Maryn Marsland

The court considered a summary judgment motion by the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa regarding the child, AM.

The Society sought a final custody order for TR, the father’s partner, but the court found there were significant triable issues, including the child’s Indigenous status, the adequacy of kinship assessments, and the best interests of the child regarding care and access.

The motion for summary judgment was dismissed, and the matter was sent to trial.

The Children's Aid Society of Ottawa brought a summary judgment motion seeking custody of three children with their paternal grandmother due to the mother's untreated substance addiction, mental health issues, and chaotic lifestyle.

The father and paternal grandmother supported the Society's motion.

The mother opposed, seeking shared decision-making and parenting time.

The paternal grandmother also brought a cross-motion for a change of the youngest child's surname.

The court granted the Society's motion for summary judgment, finding no genuine issue requiring a trial, and placed the children in the paternal grandmother's custody with specific supervised access for the mother.

The paternal grandmother's cross-motion for a name change was dismissed as moot.

The Family and Children’s Services of Renfrew County brought a motion for summary judgment seeking an order that two children were in need of protection and for extended society care.

The respondent father opposed the motion, arguing that there was a genuine issue for trial.

The court dismissed the motion, finding that the evidentiary record, which largely consisted of inadmissible hearsay and conflicting accounts, did not permit a fair and just resolution of the issues without a full trial.

The decision emphasized the significant credibility issues and the Charter rights engaged in child protection proceedings, reinforcing that evidentiary standards are not relaxed for summary judgment motions in this context.

The Children's Aid Society brought a motion under s. 130 of the Child, Youth and Family Services Act for the production of third-party medical records relating to the mother's mental health.

The mother opposed the motion, arguing she had been incorrectly diagnosed with bipolar disorder and that the records were irrelevant or their disclosure would cause harm.

The court found the records met the threshold of being potentially relevant to the child protection proceedings and ordered their production, limited to records from April 1, 2019 onwards that specifically relate to the mother's mental health.

The paternal grandmother brought a motion to be added as a party to a child protection proceeding involving her three grandchildren.

The children had recently been placed in her temporary care under a supervision order.

The mother opposed the motion.

The court dismissed the motion, finding that adding the grandmother as a party at this early stage would cause delay, unnecessarily complicate the proceedings, and escalate conflict, which was not in the children's best interests.

The court noted the grandmother could reapply if circumstances changed.