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Expert evidence regarding school bullying excluded as irrelevant to a complaint about a society's procedural obligations.
The applicant sought to call two psychologists as expert witnesses in a hearing regarding his complaint that the children's aid society failed to properly investigate his reports of his daughter being bullied at school.
The experts had been retained for a separate civil action against the school and had not met the children involved.
The adjudicator ruled that the proposed expert testimony did not meet the test of relevancy and necessity, as the hearing was focused solely on whether the society fulfilled its procedural obligations to hear the applicant's concerns and provide reasons for its decisions, not to review the merits of the society's decision to decline an investigation.
CFSRB has jurisdiction to review a Society's failure to hear a parent's request for a child protection investigation.
The applicant sought a review by the Child and Family Services Review Board (CFSRB) alleging the Children's Aid Society of Toronto failed to hear his concerns and provide reasons for its decision not to investigate bullying his daughter experienced at a private school.
The Society challenged the CFSRB's jurisdiction, arguing the applicant was not a person who sought or received services.
The CFSRB found it had jurisdiction, holding that requesting an investigation constitutes seeking services, and the applicant had a right to be heard and receive reasons for the Society's decision.
