Frequently Asked Questions

“Tribunal” refers to the Discipline Committee of the College of Audiologists and Speech-Language Pathologists, the Ontario Physicians and Surgeons Discipline Tribunal and the Ontario Registered Psychotherapists Discipline Tribunal. Each one is the Discipline Committee for their respective health college. The Tribunal is like a court. It holds hearings and makes decisions about whether a registrant committed an act of professional misconduct or is incompetent. It also decides applications from registrants who want their certificate of registration reinstated.

The College investigates complaints received from the public. The College’s Registrar may also ask that a registrant be investigated. The results of either investigation may be considered by the College's Inquiries, Complaints and Reports Committee (ICRC). The ICRC decides whether to refer any allegations to the Tribunal for a hearing.

The Notice of Hearing contains the College’s allegations against the registrant.

Yes. The Notice of Hearing and a summary of the allegations are posted to the College's public register on its website..

A registrant whose certificate of registration was revoked or suspended by the Tribunal may apply to have it reinstated so they can return to practice.

The Tribunal usually hears cases in panels of five. It is made up of both registrants and public members. Each panel is selected by the Chair and panels hearing the merits and penalty include an experienced adjudicator chair, registrants of the College and members of the public.

An electronic hearing can be held in writing, by telephone or videoconference. Members of the public can obtain a link to watch videoconference hearings: for the Discipline Committee of the College of Audiologists and Speech-Language Pathologists, click here, for the Ontario Physicians and Surgeons Discipline Tribunal click here and for the Ontario Registered Psychotherapists Discipline Tribunal email tribunal@opsdt.ca.

An in-person hearing occurs when the parties, lawyers and panel are all physically present in the same place.

A registrant who chooses to represent themself at the Tribunal is a self-represented party.

There are three hearing types: merit, penalty and motion. The Tribunal also holds hearings on applications for reinstatement. Please see the Guide to the Tribunal Process for more detailed descriptions.

At a merits hearing, a Tribunal panel will hear evidence and submissions from the parties and decide whether the College has proven the allegations of professional misconduct and/or incompetence against the registrant. For a more detailed description of the merits hearing, please see the Guide to the Tribunal Process. 

In a contested hearing, the registrant denies the College’s allegations.

In an uncontested hearing, the registrant agrees with the facts the College says support the allegations and admits they amount to misconduct or incompetence. A registrant may also plead “no contest” to the allegations. That means the registrant doesn’t admit or deny the facts but isn’t “contesting” the finding of misconduct or incompetence.

In a partially contested hearing, the College and the registrant agree on some issues, but not all. Usually, in a partially contested hearing, the registrant admits, or does not contest, misconduct, but the parties do not agree on the penalty.

Yes. Contact the Tribunal Office by emailing tribunal@opsdt.ca or call (416) 968-5173. 

When a party wants a decision from the Tribunal about an issue affecting the hearing, it must make a motion. See the Guide to the Tribunal Process for more information about motions.

The Tribunal can:

• revoke the registrant’s certificate of registration, which means they can no longer practise the profession.
• suspend the registrant’s certificate of registration, which means they cannot practise the profession for a set time.
• impose terms, conditions and limitations on the registrant’s certificate of registration, such as limitations on the registrant’s practice, required training or monitoring.
• reprimand the registrant.
• require the registrant pay a fine of up to $35,000 to the Minister of Finance.
• if the act of professional misconduct was the sexual abuse of a patient, require the member to reimburse the College for funding provided to that patient for therapy and counselling.

Yes. Where the Tribunal finds certain types of sexual abuse of a patient occurred it must immediately suspend the registrant’s certificate of registration. ICRC manages issues of interim suspension in other circumstances.

This means the parties agree on the penalty and costs. They present their proposed joint submission on penalty to the Tribunal at the penalty hearing.

Section 51(5) of the Health Professions Procedural Code specifies acts of sexual abuse which, if proven, will result in revocation of the registrant’s certificate of registration. 

Yes. The Tribunal can order the registrant to pay costs of the hearing and investigation to the College. The Tribunal may also order the College to pay costs to a registrant if it decides the commencement of proceedings was unwarranted.

In a reprimand, the panel speaks directly to the registrant about their wrongdoing.

Yes. All hearings are open to the public. Members of the public can obtain a link to watch videoconference hearings:

• for the Discipline Committee of the College of Audiologists and Speech-Language Pathologists, click here;
• for the Ontario Physicians and Surgeons Discipline Tribunal click here; and
• for the Ontario Registered Psychotherapists Discipline Tribunal email tribunal@opsdt.ca.

The panel chair will ask you to promise to tell the truth. The party who asked you to come to the hearing will question you, followed by the lawyer for the other side. See the Guide to the Tribunal Process and the Witness Guide for more information.

When the hearing is uncontested, the Tribunal usually announces its decision at the hearing and gives its reasons in writing later. When the hearing is contested, it will likely reserve its decision until a later date.

The Tribunal’s goal is to release written reasons — and its decision, if not given at the hearing — within 12 weeks of the last hearing day or last written submission.

Tribunal reasons and decisions are freely accessible and searchable on the Canadian Legal Information Institute’s (CanLII) website. They are also available on the College’s public register by searching for the registrant.

Yes. The notice of hearing is posted to the registrant’s profile on the College’s public register.

You may access other documents in the Tribunal’s public record of the proceeding by submitting a request. Please see the Practice Direction on Open Hearings and Privacy for more details on how to do this.

You can also purchase transcripts of a hearing. Please contact tribunal@opsdt.ca. We will tell you which court reporting company to contact.

Before providing the transcript to anyone other than the parties, the Tribunal will review the transcript to remove information covered by a publication ban or that would disclose patient health records or personal health information.

In a merits hearing, the College has the burden of proof and must prove the allegations of misconduct or incompetence.

In a reinstatement application, the former member has the burden of proof and must prove their reinstatement is suitable.

The standard of proof in all Tribunal hearings is proof on a balance of probabilities, which is different from the criminal standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. For example, this means the College must show it is more likely than not that the alleged misconduct happened.

College of Audiologists and Speech-Language Pathologists of Ontario: caslpo.com

College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario: cpso.on.ca

College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario: crpo.ca