CITATION: Chapman v. York Region Children’s Aid Society, 2021 ONSC 2620
DIVISIONAL COURT FILE NO.: 174/20 DATE: 20210414
ONTARIO SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE DIVISIONAL COURT
Swinton, Baltman and Kristjanson JJ.
BETWEEN:
DARIN CHAPMAN
Lorne Honickman and Laura Brown, for the Applicant
Applicant
– and –
YORK REGION CHILDREN’S AID SOCIETY
Carole Jenkins, for the Respondent
Respondent
HEARD at Toronto (by videoconference): March 10, 2021
Swinton and Kristjanson JJ.
Overview
[1] The applicant, Darin Chapman, seeks judicial review of a decision of the York Region Children’s Aid Society (“CAS”) dated April 17, 2020 that determined six children were at risk of harm as a result of the applicant’s verbally and emotionally abusive conduct as a hockey coach. The applicant argues that he was denied procedural fairness in the investigation that led to the decision, and that the decision was unreasonable and inadequately explained.
[2] For the reasons that follow, we would grant the application for judicial review and set aside the decision, because there was a denial of procedural fairness, and the decision was unreasonable.
Factual Background
[3] The applicant is a professional firefighter who was a hockey coach with the York Simcoe Express Hockey Association (“YSE”) for many years. The YSE is under the management of the Ontario Minor Hockey Association (“OMHA”). During the 2019-2020 season, the applicant was coach of YSE’s most elite team for those 13 to14 years old, the AAA Minor Bantam Hockey Team. Players at this level have aspirations to play for semi-professional and professional hockey teams.
[4] On February 3, 2020, a parent contacted the CAS alleging that the applicant was engaging in emotionally and verbally abusive conduct directed against players on the team. He described conduct such as yelling, name calling, and telling players they were stupid or retarded. The parent said the applicant pointed his finger in players’ faces and punished players for mistakes by making them do many push-ups. He said that some children were receiving mental health counselling as a result, and some players cried or missed practices by faking illness.
[5] On the same day, another parent reported concerns, such as the applicant was “pretty yelly,” and he targeted certain players. Her son had cried, as had others, after being yelled at. She had met with the applicant in November and expressed her concerns, and things had improved for a few weeks. However, recently, the yelling had gone on again in the locker room and on the bench.
[6] On February 4, 2020, a representative of the CAS spoke with the president of YSE, Dave Haggith. He provided the CAS with a parental complaint about the yelling and the impact on their child, as well as a parent feedback survey.
[7] The CAS then decided to conduct a child protection investigation under the coding of Eligibility Spectrum 3.1.B – that is, out of concern that there was a risk of emotional harm because of the applicant’s conduct. Shortly thereafter, the CAS assigned Jessica Siracusa, a serious occurrence worker, to investigate the allegations. Her investigation lasted a month and a half. In that time, she contacted at least one parent of each player on the team and requested consent to interview all 18 players. She received permission to speak with nine. Some parents did not participate or declined consent to their child’s participation in interviews. Some members of the bench staff, the YSE executive, and the OMHA were also interviewed. Three community members also called the CAS to provide information on