Alexandra Sandel Clark

The Canadian Foundation for Children, Youth and the Law brought a motion for leave to intervene as a friend of the court in an appeal concerning the fiduciary obligations of a biological parent to his children.

The moving party sought to make submissions on domestic and international human rights obligations, including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The court granted the motion, finding that the moving party had considerable experience in the subject matter and could place the issues in a slightly different perspective without causing injustice to the responding party.

The appellant prosecutor appealed from the dismissal of an application for certiorari and mandamus after a justice of the peace quashed an information charging an employer with failure to report a workplace accident within three days.

The central issue was whether the reporting breach under s. 21(1) of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 was a continuing offence for limitation purposes under s. 76(1) of the Provincial Offences Act.

The court held that the statutory scheme emphasizes the employer's continuing duty to report, not merely timely reporting, and that the offence continues until the employer complies.

The contrary interpretation would undermine compliance and create an incentive to avoid reporting.

The appeal was allowed, certiorari was granted, and mandamus was unnecessary because the parties had settled.