Wayne Norris Brooks

The Children's Aid Society of the Niagara Region brought a summary judgment motion seeking a finding that the child, N.E.H., was in need of protection and a final order for extended care.

The mother, diagnosed with FASD and intellectual deficits, contested this, arguing for genuine issues requiring a trial, particularly regarding the appropriate disposition and the availability of parental supports.

The court made preliminary findings but dismissed the Society's motion for summary judgment, finding that a fair and just determination on the merits required a full trial due to unresolved issues concerning the mother's capacity with supports, the reliability of certain hearsay evidence, and the need for viva voce testimony from key witnesses.

A young person was convicted of criminal negligence causing death and three counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm arising from a motor vehicle collision on March 14, 2018.

The accused, a 17-year-old G1 licence holder, was driving at excessive speed on a dark, winding rural road in breach of his licence restrictions when he lost control of the vehicle, crossed the centreline, and collided with an oncoming truck.

One passenger died and three others were seriously injured.

The accused pleaded guilty after trial evidence was completed.

The court imposed an 18-month custodial sentence (12 months in custody followed by 6 months community supervision) plus 12 months probation, a 6-year driving prohibition, a $500 fine, DNA order, and firearms prohibition.

The sentence balanced the serious nature of the offences and the accused's moral blameworthiness against his youth, remorse, lack of prior record, and strong rehabilitation prospects.

The Children's Aid Society of Niagara brought a summary judgment motion within a status review application for twin children, G.D. and J.D., seeking a final order for extended care and custody without access for the purpose of adoption.

The mother, T.A., failed to file responding material or attend the motion, and the father, J.D., was in default.

The court found no genuine issue requiring a trial, noting the mother's lack of progress in addressing protection concerns and her failure to exercise access.

The court determined that it was in the children's best interests to grant the Society's request for permanency through adoption, permanently severing parental ties.

The respondent brought a motion to change a 2015 order that granted sole custody of the parties' child to the applicant with no access to the respondent.

The respondent sought supervised access, proposing supervision by Pathstone for three months, followed by Gordon Mooney.

The court found that it was not in the child's best interest to be exposed to the respondent at this time due to his ongoing and intractable heroin addiction, repeated relapses, and mental health issues.

The respondent's plan for supervised access was also deemed impractical and would cause significant hardship to the applicant.

The motion to change was dismissed, and no order as to costs was made.

The Children's Aid Society of Niagara Region brought a summary judgment motion seeking Extended Society Care without access for three children (ages 7, 5, and almost 4).

The motion was based on long-standing concerns regarding parental substance abuse, domestic violence, homelessness, hazardous living conditions, and lack of insight or commitment to addressing these issues.

The parents opposed, proposing kinship care with the maternal grandfather or continued foster care until the father's release from incarceration.

The court found that the children continued to be in need of protection, parental plans were unrealistic and unsafe, and the maternal grandfather was unsuitable as a kinship provider.

Applying the principles of summary judgment and the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, the court granted the Society's motion, emphasizing the children's need for permanence and timely resolution, and concluding that continued parental access would not be in the children's best interests and would likely impair future adoption opportunities.

A father sought child support from a mother, who in turn sought significantly greater access to their child.

The court suspended the mother's child support obligations due to her low income and receipt of Ontario Works benefits.

The mother's request for unsupervised access in her home was denied, with the court maintaining the existing community-setting access due to a history of child protection concerns and a lack of sufficient evidence demonstrating improved parenting capacity.

The court ordered that the mother be granted access to the child's medical and educational records and requested further submissions regarding future access arrangements, particularly for special occasions and once the child commences school.

The parties separated after a 16-year relationship.

The applicant husband sought to enforce a 1997 cohabitation agreement that waived spousal support and dictated the division of the matrimonial home proceeds.

The respondent wife argued the agreement was invalid due to lack of financial disclosure and independent legal advice.

The court upheld the agreement, finding the wife had a general awareness of the husband's assets and chose not to seek independent legal advice despite having ample time.

Applying the Miglin framework, the court upheld the spousal support waiver, noting the wife was deliberately underemployed and imputing income to her.

However, the court found the husband breached the agreement regarding the matrimonial home proceeds by attempting to deduct monies advanced by his mother, which the court characterized as gifts to the husband rather than joint debts.

The husband was ordered to pay child support based on an income of $73,000.

The applicant mother sought sole custody or joint custody with primary residence of the parties' two children, as well as child and spousal support.

The respondent father sought sole custody or joint custody with primary residence remaining with him.

The court ordered joint custody, with primary residence of one child with the father and the other with the mother, and an equal time-sharing arrangement.

The court imputed an income of $20,000 to the mother and ordered the father to pay $717 per month in child support based on a set-off, along with $455 per month in time-limited spousal support for two years.

A youth was sentenced following guilty pleas to two counts of aggravated assault, one count of break and enter with assault, and multiple counts of failing to comply with court orders.

The assaults were racially motivated and occurred on August 1, 2011, against two members of the Verma family.

The youth had been on probation and undertaking release at the time of the offences.

The court imposed an 18-month concurrent sentence on the aggravated assault counts, with credit for 8 months and 15 days of pre-sentence custody on a one-to-one basis, resulting in 9 months and 15 days of further detention (6 months and 10 days in open custody, 3 months and 5 days under community supervision), followed by 18 months of probation.