{"id":3589,"date":"2026-08-05T14:30:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T14:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/?p=3589"},"modified":"2026-08-05T14:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T14:30:10","slug":"protection-orders-new-lco-survey-reports-highlight-systemic-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/en\/protection-orders-new-lco-survey-reports-highlight-systemic-challenges\/","title":{"rendered":"Protection Orders: New LCO Survey Reports Highlight Systemic Challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today, the Law Commission of Ontario (LCO) is releasing two new survey reports as part of its <a href=\"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/en\/projects\/protection-orders\/\">Protection Orders project<\/a>. The reports bring together the perspectives of 80 participants in the <a href=\"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/en\/publications\/a-promise-not-delivered-ontarios-protection-orders-for-intimate-partner-violence-and-family-violence-community-voices-research-report\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Community Voices Survey<\/a> and 257 participants in the <a href=\"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/en\/publications\/a-profound-mismatch-ontarios-protection-orders-for-intimate-partner-violence-and-family-violence-professional-perspectives-research-report\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Professional Perspectives Survey<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While participants overwhelmingly agreed that protection orders are an important safety tool, both surveys identified significant concerns about how Ontario&#8217;s current system operates.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"kb-row-layout-wrap kb-row-layout-id3589_d5fe43-3b alignnone wp-block-kadence-rowlayout\"><div class=\"kt-row-column-wrap kt-has-2-columns kt-row-layout-right-golden kt-tab-layout-inherit kt-mobile-layout-row kt-row-valign-top\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column3589_9b8fc0-19\"><div class=\"kt-inside-inner-col\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among the key findings:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The vast majority of participants agreed that protection orders matter (94% in the Community Survey, 93% in the Professional Survey).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Yet, only a small minority said that protection orders are working well (10% in the Community Survey, 21% in the Professional Survey).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Access is often slow, complex, and inconsistent.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Breaches are common, and enforcement is frequently inadequate.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Poor coordination between legal systems can undermine safety.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Participants called for stronger enforcement, improved access, better coordination, and enhanced training for professionals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Each report opens with an executive summary that outlines some of the key stats and findings. Read the <a href=\"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/en\/publications\/a-promise-not-delivered-ontarios-protection-orders-for-intimate-partner-violence-and-family-violence-community-voices-research-report\/\" title=\"\">Community Survey<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/en\/publications\/a-profound-mismatch-ontarios-protection-orders-for-intimate-partner-violence-and-family-violence-professional-perspectives-research-report\/\" title=\"\">Professional Survey<\/a> reports to get the full picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thank you to everyone who shared their experiences and expertise. Your contributions are helping shape recommendations for a more effective protection order system in Ontario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A final report for the <a href=\"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/en\/projects\/protection-orders\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Protection Orders project<\/a> will be released in 2027.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\" style=\"margin-bottom:0\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/en\/publications\/a-promise-not-delivered-ontarios-protection-orders-for-intimate-partner-violence-and-family-violence-community-voices-research-report\/\">Community Survey \u2192<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/en\/publications\/a-profound-mismatch-ontarios-protection-orders-for-intimate-partner-violence-and-family-violence-professional-perspectives-research-report\/\">Professional Survey \u2192<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column3589_1358e5-42\"><div class=\"kt-inside-inner-col\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/LCO_PO-surveys-infographic-scaled.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"371\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/LCO_PO-surveys-infographic-371x1024.png\" alt=\"Infographic summarizing two LCO surveys on Ontario's protection order system. Surveys of 80 people with lived experience and 257 professionals found broad agreement that protection orders are important but the current system is not working well. The infographic highlights barriers to access, weak enforcement, poor coordination between legal systems, generic order conditions, and recommended reforms including better enforcement, improved access, stronger coordination, and enhanced training.\" class=\"wp-image-3603\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/LCO_PO-surveys-infographic-371x1024.png 371w, https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/LCO_PO-surveys-infographic-109x300.png 109w, https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/LCO_PO-surveys-infographic-768x2120.png 768w, https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/LCO_PO-surveys-infographic-557x1536.png 557w, https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/LCO_PO-surveys-infographic-742x2048.png 742w, https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/LCO_PO-surveys-infographic-scaled.png 928w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 371px) 100vw, 371px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today, the Law Commission of Ontario (LCO) is releasing two new survey reports as part of its Protection Orders project. The reports bring together the perspectives of 80 participants in the Community Voices Survey and 257 participants in the Professional Perspectives Survey. While participants overwhelmingly agreed that protection orders are an important safety tool, both [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"slim_seo":{"title":"Protection Orders: New LCO Survey Reports Highlight Systemic Challenges - Law Commission of Ontario","description":"Today, the Law Commission of Ontario (LCO) is releasing two new survey reports as part of its Protection Orders project . The reports bring together the perspec"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-project-updates"],"meta_box":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3589"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3628,"href":"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3589\/revisions\/3628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}