Can a homeowner be sued if someone is injured in their backyard pool in Ontario?

Yes. A homeowner can be sued under the Occupiers' Liability Act if someone is injured in their backyard pool and the homeowner failed to take reasonable care to keep the pool area reasonably safe, given the significant and well-known risks pools present, especially to children. Courts look at factors like whether appropriate fencing, gates, and reasonable supervision were in place at the relevant time, whether the pool itself was safely maintained, and whether applicable local safety requirements, such as municipal pool-fencing bylaws, were being followed, since falling short of a safety standard that applies to the property can be relevant to whether reasonable care was actually taken.

The standard remains reasonable care rather than an absolute guarantee against every possible accident, so a genuinely unforeseeable incident that occurs despite reasonable precautions being in place may not result in liability at all. Given how serious pool-related injuries can be, these claims tend to be examined closely, with real scrutiny given to the property's specific safety features, past incidents, and whatever supervision was actually happening at the time the injury occurred.