A. Chaisson

The accused applied for the production of third-party records from a school board and a children's aid society relating to two complainants.

Having previously found the records likely relevant, the court proceeded to the second stage of the O'Connor application to determine whether production should be ordered.

Applying the principles from McNeil, the court balanced the accused's right to make full answer and defence against the complainants' privacy interests.

The court ordered the production of the records, subject to redactions for plainly irrelevant and highly sensitive personal information.

The accused, charged with historical domestic violence offences, brought an application under the common law O'Connor framework for the production of third-party records relating to two complainants.

The records were held by a school board and a children's aid society.

The court found that the accused met the first-stage threshold of demonstrating that the records were likely to be relevant to the complainants' credibility, given the unfolding of the allegations and the potential influence of a school social worker.

The court ordered the records produced for judicial inspection.