Katelyn Ostropolec

In this status review application under the Child and Family Services Act, the Children's Aid Society sought to place a 12-year-old child in the custody of her maternal aunt, with restricted supervised access to her father.

The father opposed the application and sought custody of the child.

The court found that the child had achieved stability and thriving development in the aunt's care since July 2016.

The father's conduct, including attempts to undermine the child's placement, emotionally abusive communications, and failure to comply with court orders regarding negative messaging, had seriously damaged his relationship with the child.

The court granted custody to the aunt with supervised monthly access to the father, subject to the child's wishes, and dispensed with the father's consent for the child to travel outside Canada.

This is an evidentiary ruling on the admissibility of child hearsay statements in a status review application under the Child and Family Services Act.

The applicant society sought to place a 12-year-old child in the custody of her maternal aunt and sought only supervised monthly access for the respondent father.

The respondent sought custody or significant access.

The court held a voir dire to determine the admissibility of over 250 child statements made to two society workers.

The court applied the principled approach to hearsay admissibility, examining both procedural and substantive reliability.

The court admitted most statements made pursuant to the state of mind exception and most statements for the truth of their contents, with the exception of historic allegations of abuse that the child had recanted.