Canada Post strike

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers has launched an overtime ban. As a result, Canada Post will continue operating but customers may experience delays.

Clients

If the Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee (OPGT) is your guardian and we send you an allowance cheque by mail, a Canada Post strike may delay delivery of your cheque. The OPGT will contact you to tell you where you can pick up your cheque in your local community.

Vendors

If you receive payments by cheque through Canada Post from the Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee (OPGT), please be aware that a potential strike may delay delivery.

If you choose to continue receiving cheques and a strike occurs, your payments will be held at the OPGT until mail service resumes. Cheques will not be sent by courier.

A strike may also delay our receipt of your mailed invoices. We encourage you to send invoices by email or fax instead.

How to avoid disruptions

To avoid disruptions, we recommend switching to Direct Deposit (also known as Electronic Fund Transfer).

If you want to enroll, contact us at OPGT-VMU-BulkPayments@ontario.ca.

Contact a regional OPGT office.

Overview

The Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee (OPGT):

  • makes financial decisions for adults who have been found mentally incapable
  • acts as Substitute Decision Maker (SDM) of last resort to make substitute treatment or long-term care admission decisions for incapable individuals
  • holds funds in trust for minors and plaintiffs and defendants involved in a lawsuit
  • administers estates when no one else is available to do so
  • protects the public’s interest in charities and dissolved corporations
  • provides other services to protect the financial, legal and personal care of mentally incapable Ontarians

We function in accordance with the Public Guardian and Trustee Act and other laws, including the Substitute Decision Act, 1992.

Mental capacity

Learn about mental capacity, how it is evaluated, who evaluates it and how to appeal a finding of incapacity.

Make a power of attorney

Learn about appointing someone you trust to make important financial and health care decisions on your behalf.

Guardianship

Learn about different types of guardianship for mentally incapable adults and how to replace the Public Guardian and Trustee.

Protecting minors

Learn how the OPGT holds funds in trust for some minors and the role of the Office of the Children’s Lawyer.

Administering estates

Learn about how property and possession are handled after someone dies, including what happens with or without a will.

Charities in Ontario

Learn about charitable property in Ontario, including the OPGTs role in protecting public interest, the duty of directors and trustees and how to make a complaint about possible misuse of charitable property.

Dealing with dissolved corporations

Learn what happens to corporations in Ontario when they no longer exist, and how to recover property from a dissolved corporation.

Estate planning and wills

Learn about estate planning and preparing a will to transfer your property and money to specific people or charities after death.

Cemetery owners’ perpetual care funds

Cemetery owners in Ontario must have perpetual care funds for the ongoing care and maintenance of cemetery grounds and monuments.

As a cemetery owner in Ontario, you may choose to have the OPGT act as trustee of your perpetual care trust funds. The OPGT will give you the net annual income earned on these funds for you to use towards any maintenance costs. 

For more information on the OPGT’s role in perpetual care funds, email OPGT.Cemetery.Trust.Queries@Ontario.ca.

Provide feedback or submit a complaint

The OPGT is committed to providing accessible and timely service and follows all Ontario Public Service accessibility policies. We welcome feedback about meeting standards and providing a client-focused service to improve service delivery.

If you would like to provide feedback to the OPGT, you can do so through any one of the local offices by:

  • visiting in person
  • calling
  • writing

All feedback is reviewed by an OPGT staff member. If the feedback is a complaint about the service standards, staff will attempt to respond immediately. If you are not satisfied with the response, the complaint will be heard by the manager of the related OPGT business unit who will respond within ten business days.

OPGT resources and annual financial statements

Visit Publications Ontario to access the free power of attorney kit, the OPGT’s annual reports and all brochures and forms.

Review the OPGT’s annual financial statement reports:

Review the OPGT’s annual reports at Publications Ontario.

If you require this information in an alternative format, please contact OPGT@ontario.ca. We will:

  • acknowledge your request within three business days
  • provide you with the content within 15 business days

Contact OPGT

Toll-free: 1-800-891-0504  
TTY: 1-833-813-5696  
Collect calls: Tel: 416-314-2801  
 opgt@ontario.ca

If you suspect that a person may be incapable and at risk of harm, abuse or neglect, call the OPGT’s Investigations line at Toll-free: 1-800-891-0504.

  • Northern Region

     opgt.contact.northern@ontario.ca      
    Fax: 705-564-3193

    In person or by mail:

    199 Larch Street, Suite 602
    Sudbury, Ontario
    P3E 5P9

    and/or,

    189 Red River Road, Suite 101
    Thunder Bay, Ontario
    P7B 1A2

  • Eastern Region

     opgt.contact.eastern@ontario.ca      
    Fax: 613-241-1567

    In person or by mail:

    351 Preston Street, Suite 200
    Ottawa, Ontario
    K1S 2E6

To serve document(s) for a court proceeding to the Public Guardian and Trustee:

 PGT-Legal-Documents@ontario.ca

In person or by mail:

595 Bay Street
Suite 800
Toronto, Ontario
M5G 2M6

Important: Use the above addresses if the rules require you to leave documents with the Public Guardian and Trustee.

Learn more about serving documents on the government.