As Executive Chair, and on behalf of all the staff and members who work in the five tribunals of Environment and Land Tribunals Ontario (ELTO), I welcome you to our website.

The tribunals have a key role in resolving disputes, within the applicable legislative frameworks, to support strong, healthy communities and achieve outcomes that are in the public interest.

Our hearings are held to receive evidence that forms the basis of our decisions in a legislative framework.  We do not have the jurisdiction to solve all the problems that citizens bring to us and even within our jurisdiction we must have evidence on which to base our decisions. Our hearings follow at the end of an often lengthy process in which people have already participated and in many instances a successful outcome for someone can depend on their participating early in those processes at the municipal level or provincial level.

It is important that parties come to their hearings properly prepared. We have a number of resources on our site to help you:

• Information sheets on specific topics

• Guides to the Boards

• Web pages that give an overview of the process

• The Assessment Review Board has a video of a sample hearing

Our hearings and their outcomes are better when everyone involved understands our processes.

We are working on more resources to explain our processes to help you prepare for hearings. We cannot provide legal advice, but we can clarify our processes for you. For general information you can speak to Public Inquiry. For more complex inquiries you may speak to the Citizen Liaison Office. Questions about your specific case may be routed to a Case Coordinator.

ELTO has a complaints policy and process. Each citizen who sends in a complaint receives a response.

I encourage you to visit this site regularly for updates on ELTO’s work, and to share with me your views on how we can improve our service to the people of Ontario.

Lynda Tanaka

For more information, please read the core roles of ELTO’s constituent tribunals in About ELTO.

ARB Rules of Practice and Procedure

The Rules have been updated and take effect on April 2, 2013.

Articling Opportunities

Opportunities for summer or articling students at ELTO can be found on the Ministry of the Attorney General website.

Public and Governance Accountability Documents

View here