Can I sue a dog owner directly for a bite injury in Ontario without proving they were negligent?

Yes. Ontario's Dog Owners' Liability Act allows a person injured by a dog bite to hold the owner liable without needing to prove the owner was careless in the way a traditional negligence claim would require. This is a form of strict liability specific to dog bites, and it is a notable exception to how most other personal injury claims work, where proving the defendant fell below a reasonable standard of care is usually the central and often most difficult part of the case.

Under this Act, the owner is generally responsible for damages resulting from a bite or attack regardless of whether the dog had ever shown aggression before, and regardless of what precautions the owner took, which makes dog bite claims procedurally simpler in this one important respect compared to most other injury claims. That said, the amount and type of compensation you can recover still has to be established the same way as in any injury claim, through evidence of the injury itself, the treatment you received, and the impact it has had on your life. Certain defences specific to dog bite claims, such as provocation, can still reduce or affect what an owner ultimately has to pay.