Auditor General of Ontario

The letter · 25 September 2026

Ontario Trillium Foundation - grant 3265 and an agency that writes that grant oversight ends when the grant closes

Hello,

This goes to the Office of the Auditor General of Ontario under section 9.1 of the Auditor General Act.

The Ontario Trillium Foundation is an agency of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Gaming. Its board members are approved by the Lieutenant Governor in Council, and it re-grants provincial money. Under the Resilient Communities Fund it gave 194,700 dollars to Jumpstart-Refugee Talent, grant 3265. The Foundation's own grant record says the money paid the organization to "recover and build its resiliency from impacts of COVID-19 by hiring a Client Relations Lead and providing resources and technology for staff to adapt programming and services to meet the needs of community." The GRANT RESULT field reads "Adapt or add-new program and service delivery to meet the changing needs of the community." The population served, as published by the Foundation: "People who are newcomers/refugees."

On 6 December 2024 the grantee published that the grant let it "increase its accessibility by fully adapting all programming to be remote" and that it "hired staff to engage 1,000+ clients through needs assessment and career readiness programming."

I am a refugee claimant in Ottawa. On 18 August 2026 I wrote to that organization and said in my first message that I communicate in writing and do not take calls. They registered me, telephoned anyway, and on 26 August 2026 refused: "Without a phone number, unfortunately, we are unable to proceed with the process." Asked for the written policy behind that requirement, a Senior Manager, Client Engagement answered: "This is not a policy; this is a process that we have adopted since our inception in 2016."

On 2 September 2026 I put four questions to the Foundation about the terms of that grant agreement. The answer came on 24 September 2026, on the 22nd day, against the Foundation's own published standard of 2 business days. A Regional Director wrote that the grant "was not intended to fund the delivery or oversight of direct services to participants," that the matter "falls outside OTF's grant oversight role," and that the Foundation does "not regulate or monitor an organization's ongoing operations, services, accessibility practices, or accommodation processes once a grant has concluded." He attached a link to the grant record quoted above, which names a Client Relations Lead and names service delivery twice. He added that the Foundation acts only on "the use of OTF funding during the life of the grant." The grantee's report of 6 December 2024 is about the life of the grant.

On 25 September 2026 the Standing Committee on Government Agencies answered that it "is not accepting written submissions." The Ministry received four questions on this grant on 22 September 2026 and a fifth on 24 September 2026; its answer is due by 15 October 2026.

Section 9.1 of the Auditor General Act lets the Auditor General conduct a special audit of a grant recipient with respect to a reviewable grant received directly or indirectly. Section 1 defines a reviewable grant as a grant or other transfer payment from the Consolidated Revenue Fund or from an agency of the Crown, and a grant recipient as an organization that receives such a grant directly or indirectly.

Open a file on grant 3265. Examine whether the 194,700 dollars were used for the approved purpose the Foundation published, and whether the Foundation verified it. Examine what the Foundation does when a recipient's reported outcome and its practice do not match, and which officer of the Foundation certifies that a grant was used for its approved purpose. Confirm by 15 October 2026 whether the Office opens a file, and give its number. On that date the record goes to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts.

The Foundation's letter reproduced as received and the grant record captured field by field are published at http://dzyuban.com/legal/findings/otf-accessibility-grant-oversight/

Respectfully,
Danilo Dzyuban