What is the difference between appealing a court decision and asking for judicial review in Ontario?

An appeal challenges a decision on its substance, generally arguing the decision-maker got the facts or the law wrong, and is only available where a specific statute creates a right to appeal that particular kind of decision. Judicial review is a different, more general remedy, available under the Judicial Review Procedure Act, that asks a court to supervise whether a tribunal, government body, or other statutory decision-maker acted within its legal authority and followed a fair process, rather than asking the court to simply substitute its own view of the right outcome.

Judicial review is generally available even where no statutory appeal route exists, which is why it's often the only option for challenging decisions from certain tribunals or administrative bodies. It also tends to focus more on process and legal authority — was the decision-maker fair, did they follow the rules that govern them, did they have jurisdiction to decide the matter at all — rather than re-litigating every factual detail the way a full appeal might. Because the availability of judicial review, and how much deference a court will show the original decision-maker, depends heavily on the specific decision and statutory scheme involved, confirming which remedy actually applies to a given situation is an important first step.