In September of 2026, NSRLP was asked by Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General to provide feedback to a potential elimination of the notice of action process currently set out in Rule 14.03(2) of the Rules of Civil Procedure. The change is being explored as part of the work to streamline originating processes, building on the Civil Rules Review Working Group’s recommendations released in December 2025. In their Final Policy Report, the Working Group recommended eliminating the distinction between the forms used to commence an action or application and replacing them with a single-entry point for civil proceedings. To further simplify the court process to commence an action and improve navigation of the civil system, the ministry is considering eliminating the process to start an action through the issuance of a Notice of Action (Form 14C) that is available when there is insufficient time to prepare the statement of claim. This process requires the plaintiff to file a statement of claim within 30 days after the notice of action is issued and to serve the notice of action together with the statement of claim.
We appreciate this opportunity to weigh in on changes to the court meant to advance access to justice.
Below is the official NSRLP response, dated October 5, 2026.
Ministry of the Attorney General
Toronto, ON
October 5, 2026
Re: Potential Elimination of Civil Notice of Action
We wish to thank the Ministry of the Attorney General for including the NSRLP in the solicitation of feedback regarding the above-referenced proposal. As part of the NSRLP mandate is to support as well as advocate for self-represented litigants (SRLs) in the civil justice system, we are acutely aware of the challenges and barriers that SRLs face when attempting to initiate and respond to civil actions. As such, we welcome proposals seeking to simplify and streamline processes, thereby assisting SRLs in their efforts to resolve civil matters. At the same time, we believe it is important that measures meant to ensure better access to justice for Ontarians take account of SRLs’ unique vulnerabilities when participating in a system that is largely built by and for lawyers, and that moving forward, reforms reflect this reality within the civil justice system: namely, that the civil justice system must contemplate rules and processes that are as accessible to non-lawyers as they are to lawyers. We hope our comments below reflect these considerations.
Specifically, the NSRLP’s research over the past 10 years has suggested that SRLs particularly struggle with procedural steps and requirements. Despite some efforts to make procedures more ‘user-friendly,’ the practical reality is that civil procedure remains complex and nuanced. The interplay of rules of court, practice directives, and substantive law requirements are challenging for SRLs to navigate. As referenced in your original letter and considered in the consultation process, the delineation of actions versus applications is a good example of this, and we encourage the Ministry to consider streamlining the process by which a party initiates a claim.
With respect to the proposed elimination of the Notice of Action (Form 14C), we have concerns about the elimination of this procedural option in the absence of streamlining the initiation of a legal claim. First, we note from our research data that there are a significantly higher number of plaintiffs than defendants who self-represent (69.38% of the SRLs that complete our intake survey identify as plaintiffs). Second, it cannot be assumed that plaintiff SRLs are familiar with the statement of claim process, or the need to commence claims within prescribed times. As such, the Notice of Action might provide inexperienced and unknowledgeable self-represented litigants with a small window of additional time in which to commence a claim and/or secure legal assistance. We note that while the Ministry has indicated that a small number of parties make use of the Notice of Action step, it does not distinguish between represented and self-represented parties. Thus, eliminating the Notice of Action (again, in the absence of other reforms aimed at simplifying the commencement of a claim) may disproportionately and negatively impacts SRLs’ ability to access the justice system to resolve their legal issues. As such, we feel strongly that the better procedural course of action is to overhaul and simplify the procedural steps involved in initiating a civil claim, at which point it may then be possible to eliminate the Notice of Action.
Regards,
Jennifer Leitch, JD, LLM, PhD
Executive Director, National Self-Represented Litigants Project (NSRLP)
Assistant Professor, Trinity College, University of Toronto