The Ombudsman of Ontario and the Graduate Students’ Association (GSA) recognizes that historically underrepresented constituent groups attending or working in Ontario universities face systemic barriers that impinges on their ability to succeed.
Currently, universities do not fall under the purview of the Ombudsman office. The best way to change this is for university students, faculty and staff who have serious complaints to submit those testimonials to the Ontario Ombudsman. The Ombudsman office will keep all of the information you provide confidential.
At the moment the Ombudsman cannot intervene on behalf of students, faculty and staff at Ontario universities because these public institutions do not fall under the Ombudsman office’s purview. However, if the Ombudsman office receives numerous complaints from people at Ontario universities, they can lobby the Provincial government to give them that power.
The complaints process will not benefit those at universities across the Province in the present. However, in the future, with enough complaints the Provincial government may give the Office of the Ombudsman of Ontario the power to intervene in specific cases if a complaint is filled with the aforementioned office. Registering your complaints now will benefit a countless number of people in the long term. This is an example of everyone working together to make changes to the system that will be beneficial to all in the future. In the future, this will give people more options to have their problems solved satisfactorily.
The Graduate Students’ Association currently advocates on behalf of graduate students within the University’s appeal structure. It is not always possible to resolve incidents within the University. Sometimes outside intervention is needed. If the Ombudsman of Ontario campaign is successful, it will give graduate students the option of filing a complaint outside of the University without having to find a lawyer. Due to high student fees and financial debt, many graduate students cannot afford legal fees and find themselves with no recourse if they experience harassment or discrimination on campus. The success of this campaign is important because it will give students additional options to rectify their precarious situations if the GSA fails in its advocacy efforts within the University. Graduate students currently do not have this option. As a result, the GSA Executive encourages all graduate students requesting advocacy support from the GSA to also file a complaint with the Ombudsman of Ontario.
