The Right to Read Inquiry: What Ontario's Landmark Report Means for Dyslexic Readers

In 2022, the Ontario Human Rights Commission released its Right to Read Inquiry Report: a sweeping investigation into how the province teaches reading, built on the lived experience of students, research evidence, and human rights expertise. Its conclusion was hard to read for a different reason: students with reading disabilities like dyslexia were being left behind by the current system and curriculum.

Instruction, not intelligence, was the gap

The Inquiry found that many students weren’t receiving the kind of teaching that actually closes a reading gap, which unintentionally deepened the very struggles they were already facing. Its recommendation was direct: schools should be using evidence-based methods, the same category of instruction (structured, systematic approaches like Orton-Gillingham) that Online Reading Tutor has built its program around.

Patricia DeGuire, Ontario’s Human Rights Chief Commissioner, put the stakes plainly:

“With a systemic evidence-based approach, we can prevent reading failures in almost every child.”

She was also candid about the current state of screening: “Ontario’s approach to screening students for reading difficulties is inconsistent, ad hoc, and relies mostly on non-evidence-based reading assessments.” DeGuire noted that at least a third of Ontario students leave school without reaching the literacy level the OECD considers necessary to function fully in today’s economy.

Screening early, and screening accurately

The report placed real weight on identifying the specific nature of a child’s reading struggle early, rather than waiting and hoping it resolves on its own. Reema Khawja, the OHRC’s Senior Legal Counsel, said “research confirms the importance of early screening followed by immediate evidence-based intervention.”

That’s the same principle behind our free screener: a short, structured assessment of a learner’s reading and decoding skills that produces a clear picture of where their specific struggle areas are, not just a vague sense that “reading is hard.”

Where the Orton-Gillingham method fits in

The instruction the Inquiry called for maps closely onto the five areas the National Reading Panel identifies as essential to strong reading: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. That’s exactly what Orton-Gillingham based instruction targets, and it’s the foundation of every lesson in the Online Reading Tutor program.

The system will take years. Your child doesn’t have to wait.

Implementing the changes the Right to Read Inquiry recommends across an entire provincial curriculum will take years of planning. In a classroom with 30 students and one teacher, it’s easy for an individual child’s reading struggle to go unaddressed in the meantime. That timeline gap is exactly what Online Reading Tutor exists to close: with daily 20-30 minute sessions, delivered on a schedule built around your family, using the same evidence-based approach the Inquiry called for.

As the report itself put it: “The Inquiry is not just about an equal right to read - it is about an equal right to a future.”

Take our free 10-minute screener to find out where your child stands today.