COURT OF APPEAL FOR ONTARIO
Laskin, van Rensburg and Benotto JJ.A.
IN THE MATTER OF JAMES CAVALIER
AN APPEAL UNDER PART XX.1 OF THE CODE
Dean F. Embry, for the appellant
Gavin S. MacKenzie, for the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Nathan Kruger, for the Attorney General
Heard: October 30, 2014
On appeal against the disposition of the Ontario Review Board dated February 18, 2014.
APPEAL BOOK ENDORSEMENT
1This is an appeal of the Board’s disposition of February 18, 2014. The evidence that was considered by the Board and referred to in its reasons was that the appellant had a long history of threatening and harassing behaviour that targeted media agencies. The Board agreed with the proposed deletion of the term restricting the appellant’s telephone access, consistent with his move into the community where supervision of his telephone contact would be impossible. The evidence at the time of the index offences was that, although such offences had been directed at NOW Magazine, the appellant was also preoccupied with the Toronto Star for the same reasons that led to the offending behaviour. The appellant’s preoccupations have continued, and he has continued to make phone calls and to send letters regarding the distribution of pornography in NOW Magazine, although no formal charges have been laid.
2The need for a no-contact provision is not disputed; the only issue is its scope. There was, in our view, sufficient evidence before the Board to justify the continued inclusion of the Toronto Star in condition 4(a). We would interfere with the Board’s disposition only to the extent proposed by the Attorney General and the hospital, and would otherwise dismiss the appeal. We note that there is no evidence that the appellant has in fact contacted or attempted to contact the Toronto Star. The appellant can raise this issue in his upcoming review hearing before the Board in January.