The applicant children's aid society sought judicial review of a decision by the Child and Family Services Review Board.
The Board had overturned the society's refusal of an adoption plan proposed by the children's paternal aunt and uncle, who resided in another province, and ordered the children placed with them primarily to preserve their native cultural identity.
The society argued the decision was unreasonable as it ignored the children's strong attachment to their foster parents of three and a half years and the oldest child's explicit wish to remain.
The Divisional Court agreed, finding the Board made palpable and overriding errors by giving undue weight to the cultural heritage factor while ignoring the children's overall best interests, stability, and the negative assessments of the proposed adoptive home.
The court quashed the Board's decision and reinstated the society's approval of the foster parents' adoption plan.
