringent process for requesting extensions for deadlines (such as for filing responses) and adjournments.

What is missing, however, is any indication from the tribunal that changes will also be made to address the significant delays associated with the current process for preliminary requests for orders...

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