Can a self-represented litigant recover legal costs if they win a lawsuit in Ontario?

Yes, to some extent — Ontario courts have recognized that a self-represented litigant who wins a case can still receive a costs award, even though they didn't pay legal fees to a lawyer. This generally compensates them for their own time, effort, and out-of-pocket disbursements spent running the case, rather than reimbursing a legal bill that never existed. Courts typically award this at a more modest rate than they would for a party who actually paid a lawyer, since the underlying rationale is different: it's meant to recognize genuine time and effort invested, not to replicate what legal fees would have cost.

The amount awarded remains within the judge's discretion, as it is for any costs award, and depends on factors like how much work the case genuinely required, how the litigant conducted themselves, and the outcome. A self-represented litigant who wants to maximize their chances of a meaningful costs award generally benefits from keeping organized records of the time spent and disbursements incurred throughout the case, similar to how a lawyer would track billable work, rather than trying to reconstruct this after the fact. Costs, however, are never guaranteed and remain discretionary in every case, represented or not.