VK v. Halton Children’s Aid Society, 2024 CFSRB 22

CHILD AND FAMILY SERVICES REVIEW BOARD

BETWEEN:

VK Applicant

-and-

Halton Children’s Aid Society Respondent

DECISION

Adjudicator: Tamara Jordan Date: March 04, 2024 Citation: 2024 CFSRB 22 Indexed As: VK v Halton Children’s Aid Society (CYFSA s.120)

BACKGROUND

1This is an Application filed with the Child and Family Services Review Board (“CFSRB”) under section 120 of the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017, S.O. 2017, c.14, Sched.1 (the “Act”).

2The CFSRB heard the Application on January 9 and 10, 2024. In its decision dated February 9, 2024 the CFSRB dismissed the Application (“February 2024 Decision”).

3The February 2024 Decision included the following confidentiality order:

Pursuant to Rules 9.3 and 9.4 of the CFSRB’s Rules of Procedure, parties and their representatives must not use, share, discuss or disclose any CFSRB documents or decisions, or any other documents or information provided or used in this Application, with anyone including through the media or online. The CFSRB prohibits the use of any of this information for any purpose outside of the CFSRB’s proceedings, except with an order of the Court or the CFSRB, as appropriate.

4The confidentiality order was also attached to earlier CFSRB communications to the parties, including the Pre-Hearing Mediation Reports dated November 21 and December 6, 2023, and Case Management Directions dated October 27 and December 21, 2023 and January 31, 2024, and it is attached below to the within decision.

5After the hearing but prior to the release of the February 2024 Decision in this Application, the Applicant brought a Motion requesting permission “to use the documents (including disclosure documents from both parties, Affidavit material and any other documents)” filed during the CFSRB proceedings by the Applicant and the Respondent. The Motion also pre-emptively requested permission to use an unredacted version of the decision in the Application (i.e., the February 2024 Decision).

6The Applicant submits that he wants to use the documents sought in proceedings before the Superior Court of Justice and in a complaint to the Ontario Ombudsman.

7The Respondent submits that the Applicant’s Motion should be dismissed.

ANALYSIS

8The Applicant has not provided any persuasive reason to depart from the CFSRB’s usual practice of waiving confidentiality only in exceptional circumstances.

9Section 120 applications are distinct from child protection or family law court proceedings. These applications are limited to service issues and the CFSRB cannot review substantive issues before the Court.

10The questions considered and decided by the CFSRB in the February 2024 Decision related to whether the Respondent provided the Applicant with the opportunity to be heard and represented when decisions affecting his interests were made or a chance to be heard when he raised concerns about the services he was receiving, under section 120(4)4 of the Act.

11The Applicant did not provide evidence of a current Court proceeding or complaint before the Ontario Ombudsman.

12If and when the Applicant is before the Court, it remains open to the Applicant to ask the Court for an order permitting the February 2024 Decision and any other documents to be used in the proceeding before it. The Court would be more fully informed of the nature and details of that proceeding than is the CFSRB and thus better able to determine the appropriateness of such an order, if at all.

13If and when the Ontario Ombudsman undertakes an investigation of any complaint brought by the Applicant, it may obtain records that it feels necessary to its investigation from the Respondent and the Applicant. Like the Court, the Ontario Ombudsman is better situated to determine what information may be necessary to its own process.

14I make two final notes. First, as set out in the CFSRB’s Case Management Direction dated October 27, 2023, the CFSRB’s Rules of Procedure 9.3 and 9.4 do not prevent the Applicant from describing the events that he referenced in his Application in any complaint to the Ontario Ombudsman or to the Court. Second, Rules 9.3 and 9.4 do not prevent the Respondent from seeking disclosure directly from the Respondent as part of any Court proceeding or complaint to the Ontario Ombudsman. The Applicant in his submissions identifies his awareness of Part X of the Act and recourse to the Information and Privacy Commissioner when there are disputes about information sought from yet withheld by a children’s aid society.

15For the reasons above, I deny the Applicant’s motion to waive confidentiality of the documents filed as part of this Application and the unredacted copy of the February 2024 Decision.

ORDER

16The Applicant’s request that the CFSRB waive the confidentiality order applicable to documents filed in this Application and the unredacted February 2024 Decision is denied.

CONFIDENTIALITY ORDER

17Pursuant to Rules 9.3 and 9.4 of the CFSRB’s Rules of Procedure, parties and their representatives must not use, share, discuss or disclose any CFSRB documents or decisions, or any other documents or information provided or used in this Application, with anyone including through the media or online. The CFSRB prohibits the use of any of this information for any purpose outside of the CFSRB’s proceedings, except with an order of the Court or the CFSRB, as appropriate.