Court File and Parties

Court File No.: FS-23-00106638-0000 Date: 2024-09-12 Superior Court of Justice - Ontario

Re: DHILLON, Gurleen, Applicant And: GREWAL, Narinderpal, Respondent

Before: Justice R. Mandhane

Counsel: Hart. J., for the Applicant Abbott, W. and Jo, M., for the Respondent

Heard: September 12, 2024

Endorsement

[1] The child was born on June 29, 2023. The child lives primarily with the Applicant/Mother and has parenting time with the Respondent/Father four afternoons per week.

[2] Pursuant to court order, the OCL completed a final s. 112 report. The OCL recommended that the Mother have decision-making responsibility, primary residence, and that the parties use a parenting coordinator to gradually increase the Father’s parenting time.

[3] The Mother is bringing a motion in October for sole decision-making authority and to decrease the Father’s parenting time.

[4] The Respondent/Father moves for disclosure of the OCL’s complete file. The Father wishes to dispute the OCL’s recommendation that the Mother have sole decision-making responsibility, and says that he requires the underlying notes and records to determine how the OCL assessor arrived at her recommendation.

[5] The Mother opposes the Father’s motion and asks that I order the records produced to the Court before deciding about disclosure. The Mother says that she has concerns that the notes and records are privileged, private, and/or irrelevant.

[6] The OCL order states that records given to the OCL may be produced to the parties subject to the applicable procedural rules, and that they may only be used for the purposes of this litigation. The OCL has been served and does not take a position on the motion but states that “our practice is to release all information relied upon, unless specifically directed by the court not to do so.”

[7] I have reviewed the OCL report in detail. Within the body of the report, the writer refers to the Mother’s allegations of family violence, discusses her interview with the Mother’s therapist, and provides summaries of the medical and counselling records provided by the Mother.

[8] The medical and counselling records are relevant to assessing the grounds for the OCL’s recommendations regarding parenting.

[9] I also find that the Mother cannot claim any privilege in the document or any privacy interest because she gave the records to the OCL herself. Whatever her subjective belief, there can be no reasonable expectation of privacy in records turned over the OCL. Moreover, if any privilege attached to the records, it was waived when the records were delivered to the OCL.

[10] On the whole, it would be unfair to allow the Mother to provide documents to the OCL that she believes are relevant to parenting, for the OCL to review those documents, but for the Mother to then refuse to consent to the disclosure of those documents to the Father.

[11] This is not a fishing expedition where the Father is seeking production of third-party records held by doctors or therapists to challenge the Mother’s credibility. Here, the Father seeks documents that were relied upon by the OCL, and which are necessary to challenge its findings.

[12] The OCL shall disclose all information that it relied upon in preparation of its report to both parties forthwith. The parties are deemed to undertake not use this information for any purpose outside of this family court proceeding.

[13] The Mother shall pay the Father costs of $3000 payable forthwith.

[14] I am not seized.

MANDHANE J. Released: September 12, 2024