Court File and Parties

CITATION: Dnaagdawenmag Binnoojiiyag Child and Family Services v. B.RP, 2020 ONSC 2357

COURT FILE NO.: DC

DATE: 2020-04-20

SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE - DIVISIONAL COURT - ONTARIO

RE: Dnaagdawenmag Binnoojiiyag Child and Family Services v. B.RP

BEFORE: D.L. Corbett J.

COUNSEL: Christopher Severn – Appellant B.RP John Hustins – Respondent DBCFS

WARNING

This proceeding is subject to prohibition orders pursuant to ss.87(8), 87(9) and 142(3) of the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017

CASE MANAGEMENT ENDORSEMENT

[1] Following a teleconference with counsel on April 15, 2020, this motion for leave to appeal and appeal from the decision of Jain J. (2020 ONSC 1988) shall proceed before a three judge panel of the Divisional Court on April 28, 2020, for an estimated two hours. Counsel estimated one hour in total, but the court has increased this estimate based on its review of the decision below and the court’s experience thus far with electronic hearings.

[2] The parties agree and the court directs that the motion for leave to appeal and the underlying appeal shall be heard together pursuant to Rule 38(3) of the Family Law Rules, which provides:

(3) In an appeal of a temporary order made in a case under the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017 and brought to the Divisional Court under clause 19 (1) (b) of the Courts of Justice Act, the motion for leave to appeal shall be combined with the notice of appeal and heard together with the appeal. O. Reg. 89/04, s. 13; O. Reg. 298/18, s. 20 (3).

[3] The hearing will be conducted as a video conference. ZOOM technology will be used. Further details about the videoconferencing process will follow subsequently.

[4] Neither counsel nor the court will gown for the hearing. Instead, business attire is required for anyone with a speaking role in the hearing. All parties must take reasonable steps to reduce the risk that the videoconferenced hearings will be interrupted or disturbed during the hearing by ambient sounds.

[5] As agreed between the parties, the appellant shall serve her materials by April 20th; and the respondent shall serve its materials by April 22nd.

[6] The following guidelines apply to the filing of materials, which must be filed electronically:

(a) No individual email can be larger than 10 MB;

(b) Each affidavit and exhibit is to be clearly identified so that it can be easily located during the hearing (for example, “Affidavit of Jane Doe” and “Exhibit A to affidavit of Jane Doe”), preferably with each page of the record numbered sequentially.

(c) Factums are to be filed in Word version.

(d) Books of authorities are not required. However, citations to cases in the factums are to provide, if possible, a hyperlink to the online version of cases. Parties may file a Brief of Case References that includes single pages or brief portions of cases cited; where this is done the title of the case and headnote (where applicable) should also be provided. The only exceptions to this principle are references not available online, such as excerpts from textbooks, foreign law, or Canadian decisions not reported online.

(e) The parties are permitted (but not required) to file the following additional documents (in addition to documents permitted under the Rules):

(i) A factum compendium, containing excerpts of the evidence and authorities referenced in the hyperlinked factum;

(ii) A compendium for oral argument, containing excerpts of evidence and authorities to which counsel intends to refer in oral argument.

The court requests that item i. be filed on April 22nd. Item ii. may be filed at any time prior to 5 pm on April 24th. The court understands that, given the nature of this appeal, the compendiums may not be necessary.

(f) The parties are required to file paper copies of their filings, and to pay any applicable court fees, upon the resumption of ordinary court operations.

(g) Counsel may request a further case management conference with D.L. Corbett J. if any issues arise prior to commencement of the hearing.

[7] The court’s practice is now to require the use of drop boxes to transmit electronic materials to the court. This revised approach is not followed in this case because (a) the largest document required for the hearing – the Record – is less than 20 MB in size, and so email transmission will not be unduly burdensome; (b) the case is being expedited and it is faster to proceed with the documents as currently formed; and (c) counsel could have faced some challenges in arranging a drop box on short notice.

[8] Counsel are also requested to send the court a counsel slip setting out the names of counsel appearing on the record of the hearing and confirming time estimates for oral argument for each of the counsel who will be addressing the court.

[9] Counsel have thoughtfully advised the court that, since the case management conference, the parties may have settled this appeal. The court has provided contact information to enable the parties to keep the court apprised of the status of the pending settlement. If the settlement is formally agreed, then the appeal hearing will be cancelled.

[10] The court has endorsed its fiat on this endorsement this day; the unsigned version distributed to the parties today has the authority and effect of the signed version, a copy of which will be provided to the parties in due course after the suspension of ordinary court operations is lifted.

D.L. Corbett J.

Date: April 20, 2020