Court File and Parties

Citation: R. v. Samhouri, 2009 ONCA 545 Date: 2009-07-06 Docket: C43764

Court of Appeal for Ontario Doherty, Feldman and MacFarland JJ.A.

Between: Her Majesty the Queen (Respondent) and Samir Samhouri (Appellant)

Counsel: Ron Ellis (Agent for Donald H. Crawford, Q.C.), for the appellant Bradley Greenshields, for the respondent

Heard and released orally: June 29, 2009

On appeal from conviction by Justice Helen A. Rady of the Superior Court of Justice dated May 3, 2004.

Endorsement

[1] The appellant was convicted of welfare fraud. On appeal, the issue raised by the appellant is that the trial judge erred by failing to charge the jury that as a matter of law, bank accounts held in trust by an applicant need not be disclosed as bank accounts of the applicant on a welfare application.

[2] We do not agree. To the contrary, both the then applicable legislation, the General Welfare Assistance Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. G. 6 (since repealed) s. 7(2) and s. 10(2), as well as the regulations to that Act, specifically s. 9(10) and s. 15(1)(a), authorize the municipality to ask for information regarding all bank accounts. In any event, it is both logical and necessary for the municipality to obtain information regarding all bank accounts, including those held in trust, to allow the municipality to investigate and draw its own conclusions regarding the true ownership of the monies in the accounts, in order to determine welfare eligibility.

[3] We agree that the jury charge on the mens rea for fraud may have some shortcomings as it applies to the non disclosure of the alleged trust accounts. However, on the record, it was clear that the appellant had access to the use of the funds in all the accounts, including the undisclosed claimed trust accounts. Therefore, any possible misdirection premised on a conclusion that the undisclosed accounts were trust accounts, could not have affected the result in this case on that issue. We also note in that regard that there were a number of examples of other assets and income such as the car payments, mortgage payments and property tax payments, that were not disclosed and that the jury would have taken into account.

[4] The appeal is therefore dismissed.

Signed: "Doherty J.A." "K. Feldman J.A." "J. MacFarland J.A."