CHILD AND FAMILY SERVICES
REVIEW BOARD
BETWEEN:
SP
Applicant
-and-
The Children’s Aid Society of the City of Guelph and the County of Wellington
Respondent
DECISION
Adjudicator: Tamara Jordan
Indexed as: SP v The Children’s Aid Society of the City of Guelph and the County of Wellington (CYFSA s.120)
OVERVIEW
1This decision relates to two applications that the Child and Family Services Review Board (“CFSRB”) reviewed under section 120 of the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017, S.O. 2017, c.14, Sched.1 (the “Act”).
2Both applications were dismissed prior to a pre-hearing, based on the written materials filed by the parties. CA24-0169 was dismissed on December 30, 2024 (“CA24-0169 Decision”) and CA25-0116 was dismissed on July 16, 2025 (“CA25-0116 Decision”). In each decision, the CFSRB found that it did not have jurisdiction to conduct the review as the subject matter of the Applicant’s complaints were issues that have been or were before the court.
3Each decision also 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.
The Applicant’s Request
4On December 3, 2024, the Applicant sent an email to the CFSRB, copying the Respondent and the Office of the Ombudsman Ontario (“Ombudsman”), in which the Applicant included an email with the following statement, “requesting decision letters to provide to the ombudsman” and cited the two relevant file numbers.
5On December 4, the CFSRB issued a Case Management Direction (“CMD”) to the parties in which it provided an opportunity for the Respondent to provide its position to the CFSRB on the Applicant’s request to release the CA24-0169 Decision and the CA25-0116 Decision to the Ombudsman. The Respondent did not respond to the CFSRB’s CMD.
ISSUE
6The issue is: should the CFSRB waive the confidentiality order applicable to the CA24-0169 Decision and the CA25-0116 Decision so that that Applicant may share those decisions with the Ombudsman?
RESULT
7The Applicant’s request that the CFSRB waive the confidentiality order applicable to the CA24-0169 Decision and CA25-0116 Decision is denied. The Applicant may not share those decisions with the Ombudsman.
analysis
8The Applicant has not provided any persuasive reason to depart from the CFSRB’s usual practice of waiving confidentiality only in exceptional circumstances.
9While the Applicant copied the Ombudsman on her December 3, 2025, email to the CFSRB, there is no indication that the Applicant has completed a complaint to the Ombudsman and the Ombudsman now requires information from the CFSRB. The Ombudsman has not contacted the CFSRB seeking any information related to the CFSRB’s decisions.
10If the 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. The Ombudsman is better situated to determine what information may be necessary to its own process.
11I also note that the CFSRB Rules of Procedure 9.3 and 9.4 do not prevent the Applicant from describing the events that she referenced in applications CA24-0169 and CA25-0116 in any complaint to the Ombudsman. Further, Rules 9.3 and 9.4 do not prevent the Applicant from seeking disclosure directly from the Respondent as part of any complaint to the Ombudsman.
12For the reasons above, I deny the Applicant’s request.
order
13The Applicant’s request that the CFSRB waive the confidentiality order applicable to the CA24-0169 Decision and the CA25-0116 Decision is denied. The Applicant shall not share those decisions with the Ombudsman.
confidentiality order
14Pursuant 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.
Dated at Toronto, December 11, 2025.
Tamara Jordan
Tamara Jordan
Vice-Chair