4. Make a complaint

If you don’t get services in French or if the service is not adequate, you can file a complaint with the Ontario Ombudsman French Language Services Unit. This applies to services provided by the provincial government or one of its designated agencies, and municipal government if applicable.

You can make a complaint about:

• a service that did not meet your needs
• a service that does not exist

The Ombudsman’s job is to make sure the French Language Services Act is followed. This includes making sure that:

• the rights of people who live in Ontario are respected
• the provincial government and designated agencies provide the services they are supposed to

If you have questions or want the Ombudsman to look into a situation, call them at 1-866-246-5262 or 416-847-1515.

You can make a complaint by phone or by filling out a Complaint form. All complaints are confidential.

In your complaint, include details like:

• your name
• your phone number
• your mailing address
• your email address
• a brief description of the incident or the situation, with the date, time, and location

Staff at the Ombudsman’s office will contact you if they need more information. If your issue is one they can help with, they will first try to resolve your complaint by talking to the people involved. Most complaints are resolved this way within 2 weeks. If your complaint can’t be resolved by talking to the people involved, the Ombudsman can start an investigation.

The Ombudsman doesn’t have the power to order the provincial government or designated agency to do anything. But they can write a report that says what their investigation found and suggest ways the agency can improve their services.

They will tell you what happens with your case. The Ombudsman also publishes the results of their investigations in Annual Reports.