The Court of Appeal for Ontario is the highest level of court in the province. The Court of Appeal for Ontario hears many appeals. The court is composed of a federally appointed Chief Justice of Ontario, an Associate Chief Justice of Ontario and many other judges. The Court of Appeal sits with either one or three judges depending on the appeal.
This court is separate from other Ontario courts and usually provides the final ruling on a legal issue. An appeal on this ruling goes to the Supreme Court of Canada, the highest court in all of Canada.
The Court of Ontario has two divisions:
The Superior Court of Justice handles the more serious criminal law and youth criminal justice matters. It hears all jury trials as well as trials before a judge sitting alone after a preliminary hearing has been held. The court also hears civil cases, including divorce cases, cases involving larger amounts of money and challenges to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Superior Court of Justice also reviews certain family, provincial offences, and summary conviction appeal matters from the Ontario Court of Justice. There are three branches of the Superior Court of Justice in Ontario:
The Divisional Court is an appellate court, meaning that it only hears:
Sometimes referred to as the Unified Family Court, the Family Court branch of the Superior Court of Justice provides a single court for all family matters, including divorce, division of property, child protection, adoption, child and spousal support and child custody and access matters. Special services provided by the Family Court include Family Law Information Centres, Supervised Access Centres, Mediation Services and Parent Information Sessions.
In some areas of the province, where the Unified Family Court does not exist, family law matters are divided between the Superior Court of Justice (divorce, division of property, child and spousal support, custody and access cases) and the Ontario Court of Justice (custody and access, child and spousal support, adoption and child protection cases).
The Small Claims Court is a branch of the Superior Court of Justice. The court hears civil actions for claims up to $25,000.
The Ontario Court of Justice is the lower level provincial court. It can hear cases about offences committed under provincial laws, as well as criminal and family cases. The Ontario Court of Justice is also considered a youth court for the purposes of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
Many disputes over administrative rules and regulations are handled outside of the court system through administrative boards and tribunals. Tribunals hear evidence and make decisions like courts, but they are not part of the court system and the cases are not heard by judges. Instead, the adjudicators (decision makers) may be experts of the very specific legal field handled by the tribunal (e.g., labour law, human rights law, immigration law, energy law, workers’ compensation law, liquor licensing law, etc.) who hear arguments and evidence provided by lawyers before making a written decision on record. Administrative boards and tribunals have been created to allow for disputes to be resolved more quickly and less expensively than through the formal court system. Procedure before administrative boards is usually simpler and less formal than in the courts.