SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE - ONTARIO

COURT FILE NO.: 31-437693
DATE: 2013-10-25

IN THE MATTER OF THE BANKRUPTCY OF PEGGY SUE LAVOIE

AKA PEGGY SUE VINCENT OF THE TOWN OF AZILDA

IN THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO

BEFORE: Mr. Justice John S. Poupore

COUNSEL:
J. Robert Leblanc, for the Applicant

Meghan Butler, for Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Ontario

And as agent for

Christopher S. Spiteri, for Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada

HEARD: October 22, 2013

ENDORSEMENT

[1] The applicant seeks an Order that s.s.(1) of s. 178 of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act does not apply to her student loan debt.

[2] The applicant is 46, married with three children surviving and one predeceasing her. Her background is without any doubt tragic. After being raped as a child and carrying a resulting child to term, her baby died shortly after birth. Another relationship resulted in a violent assault that has left her with ongoing medical disabilities.

[3] Having left school after grade nine, the applicant was admitted to a business school while in her early twenties. Funding was received by way of student loans for courses the applicant should never have been admitted to. Failure should have been foreseen by those that administer these programs.

[4] It was the assault that brought any further schooling to a halt as well as any immediate employment possibilities.

[5] The applicant left her schooling for which the loans were advanced in early 2002. The discharge in bankruptcy was granted on 25 May 2005.

[6] The applicant has never been able to earn a decent wage. She has raised her three children and was married in 2005. It is telling that her only asset is a 2002 van. She does not own her furniture in her apartment. She doesn’t recall the last time she bought a dress or had a commercial haircut, she has never been on a vacation and cannot remember the last time she went to a movie. Her physical health is deteriorating such that part-time employment is all she can maintain. To make things worse, the applicant’s spouse is a cancer survivor who has recently had a spot located in one of his major organs.

[7] I am satisfied after hearing the witnesses, argument and reviewing the law that the applicant has met the two tests set out in s.s. 178(1)(.1) of the Act.

[8] An Order shall issue that s.s. 178(1) of the Act shall not apply to the applicant’s student loan debts.

Mr. Justice John S. Poupore

Date: October 25, 2013