The Ontario Film Review Board () is an inactive agency of the government of the Canadian province of Ontario that was formerly responsible for that province's motion picture rating system. Until 2015, the board reported to the Minister of Consumer Services but as of 1 October 2015, the board was overseen by the Ontario Film Authority. The board's activities were based on the Film Classification Act, 2005.
The Ontario Film Review Board ceased operation as of October 1, 2019, with responsibility for film classification being transferred from the Ontario Film Authority, which is to be wound down, and the Ontario Film Review Board to the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services. Films were briefly deemed to have the same classification as those given by the British Columbia Film Classification Office, and adult films will be cleared for screening in Ontario if they have been approved by any jurisdiction in Canada. Ratings are now no longer required for movies to be shown in Ontario.
History
A three-person Board of Censors was established on 27 June 1911 following passage of the Theatres and Cinematographs Act, 1911. The initial members were Chair George E. Armstrong, Robert Wilson and Otter Elliott. From that point, films to be shown in Ontario legally required review and approval by the board. The Board's censorship authority included newsreels, for example footage from a 1937 General Motors strike was banned "to avoid propaganda by either side."
The Board of Censors began to provide basic film classifications from 1 June 1946, initially as a year-long pilot project to designate certain films which were deemed inappropriate for children. Theatre operators were required to identify such films as "adult entertainment" on marquees and advertising. The Blue Dahlia and Her Kind of Man were among the first films to be identified as adult entertainment in Ontario.
Further changes to the Theatres Act in 1975 empowered what was now known as the Ontario Censor Board to review and censor videotapes and 8 mm film formats as well as conventional theatrical films. In the late 1970s and early 80s the Board was involved in a number of high-profile disputes with the Toronto International Film Festival (known then as the Festival of Festivals) over the Board's refusal to approve some films for screening without cuts, and for banning other films outright. In 1977, the board ordered cuts from the film Je, tu, il, elle which depicted two women having sex; the Festival pulled the film from its programme. In 1978, it demanded a 38-second cut from a love scene in In Praise of Older Women; director Robert Lantos agreed but at the last minute substituted the uncut version of the film. The screening was introduced by federal Secretary of State for Canada John Roberts who publicly denounced the board, telling the audience at the Elgin Theatre that “because of the actions of the Ontario censor it is time for an active affirmation that censors shouldn’t tell people what they should or should not see.” In 1982, the board refused to approve Pierre Rissient’s Cinq et la peau; instead of substituting another film, festival organizers protested the ban by posting a sign outside the theatre explaining why the screen was being kept dark.
The board's high profile actions against various films being screened at the festival had the unintended effect of raising their profile and audience interest. According to former festival director Helga Stephenson, “Silly old [Ontario Censor Board chairman] Mary Brown filled some theatres with some pretty tame stuff. The ranting and raving was a very good way to get the festival into the minds of the public, but internationally it was hugely embarrassing. And it filled the theatre with the wrong people, because they came looking for nothing but blow jobs, and they found themselves in the middle of a long, hard, boring film waiting for a few seconds of a grainy image showing something that looked vaguely like a male sex organ.”
In 1985, the name of the board was changed to the Ontario Film Review Board after the provincial government amended the Theatres Act. The Board composition changed from full-time civil servants to part-time members of the public. In 1988 festival films became exempt from review by the board provided the audience was limited to those eighteen and over.
In 2005, the original and much amended Theatres Act was replaced by the Film Classification Act.
