Ontario Insolvency Statistics: What the Q2 2026 Numbers Show for Southwestern Ontario

Every quarter the federal Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy publishes the official count of insolvency filings across Canada. The second-quarter 2026 figures are out. For Southwestern Ontario they show something the province-wide headlines flatten: filings grew at very different rates from one region to the next, and the fastest year-over-year growth in consumer insolvency filings, among Ontario’s eleven economic regions, was in Windsor-Sarnia.

Each figure below names the OSB table it comes from.

Ontario filings rose faster than the national average

Across Canada, 38,804 insolvencies were filed under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act in the second quarter of 2026, up 6.6% from the same quarter a year earlier. A further 21 corporate restructurings were filed under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act.

Ontario outpaced that. The province recorded 15,029 total filings in Q2 2026, up 10.0% year over year (OSB Table 1). That total splits two ways:

• Bankruptcies: 3,549, up 22.1% year over year
• Proposals: 11,480, up 6.7% year over year

Both figures count consumers and businesses together. Filings by consumers alone were 14,642, up 10.2%, against 387 business filings (OSB Tables 2 and 3). So this is overwhelmingly a consumer insolvency story rather than a business insolvency one.

Over the full twelve months ending 30 June 2026, Ontario recorded 57,377 filings, an increase of 8.3% on the prior year (OSB Table 1).

Proposals still account for roughly three-quarters of all Ontario filings. What changed this quarter is the mix: the bankruptcy growth rate was about 3.3 times the proposal growth rate. We would not read a cause into that from the counts alone, and the OSB does not publish one.

Southwestern Ontario is not one market

The table below covers every one of Ontario’s eleven economic regions, so the comparisons can be checked rather than taken on trust. These are consumer insolvency filings from the OSB’s economic-region tabulation (Table 5).

Two notes on reading this table. The regional figures come from the OSB’s economic-region tabulation, which assigns filings by region and carries a separate unallocated group; the provincial totals in the previous section come from the provincial tables. The two sets are close but not identical, so they should not be added together. And filing counts measure filings. They are one indicator of household financial pressure, not a complete measure of it.

Windsor-Sarnia recorded the largest year-over-year increase of any of the eleven regions. Its consumer bankruptcies rose 29.7% and its consumer proposals rose 18.4%, so the increase runs across both filing types rather than sitting in one.

London went the other way, with consumer filings down 0.8%. That is one of only two regional declines in the province. It comes with a caveat worth stating: over the same period, business insolvency filings in the London region rose from 6 to 17 (OSB Table 6). Household filings edged down while local business filings rose.

On volume, London still recorded more consumer filings than Windsor-Sarnia, 751 against 657. The difference between the two regions this quarter is the direction and speed of change, not the number of households filing.

Stratford-Bruce Peninsula rose 5.4%. Kitchener-Waterloo-Barrie, at 9.9%, tracked close to the provincial pattern.

What we see behind the numbers

The OSB publishes counts, not causes. Nothing in the data explains why any household filed. What follows is our own observation from the files we open, and it is not a finding the statistics support or test.

Most of the files we see now involve some combination of the same pressures: a mortgage renewing at a higher payment than the one it replaced, credit card and line-of-credit balances that cost more to carry than they did three years ago, and living costs that have taken up whatever room was left in the monthly budget. Often no single event caused the problem. The balance simply stopped going down.

Our own experience is that when monthly capacity disappears entirely, the range of workable options narrows. Whether that explains the province-wide shift in filing mix is a question the OSB counts cannot answer.

What this means if the numbers sound familiar

If you are in Windsor, London, Chatham, St. Thomas, Kitchener or Waterloo and these figures describe your situation, you are not an unusual case. Proposals make up roughly three-quarters of Ontario filings, and they exist so that people can restructure what they owe without filing for bankruptcy.

A consumer proposal is a formal arrangement under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. You make an offer to your creditors to repay some or all of what you owe, or to change the payment terms, over a period of no more than five years. Once it is filed, a stay of proceedings begins: most unsecured creditors are stopped from starting or continuing collection, and interest generally stops on the unsecured debts included in the proposal. Secured creditors keep their rights, so a mortgage or a financed vehicle is treated separately and those payments generally need to stay current if you intend to keep the asset.

A consumer proposal is administered by a Licensed Insolvency Trustee acting as the administrator. Under section 66.11 of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act the administrator is a trustee, or a person the Superintendent appoints or designates for the purpose.

The earlier the conversation happens, the more options are usually still open.

Frequently asked questions

Are insolvencies rising faster in Ontario than in the rest of Canada? Yes. Ontario filings rose 10.0% year over year in Q2 2026, against a national increase of 6.6% reported by the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy.

Which Ontario region has the highest insolvency growth? Windsor-Sarnia, at 21.4% year over year in Q2 2026. That is the largest increase in consumer insolvency filings of any of Ontario’s eleven economic regions.

Is London, Ontario seeing more or fewer insolvencies? Consumer insolvency filings in the London economic region were down 0.8% year over year in Q2 2026, one of only two regional declines in the province. Business filings in the same region rose from 6 to 17 over the same period. London still recorded more consumer filings in total than Windsor-Sarnia, 751 against 657.

Are people filing bankruptcy or proposals? Both rose in Ontario, at different rates. Proposals account for the large majority of filings at 11,480 in the quarter, while bankruptcies rose 22.1% to 3,549. Both figures include consumers and businesses.

Where does this data come from? The Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy, which publishes quarterly insolvency statistics for Canada. Every figure above is from the Q2 2026 release, with the source table named in the text.

Talk to John Adamson

If the numbers above describe your situation, it is worth understanding what your options actually are before deciding anything.

John Adamson is a Licensed Insolvency Trustee with 30+ years of experience helping people across Southwestern Ontario, with offices in London, Windsor, Chatham, Kitchener/Waterloo and St. Thomas. He will go through the options that apply to your circumstances and tell you plainly which ones are realistic.

The first consultation is free and carries no obligation. We offer evening and late appointments for people who cannot get away during the working day. Call 519-310-JOHN (5646) or contact us online.