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WHO WE ARE
The Law Commission of Ontario is Ontario’s leading law reform agency. The LCO provides independent, balanced and authoritative advice on complex legal policy issues. Our work promotes access to justice and contributes to public debate.
Digital Rights
Algorithms, automated decision-making (ADM) and artificial intelligence (AI) are a new frontier for access to justice, human rights, dispute resolution and due process. The first phase of LCO’s multiyear Digital Rights project considers two areas of technology law reform that potentially affect all Ontarians: the use of algorithms in the justice system and consumer protection in the “digital marketplace.”
Indigenous Engagement – Last Stages of Life
The LCO is now preparing to establish a distinct engagement process to identify and hear about Indigenous laws and experiences in the last stages of life. This will take place in early 2019. This distinct Indigenous engagement process extends general LSL consultations conducted from June 2017 – May 2018.
Class Actions: Objectives, Experiences and Reforms
The LCO’s Final Report, Class Actions: Objectives, Experiences and Reforms is the first independent, evidence-based and comprehensive review of class actions in Ontario since the enactment of the Class Proceedings Act in 1993. The Final Report makes 47 recommendations to reform the CPA and related policies in a broad range of areas.
Defamation Law in the Internet Age
The LCO’s project is the most comprehensive analysis of Ontario’s defamation law framework to date. The project is examining the underlying purpose and function of defamation law and how defamation law should be updated to account for “internet speech,” including social media, blogs, internet platforms and digital media.
Last Stages of Life
Last Stages of Life project considers how the law shapes the rights, choices, and quality of life for persons who are dying and those who support them.
Past Projects
Law Times releases list of top stories in 2019 impacting lawyers
The Law Times recently released their Newsmakers series, which provides a look at the stories that have "dominated" their "pages over the last 52 weeks". Coming in at number 3 on the list was the [...]
Indigenous Last Stages of Life Engagement Work Presented to HPARB
In late October LCO Counsel, Ryan Fritsch, presented at the Health Professionals Appeal and Review Board annual member conference on the work the LCO has conducted for its Last Stages of Life Indigenous Engagement.
Digital Rights at Access to Justice Week
On Oct 30th, LCO Executive Director Nye Thomas discussed the growth and impact of AI and algorithms on the justice system at the Law Society of Ontario’s Access to Justice Week Data and Design Symposium.The [...]
LCO to present at Windsor Law on Artificial Intelligence and the Justice System
On November 20, at the University of Windsor's Faculty of Law, LCO Executive Director Nye Thomas and Counsel Ryan Fritsch will discuss the impact of algorithms, automated decision-making and artificial intelligence on human rights, due [...]