Ontario Superior Court of Justice

Court File No.: FC-23-396
Date: 2025-07-07

BETWEEN:
H.S., Applicant Mother
– and –
D.N., Respondent Father

Roselyn T. Pecus, for the Applicant Mother
James D. Singer, for the Respondent Father

Heard: June 20, 2025
Justice Alex Finlayson

PART I: NATURE OF THIS LONG MOTION TO IMPLEMENT A SECTION 30 ASSESSMENT REPORT

[1] This is primarily a high conflict parenting case, although I understand there are also financial issues to be resolved.

[2] The parties have two children, a boy named D., who is 12, and a girl named C., who is 10.

[3] There has been an extreme amount of parental conflict going on. The father overheld D., at first for almost two months during the fall of 2023, contrary to the post-separation status quo of the children residing primarily with their mother. The father continued to overhold D. for a further three weeks contrary to the Order of Bird J. dated December 22, 2023, that D. be returned to his mother. Jarvis J. even saw fit to incarcerate the father, temporarily on January 11, 2024, in aid of D.’s return. On April 15, 2025, he later ordered the father to pay an escalating fine for his further breaches, to secure his compliance.

[4] Overholding is not the only example of non-compliance in this case. The father has unilaterally cancelled some of his visits, and shortened the length of others. The mother has sent D. to his father’s house at times, also departing from the schedule that was supposed to be followed. The parents have been unable to engage with each other appropriately, contrary to Bird J.’s Order about parental communications. There has been non-cooperation and obstruction during the section 30 assessment process of Howard Hurwitz, that the parties agreed to undergo on consent. Mr. Hurwitz says there are now “clinical gaps” in the assessment, and an update is required.

[5] Apart from the non-compliance with Orders, there have been numerous contacts with the York Region Children’s Aid Society (the “Society”) and the York Regional Police Service (the “police”). Referrals to the Society have been initiated by both parents, and by others, including the police, a victim services worker, the mother’s counsel, and the Court. The father has interfered with the mother’s efforts to get the children into counselling, requiring the issue to be dealt with on motion, twice. Following the release of the assessment report, the father now says Mr. Hurwitz, the very assessor that he selected, is biased.

[6] There are allegations of family violence by both parents against each other in this case. There are what amount to competing allegations of “brainwashing” or alienation by both of the parents, against the other, too.

[7] D. is now aligned (or perhaps better stated at this stage of the case, “more comfortable”) with his father, and C. is more comfortable in her mother’s care. Whatever the cause of that may be, the children are experiencing fear, anxiety and upset under the governing parenting arrangement, while this chaos continues. The Society has verified concerns of emotional harm on multiple occasions. The Society believes the children are in need of protection, although its most recent recommendations about what to do about that, conflict with those in the assessment report.

[8] At one point, this case was set for trial in November of 2024. It did not proceed as the parties instead consented to the section 30 assessment. The 172-page long assessment report dated May 1, 2025 that now exists, was released just a little more than two weeks before the May 2025 trial sittings, making it almost certain that there would be another adjournment of the trial from the May 2025 sittings to November (father’s counsel was not available in May either, due to his other trial commitments). As it stands, a trial in now set to proceed during the November 2025 trial sittings, peremptory to the parties. But that is still five months away. The timing of this trial is largely a function of choices the parents have made in this litigation. Five months is nevertheless a long time for these children to live in chaos.

[9] The assessment report contains over ten pages of recommended terms. At the core, the assessor believes that the father’s parenting time must be supervised now, to protect the children. It is in this context, with the trial not able to proceed for another several months, that the mother obtained leave to bring this long motion to implement the assessment report pending trial.

[10] The mother’s Notice of Motion contains 29 substantive requests in addition to costs. The father asks the Court to dismiss the mother’s motion. He argues that it is not appropriate for this Court to rely on the assessment report on a motion prior to trial. Relatedly, he argues that Mr. Hurwitz’ report is flawed for at least five reasons and a trial will expose this. He would have the Court rely on the Society’s most recent summary letter outlining the outcome of its latest child welfare investigation, though.

[11] The Court does not intend on this motion to implement the entire report as the mother asks. It does not need to address matters like holiday time and the like, which can be dealt with at trial. Some of the mother’s other requests are inappropriate and not in the children’s best interests. For example, some of the decision-making terms that the mother proposes require consultation with the father, in a case where parental communication is inflammatory and conflict generating.

[12] That said, the children cannot wait any longer. A dismissal of the mother’s motion in its entirety, which the father seeks, would leave the status quo, and all the chaos for the children that entails, intact. That is not in the children’s best interests. The Court finds there are numerous compelling reasons to act on aspects of the mother’s motion now, prior to trial.

[13] I find that the father’s parenting time should be supervised pending trial. Between now and then, someone needs to address the children’s health and education, particularly their mental health, without obstruction. The mother will be empowered to do so. She has already demonstrated a better ability to do so thus far.

[14] I intend to set out a process for the “clinical gaps”, that the assessor has identified, to be filled. At the same time, the trial in this case cannot be delayed. While one option is to obtain the update that Mr. Hurwitz’ recommends, if that is not possible, there are different methods to fill the gaps. They are set out below as alternative orders.

[15] If there is any more non-compliance from either side sanctions may be imposed. If there is any more non-cooperation with the completion of any assessments, then the offending party also runs the risk that adverse inferences will be drawn against him or her at trial, pursuant to section 30(6) of the Children’s Law Reform Act, or otherwise.

[16] Although this motion was not about the parties’ financial claims, it is also imperative that they finalize any outstanding disclosure issues and any expert reports now, so as to not delay a November trial.

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