J. Mealey

The appellant father appealed a summary judgment decision finding that his three children were in need of protection due to a risk of sexual harm.

The father argued that the motion judge applied the wrong test for summary judgment, failed to apply the principles for child protection cases set out in Kawartha, and erred in admitting and weighing evidence.

The Superior Court of Justice dismissed the appeal, finding that the motion judge correctly applied the summary judgment test, properly considered the children's Indigenous status and best interests, and made no palpable and overriding errors in his credibility assessments or evidentiary rulings.

The children's aid society brought a motion for an interim order pending appeal to stay a lower court decision that permitted the paternal grandparents to supervise the father's access to two young children.

The father had been the subject of sexual abuse allegations involving other children, and the society argued the grandparents were uninformed and uncooperative.

The court applied the three-part test for a stay and considered the best interests of the children.

Finding serious issues to be tried on appeal, including factual errors by the motion judge, and a risk of irreparable harm given the children's young ages and the grandparents' failure to review the evidence of risk, the court granted the society's motion and ordered that access be supervised by the society pending the appeal.