Asper Centre formally launches its Police Complaints Guide for Ontario

Posted on April 1, 2026April 1, 2026 by Tal Schreier

by Daniel Minden

On March 26, 2026, the Asper Centre formally launched its new Practical Guide to Police Oversight, a resource designed to help people in Ontario navigate Ontario’s police complaints system. To mark the occasion, the Asper Centre held an event which brought together Jackman Law students and staff, representatives from several Toronto legal clinics, and officials from police oversight agencies. The event featured remarks from Joseph Maiorano, Deputy Inspector General of Policing of Ontario; Stephen Leach, Complaints Director at the Law Enforcement Complaints Agency (LECA); Emily Hill, Senior Staff Lawyer at Aboriginal Legal Services; and Sarah Strban, a criminal defence lawyer in Toronto.

In her introductory remarks, Tal Schreier, Program Coordinator at the Asper Centre, noted that the Police Complaints Guide project originated in 2017. During the summer of 2017, Sarah Strban, then a student at the Faculty of Law, worked as a researcher for renowned Canadian constitutional law expert Mary Eberts in the context of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Her research uncovered a lack of public information about the police complaints process in Canada. Following her summer fellowship, Strban convened an Asper Centre working group which carried on with this research. In response to Sarah’s working group research, the Asper Centre sought and received funding from the Law Foundation of Ontario (LFO) to create the guide. However, the newly elected provincial government led by Doug Ford was in the midst of altering the police oversight legislative framework. In 2019, the Legislative Assembly of Ontario passed the Community Safety and Policing Act (“CSPA”) which reformed the province’s police complaints system. The Asper Centre paused the project until the CSPA entered into force and was fully implemented. With the new police complaints system in effect as of 2024, the Asper Centre completed the drafting and translations of the guide in 2025.

The guests of honour lauded the guide as a valuable resource for the public and explained their organizations’ roles in Ontario’s new police oversight system. Joseph Maiorano, Deputy Inspector General of Policing, noted that the Inspectorate’s mandate is to ensure the compliance of police services and boards with the CSPA. The Inspectorate achieves this task through inspections, investigations, and advisory services, Maiorano said. To fulfil its mandate, the Inspectorate is empowered to issue compliance directions, remove members of a police services board, and appoint administrators to administer a police service. The Inspectorate also includes a Centre of Data Intelligence and Innovation, which conducts research and analysis to improve policing in Ontario.

Maiorano also provided an update on the Inspectorate’s recent work, highlighting its inspection of the Thunder Bay Police Service and Thunder Bay Police Service Board. In addition, Maiorano underscored the Inspector General’s recent decision to launch an inspection of police integrity and anti-corruption practices across Ontario, which will examine five areas: supervision of officers, vetting of recruits and officers, access to databases, evidence management, and substance use related to fitness for duty.

The event also featured remarks from Stephen Leach, Complaints Director at LECA. Although members of the public can submit complaints about police conduct directly to LECA, these complaints are usually referred to the police service whose employees’ conduct is at issue. LECA itself rarely decides to retain complaints for investigation. Rather, LECA functions as an independent oversight body which is set up to review results of investigations conducted by police agencies. LECA can confirm or modify these results or order new investigations.

Leach argued that LECA has made substantial progress in remedying the shortcomings of its predecessor organization, the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD), which existed until April 2024. According to Leach, the OPIRD had a backlog of 1,000 cases. Leach claimed that LECA has improved those metrics significantly and is now complying with the 120-day limit set out in the CSPA. Leach also lauded the provision in the CSPA which requires police chiefs to advise LECA of possible incidents of misconduct affecting the public and claimed that LECA receives 10-15 such notifications per week.

Following the remarks by Leach, Emily Hill of Aboriginal Legal Services (ALS) explained that her organization frequently helps clients address police misconduct. According to Hill, ALS often represents families in inquests following deaths of individuals in police custody or use-of-force incidents. ALS also assists clients in making complaints about police through the LECA process, filing human rights complaints where discriminatory police conduct is at issue, and contacting police to report crimes. For Hill, the Police Complaints Guide is a valuable resource which will help people in Ontario understand their options for police complaints and inform Ontario residents about the outcomes that they can realistically expect. Hill also commented on the potential use of restorative justice practices in resolving police complaints, noting that they can be particularly effective where the parties have an ongoing relationship, a shared interest in continued collaboration, and a commitment to improving policing in the community.

Finally, Toronto criminal defence lawyer Sarah Strban, who worked on the Guide during her studies at the Faculty of Law, elaborated on the origins of the guide. Strban noted that her initial research into police oversight in Ontario was conducted for Mary Eberts, who served as counsel to the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) at the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. With the benefit of Strban’s research, Eberts asked the National Inquiry to expand its mandate to encompass police oversight. Although the National Inquiry declined to do so, Strban’s summer research became a “passion project” and led her to convene the student-led working group at the Asper Centre, which continued to examine the police complaints process. Now that the project has come to fruition, Strban believes that the guide will be a valuable resource for people in Ontario, in particular for those who cannot afford to hire a lawyer.

The Asper Centre’s Practical Guide to Police Oversight, funded by the Law Foundation of Ontario, is available online in English, French, and Oji-Cree [Anishininiimowin / ᐊᓂᐦᔑᓂᓃᒧᐏᐣ] and in print at many legal clinics across Ontario.

Daniel Minden is a Research and Communications Assistant with the Asper Centre. He is a 1L JD candidate at the University of Toronto Jackman Faculty of Law.

Clinic Information Session (for enrolment in Fall 2026)

Clinic Information Session – for U of T Law upper year students (including rising 2L’s)

This information session, for University of Toronto Faculty of Law upper year students, will provide details on how to enroll in the for-credit clinical programs at the faculty including the Asper Centre Constitutional Rights Clinic, Downtown Legal Services, and the International Human Rights Program for Fall 2026.

The following Directors will present at the information session and there will be an opportunity to ask questions:

Prasanna Balasundaram, DLS
Cheryl Milne, Asper Centre
Sandra Wisner, IHRP

Asper Centre Calls for Stronger Role for Public Interest Interveners in Canadian Courts

Posted on September 9, 2025October 10, 2025 by Tal Schreier

On September 9, 2025, the David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights released its new report, More than Busybodies – Asper Centre Report. The report makes the case for strengthening the role of public interest interveners, who provide courts with essential perspectives that go beyond the positions of the immediate parties.

Drawing on research by Asper Centre students and staff, as well as a March 2025 Roundtable with leading practitioners and organizations that regularly intervene, the report highlights barriers that too often prevent interveners from contributing fully, including inconsistent leave decisions, restrictive procedures, and a lack of transparency.

To address these challenges, the report offers concrete recommendations to improve the intervention process, such as requiring courts to give reasons when denying leave, shielding interveners from cost awards, and ensuring adequate time for oral arguments.

“Public interest interveners are not mere busybodies—they bring diverse perspectives and lived experience that help courts see the broader stakes of constitutional litigation,” the report stresses.

With nearly 70% of Supreme Court of Canada cases in recent years featuring interveners, the Asper Centre underscores that their role is critical to the development of constitutional law. By adopting the report’s recommendations, Canadian courts can ensure that public interest voices are not sidelined but empowered to contribute meaningfully to justice.

Application Due Date for Work-Study Position

🚨We’re Hiring!🚨

The Asper Centre is seeking a Work-Study student as a Research & Communications Assistant✍️📢

In this role, you’ll:
🔹 Research and draft content for our website & social media (including case summaries and commentary)
🔹 Attend and report on Asper Centre events (workshops, conferences, etc.)
🔹 Contribute substantive content to our newsletters
(Website experience is an asset, but training will be provided!)

📚 Applicants must be currently enrolled in the JD or LLM programs at the Faculty of Law.

📝 Apply via CLNx (student job board) by September 22, 2025 at 9:00 AM.

Come be part of our work advancing constitutional rights! ⚖️✨

My Summer Fellowship at the Canadian Environmental Law Association

Posted on August 20, 2025August 20, 2025 by Tal Schreier

by Olivia Parker

This summer, I had the privilege of being sponsored by the David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights through the Yaremko Fellowship program to work with the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA) in Toronto. Founded in 1970, CELA is a legal aid clinic dedicated to advancing environmental justice for low-income Ontarians. Over its long history, CELA has been involved in significant cases such as representing residents of Walkerton during the 2000 drinking water tragedy, and ongoing litigation on behalf of citizens in Elliot Lake seeking a cleanup order for uranium waste used as backfill in their homes.

Asper Centre/CELA Environmental Legal Action Guide, 2025

During my time at CELA, I worked on several projects and researched a range of pressing environmental law issues. I helped finalize an Environmental Legal Action Guidebook created in partnership with the Asper Centre. This guide, which originated as an Asper Centre working group project, is a 73-page, five-chapter detailed resource designed for activists seeking to use Canadian law to advance environmental justice. It covers Ontario’s Environmental Bill of Rights, nuisance law, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Indigenous rights, and law reform strategies. I edited the Guidebook to make it more accessible and prepared it for publication. I hope it will be a practical tool for communities and advocates across Canada.

Early in the summer, I examined U.S. state-level environmental justice legislation to identify potential reforms for Ontario. I found examples from four states requiring developers to conduct cumulative impact assessments when proposing facilities in vulnerable communities—considering both the facility’s direct effects and existing environmental risks. These insights could guide similar proposals here in Ontario to strengthen environmental protections.

I also researched ways to improve environmental protections for migrant farm workers in Canada, many of whom face dangerous exposure to extreme heat and pesticides—both on the job and in employer-provided housing, which currently has no upper temperature limit. Drawing from U.S. and European statutes and advocacy initiatives, I developed recommendations including “right-to-know” pesticide hazard laws and an upper temperature standard for housing.

CELA, in partnership with the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, recently released a poster outlining how recipients of Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) or Ontario Works (OW) can apply for funding for air conditioning units. Although funding is discretionary and requires a doctor’s note, we received numerous reports of applicants being denied despite meeting the medical requirement. I contacted multiple ODSP/OW offices across Ontario to gather information on how municipalities allocate this funding—research that could help shape future law reform.

In Ontario, public health units are required to identify populations particularly vulnerable to climate change and develop strategies to reduce these impacts. Of the 29 health units in the province, 17 have completed such assessments. I reviewed these assessments to produce a report highlighting vulnerable communities across Ontario. Consistently, children, seniors, and people of low socioeconomic status were identified as most at risk. Many health units also highlighted those who are chronically ill, Indigenous peoples, and newcomers to Canada. CELA intends to use these findings to inform policy recommendations that will better support these groups as climate change impacts intensify.

I am deeply grateful to the Asper Centre and CELA for making this experience possible. Over the summer, I developed my legal research and writing skills while engaging with complex and urgent issues in environmental law. I highly recommend this fellowship to other law students and look forward to continuing my work in environmental and constitutional law.

Olivia Parker is a rising 2L JD Candidate (2027) at the Faculty of Law and was the Asper Centre fellow at CELA this summer.