R.J. Poirier

The appellant, a Mental Retardation Counsellor, appealed her conviction for common assault against a moderately retarded adult patient under her supervision.

She argued that she was protected by section 43 of the Criminal Code as a person standing in the place of a parent or a schoolteacher.

Applying its concurrent decision in Ogg-Moss v. The Queen, the Supreme Court of Canada held that a Mental Retardation Counsellor is neither a person standing in the place of a parent nor a schoolteacher, and a mentally retarded adult is neither a child nor a pupil within the meaning of section 43.

The appeal was dismissed.

The Ontario Association for the Mentally Retarded sought to intervene in two criminal appeals before the Supreme Court of Canada.

The Court disallowed the interventions, holding that Rule 18(2) of the Rules of the Supreme Court of Canada has no application to purely criminal appeals.