Ontario Correctional Lockdown Settlement: Who Can Claim

The $59 million settlement fund also pays approved legal fees, administration costs, and other listed expenses. It is not all reserved for claim payments.

• Basic Recovery is $2,000 to $28,000, based on the number of qualifying lockdowns under the settlement’s calculation rules.
• A Differential Impact Award is $3,000 to $15,000 for eligible claimants with a qualifying mental-health or suicide alert in their OTIS record. OTIS is the Ontario correctional records system named in the notice.
• A Serious Harm Award is $20,000 at Level One or $40,000 at Level Two, depending on the type of harm described in the notice.
• You may receive Basic Recovery plus either a Differential Impact Award or one Serious Harm Award. You cannot receive both a Differential Impact Award and a Serious Harm Award. The notice says the Compensation Protocol maximum is $68,000.
• The amounts can be reduced proportionally if there is not enough money available for all successful claimants’ awards.

Being a class member does not by itself guarantee a payment. The Administrator, or in some cases the Adjudicator, decides eligibility under the settlement procedures.

• You must have experienced 16 or more staffing-related lockdowns, calculated under the settlement rules.
• For most claims, the relevant period is August 15, 2014 to November 27, 2017 for inmates, and August 11, 2014 to November 27, 2017 for immigration detainees.
• Earlier periods may be considered if you can show legal incapacity to start a lawsuit at that time or if you qualify under the Exceptional Circumstances Protocol.
• A person who validly opted out in writing from the applicable class action cannot receive compensation.

The document requirement depends on the type of payment you seek. A completed Claim Form is required in every case.

• Basic Recovery alone, and Basic Recovery with a Differential Impact Award, do not require supporting documents with the Claim Form.
• For a Serious Harm Award, provide any records you have that support the claim. The notice gives examples such as hospital or medical records, or a letter from a listed health professional.
• For an earlier-period claim based on legal incapacity, you must submit a Statute-Barred Claim Form and medical or psychological evidence of incapacity. Examples include a court order or other capacity determination.

If you are relying on legal incapacity before August 2014, contact the Administrator to obtain the separate Statute-Barred Claim Form.

• Submit a completed Claim Form and any required documents by December 1, 2026.
• The notice says you can complete the form electronically or on paper. It identifies an online claims portal and allows submission by mail, Canada Post, or email.
• If you mail a claim through Canada Post, ask for a postmark. The postmark date is treated as the date you submitted the claim.
• Keep copies of the form and documents for your records.

A late claim is not guaranteed to be reviewed or paid.

• The regular deadline is December 1, 2026.
• The Administrator has limited discretion to consider a claim received within 45 days after that deadline, but you must give written reasons for filing late.
• After January 15, 2027, the notice says a claim cannot be considered.

The Administrator assesses this compensation under a separate Exceptional Circumstances Protocol. The notice directs readers to the settlement materials for the protocol’s full rules.

• The fund includes a $2 million Exceptional Circumstances Fund.
• The notice identifies additional compensation for eligible inmates and immigration detainees with 101 or more staffing-related lockdowns that include at least some earlier lockdowns.
• It also identifies additional compensation for eligible inmates and immigration detainees held at Toronto South Detention Centre for at least six months after August 2014.
• The notice does not give individual award amounts for this fund.

The claimed lockdowns must be at a covered institution during the applicable class period.

• A staffing-related lockdown means people were confined to their cells because the correctional institution did not have enough staff.
• The settlement covers listed Ontario correctional institutions, but does not cover the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre, Ontario Correctional Institute, or St. Lawrence Valley Correctional and Treatment Centre.
• The notice’s class definitions cover inmates, including people remanded or serving sentences, and people detained under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. Different definitions apply to the two actions.

• No. You do not need to hire a lawyer to make a claim.
• The Administrator and Class Counsel can answer general questions about the claims process at no charge.
• You may hire your own lawyer, but you would pay that lawyer yourself.

• Yes, but only if you have legal authority to act for that person.
• Explain your authority on the Claim Form.
• Attach the document that establishes your authority, such as a Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee, a Continuing Power of Attorney for Property, or another appropriate document.

• You cannot receive money from this settlement.
• Unless you previously opted out, you release legal claims against the defendants about staffing-related lockdowns at the covered institutions during the stated period.
• You also cannot bring an independent lawsuit against the defendants for those experiences.
• Giving information earlier to Class Counsel or another lawyer does not replace the need to submit this settlement’s Claim Form.

The notice describes limited earlier-period paths through legal incapacity or the Exceptional Circumstances Protocol. One immigration-detainee date line on page 12 is garbled as “between and August 11, 2010 and November 27, 2017.”

Because that line does not state a coherent start date, this page does not resolve the precise date range for that Exceptional Circumstances category. Contact the Administrator if that category may apply to you.