A children's aid society brought a child protection application under the CYFSA.
During argument on a temporary care and custody motion, a dispute arose about whether the child should be found to be a First Nations child under Ontario Regulation 155/18.
Although the child did not self-identify and neither parent identified the child as Indigenous, the child's half-sibling and that sibling's biological father self-identified as First Nations.
The court adopted a broad, purposive interpretation of the regulation and found that section 1(c)(i) applied, holding that the self-identification of a half-sibling was sufficient to establish the child as a First Nations child for the purposes of the CYFSA, engaging the Federal Act's placement priority provisions.
The temporary care and custody hearing was adjourned for further argument.