Laliberté

The payor father brought a motion to change seeking to terminate spousal support or, alternatively, to impute a full-time minimum wage income to the recipient mother.

The mother opposed the motion and sought child support arrears and a variation of section 7 expenses.

The court dismissed the father's motion, finding that the mother's continued unemployment was justified by her health issues and the significant special needs of the parties' two children, which required near full-time care.

Spousal support was maintained on both compensatory and non-compensatory grounds.

The father was ordered to pay $11,312 in child support arrears.

The mother's request to vary the section 7 expense provisions was dismissed as there was no material change in circumstances.

The parties were subject to a final consent order containing a dispute resolution clause that mandated mediation and arbitration for parenting disputes.

The applicant father refused to arbitrate, arguing the clause lacked the statutory formalities required for a valid family arbitration agreement.

The respondent mother commenced a Motion to Change but subsequently brought a motion to stay her own proceeding to enforce the arbitration clause.

The court held that while the clause lacked formal statutory requirements, it constituted a binding agreement to enter into secondary arbitration.

The court stayed the Motion to Change and ordered the parties to execute a formal family arbitration agreement.

The Crown appealed a stay of proceedings granted by the Ontario Court of Justice under s. 11(b) of the Charter for unreasonable delay.

The respondent was charged with refusing to provide a breath sample, and the trial was scheduled in a 'reservoir court' resulting in a total delay of 19.5 months.

The Crown argued the trial judge erred in calculating defence delay and discrete events.

The Superior Court found that while the trial judge erred in not attributing a 31-day period as defence delay, she correctly declined to deduct a 45-day period where the Crown offered earlier dates only after the Charter application was filed.

The net delay of 18.5 months exceeded the 18-month presumptive ceiling, and the appeal was dismissed.

The accused was charged with sexual assault, assault, and theft following a visit by the complainant to his home.

The complainant alleged severe physical and sexual violence, including the accused placing his fist in her vagina and shaving her pubic hair while she slept.

The accused testified and denied the allegations, claiming the complainant attacked him.

The court applied the W.D. framework to assess credibility and found significant inconsistencies and reliability issues in the complainant's evidence, exacerbated by heavy drug and alcohol consumption.

Finding the accused's evidence raised a reasonable doubt, the court acquitted him on all counts.