Families United of Lanark, Leeds and Grenville.

2020: Ontario school board found 'vicariously liable' in sexual abuse case. A former music teacher at I.E. Weldon Secondary School in Lindsay, Ont., has been f...ound liable of sexual abuse of a student in the 1980s, and the Trillium Lakeland District School Board has been found 'vicariously liable' in a recent court decision. (WARNING: This story contains details of sexual assault that some readers may find upsetting) A judge has found a school board in Ontario "vicariously liable" for the historical sexual abuse of a student at the hands of her teacher, in a decision that could set precedent for many other civil cases that blame school administrations for the abusive actions of teachers or other staff. In his June 30 ruling, Justice David Salmers found the co-defendants, the former teacher and the Trillium Lakelands District School Board in Lindsay, Ont., were liable for sexual abuse that took place in the 1980s, ordering them to jointly pay more than $500,000 in damages. "I believe it's a landmark decision because it establishes clearly that a school board in a public school setting, or a school in a private school setting, has to pay damages for sexual misconduct and violence against a student by one of its teachers," said Elizabeth Grace, a partner at Lerners, who represented the woman who was sexually abused. https://www.cbc.ca//ontario-school-board-case-precedent-vi. Other 80's Headlines: In the 1980s, Canadians were shocked into awareness of the widespread evil of child sexual abuse. In Ontario alone, the names Cornwall, Prescott and London became synonymous with "respectable" pedophile rings -- lawyers, doctors, police officers and Catholic clergymen -- that for decades preyed on society's most vulnerable boys. http://www.barbarakay.ca/articles/view/114 https://www.theglobeandmail.com//the-pedoph/article759924/ https://www.cbc.ca//cornwall-inquiry-urged-to-debunk-rumou https://www.thestar.com//huge_inquiry_fails_to_find_pedoph https://www.cbc.ca//ont-premier-questions-cost-of-cornwall https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/cornwall-sex-abuse-victims-given- https://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca//E_Vol4_Ph1ExSum ::: 2020: Ontario high school teacher charged with sexual assault, sexual exploitation. TORONTO -- Peel Regional Police say a teacher has been charged following a sexual assault investigation involving a student. https://www.sexualabuselawyer.ca/resources/news-media/page/2 Police allege the suspect from a Mississauga high school was in a relationship with a 17-year-old girl that began in 2016. Investigators say Robert Brandstetter of Guelph, Ont., is charged with sexual assault and sexual exploitation. The 51-year-old was held for a bail hearing and appeared Tuesday in Ontario Court of Justice in Brampton. https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-high-school-teacher-char PROFESSIONAL MISCONDUCT OF A SEXUAL NATURE - PROFESSIONAL ADVISORY It was originally titled Professional Misconduct Related to Sexual Abuse and Sexual Misconduct in 2002 and has been updated to reflect amendments to the College’s legislation. This advisory applies to all Ontario Certified Teachers (OCTs) including teachers, consultants, vice-principals, principals, supervisory officers, directors of education, those working in non-school-board positions, College members in private and independent schools, and those in positions requiring a certificate of qualification. Read this document in conjunction with College advice on the use of social and electronic media, the duty to report child abuse, bullying, safety in learning environments, and supporting students’ mental health1. https://www.oct.ca//professional-misconduct-of-a-sexual-na ::: 2019: Fugitive Ottawa lawyer arrested on sex crime charges. A disgraced Ottawa lawyer turned fugitive wanted for sex crimes against the child of a former client is now in custody after more than five years on the lam. John David Coon, a one-time criminal defence and family lawyer, abruptly stopped practising law late in 2013 amid an Ottawa police sexual assault investigation. In July of that year, Ottawa cops had started probing an alleged assault on a child. https://ottawacitizen.com//fugitive-ottawa-lawyer-arrested https://www.jellineklaw.com/current-cases.html https://www.cbc.ca//human-trafficking-investigation-york-r ::: 2014: Female teachers: The sex offenders no one suspects. How the treatment of female teachers who sexually exploit male students reflects society’s legal and cultural double standards. by Anne Kingston. In August [2014], Quebec Justice Valmont Beaulieu stated the obvious when he addressed the double standard in the treatment of teachers who have sex with students: The sexual exploitation of a male adolescent by a female teacher must be punished just the same as a male posing the same actions toward a female adolescent, he said before sentencing Tania Pontbriand to 20- and 18-month jail terms to be served concurrently, plus two years probation. The former high school gym teacher from Rosemère, Que., had been found guilty of sexual exploitation and sexual assault of a male student with whom she had a two-year relationship. The trial made headlines internationally. Its details, by turns tawdry and disturbing, revealed how the then 30-year-old Pontbriand acted as mentor, condante and sexual aggressor to the 15-year-old. She gained the trust of the teenager, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, when they exchanged intimate details during a 2002 school cycling trip. He described the pain he felt after his parents’ divorce; she told him her marriage was a mistake. When the student returned home, he told his mother he had a new best friend. Pontbriand initiated sex with the boy soon after on a private trip approved by his mother to help him with his problems; it was the rst of some 300 sexual liaisons that took place on school trips, private getaways, at his home and her home. The teacher bought the boy a cellphone after his mother tried to shut down communication between the two. Evidence shown to the court included coded messages left in the student’s locker and gifts such as the engraved dog tags the teacher gave the student after their rst sexual encounter: BFF. Best Friends Forever. 19-05-02. In a written statement, the student stated that Pontbriand ended it after he entered CEGEP, saying she’d met someone new. He went to police in 2007 after being expelled; later he claimed the relationship left him depressed and suicidal. The victim, now in his 20s, said a psychiatrist helped him understand he’d missed out on normal dating rituals. Pontbriand, now a mother of two, alienated him from family and friends, he said, so as to satisfy her own egotistic and sexual desires. I was far too naive at the time to recognize her lies and manipulation. The judge agreed: The court is convinced that the accused used the victim to satisfy her own sexual needs, thus exploiting the victim’s naïveté, his lack of maturity, his dependence and his trust. Canadian law is clear that a minimum jail sentence must occur in sexual charges involving children, meaning those under age 16, the age of consent; when an adult is in a position of authority or trust, however, that age rises to 18. Yet a cultural double standard persists in attitudes toward and legal treatment of male and female teachers who sexually exploit students. Men routinely face jail time. Women do not. Sentencing in the Pontbriand case, as well as the two-year prison term given former Calgary school teacher Jennifer Mason in July for sexually exploiting a 16-year-old, recognize the severity of the crime. Yet they’re exceptions. In April [2014], Kim Gervais, a 37-year-old former elementary school teacher in Timmins, Ont., was given seven months in jail and two years of probation for abhorrent breach of trust after pleading guilty to three counts of sexual interference and one count of inviting for a sexual purpose involving four male students who were 12 and 13 at the time. Conditional sentences are common. In March, 59-year-old Deborah Marion Ralph, a former Langley, B.C., elementary school teacher, avoided jail after pleading guilty to sexual interference with a student who was 11 when a three-year relationship began in 1998; Ralph was 44. The Crown called for three years incarceration for egregious breach of trust. Ralph received 18 months house arrest, six months curfew and community service. The entrenched belief that men are propelled by lust, women by emotional need, shadowed Ralph’s case, as it does others involving female teachers. A psychiatrist for Ralph’s defence reported the former teacher suffered from teacher-lover syndrome, a clinical term dating to the late 1980s to describe teachers, usually female, who believe they’re in a consensual romantic relationship with students. Ralph’s feelings for the boy grew out of a desire to help others, the court heard; she equated her feelings with young love, and she connected with the boy better than she did with her husband of more than 20 years. Crown counsel David Simpkin presented a more nefarious scenario: [Ralph] appears to be bored, looking for some spice in her life and chose the victim, he said. She doesn’t appear to have any insight into the harm she has caused. Justice Selwyn Romilly was sympathetic to Ralph, concluding the grandmother didn’t pose a danger to the community and shows considerable remorse. When a male is a victim of a female, society doesn’t take it as seriously, says Robert Shoop, a professor of education law at Kansas State University and an internationally recognized expert on sexual harassment and abuse prevention in schools. A male having sex with a minor child is recognized as a horror, which of course it is, he says. But in cases where a female had sex with a minor boy, there have been many examples of judges saying, ‘Where’s the harm here? He bragged to his friends about it, how could he be hurt?’ Judges tend to reect community values, says Shoop, and generally [in the U.S.] judges are over 50 and male. One of those values, he says, is that women are powerless and need to be protected from sex-addled males, whatever their age. READ MORE: https://www.macleans.ca//female-teachers-the-sex-offender/ ::: 2019: Toronto teacher charged with sexual assault. A Toronto Catholic high school teacher has been charged with sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl in 2017. Mar 11, 2019, 11:30 PM. https://toronto.citynews.ca//toronto-teacher-charged-with/ https://northernontario.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=1322889 ::: 2019: Teacher at Etobicoke school arrested in sexual assault investigation, Toronto police say. By Sherina Harris Staff Reporter. Toronto police have made an arrest in an ongoing sexual assault investigation conducted by the Child & Youth Advocacy Centre. A teacher allegedly sexually assaulted a female student on school property at Father John Redmond Secondary School in Etobicoke in December 2016. https://www.thestar.com//teacher-at-etobicoke-school-arres ::: 2017: Ontario teacher guilty of misconduct for talking about sex and putting her legs behind her head in class. 'If a slutty girl or a horny girl wants to have sex with you, you should fk her well and leave her in a wheelchair for two days,' Leanora Brown told her students https://nationalpost.com//ontario-teacher-guilty-of-miscon ::: 2018: How Ontario allows teachers who commit certain forms of sexual abuse to keep their licences. A grey area in the Protecting Students Act contributes to a system allowing abusive teachers to be transferred between Ontario schools. The provincial government cracked down on a similar loophole for doctors last year. Mitzie Hunter, who was recently shuffled from her post as Minister of Education, didn't answer questions about whether she'd call for amendments to the Protecting Students Act, saying instead that the government would "continue to work with all of our partners to improve ways to prioritize student safety." - Rick Madonik,Toronto Star https://www.thespec.com//8084327-how-ontario-allows-teach/ ::: Maybe sex education should be left to the extremely elderly to teach... https://www.thestar.com//teacher-at-etobicoke-school-arres "Shonin is a body cam for civilians." The team behind Shonin says the camera is designed to capture your side of the story, citing possible uses like documenting road rage, abuses of power, events and protests, threats, and assault. Shonin also notes several everyday situations where it could be used, like walking alone at night, or at home with a child protection social worker where the visible design of the camera itself might act as a deterrent. No reason the students couldn't or shouldn't wear them.. https://www.theverge.com//shonin-wearable-body-cam-civilia ::: 2011: Bad teachers: Ontario's secret list. By Kevin Donovan Staff Reporter. Here were some of the people licensed in Ontario to teach your children. A teacher who disciplined students by warning they would spend time with a pedophile and if the behaviour got worse it would be without vaseline. A high school teacher whose female students said he called them sluts, pole dancers, whore and commented that tongue studs were for oral sex. A teacher who shut Grade 8 students in a storage cupboard to discipline them. A teacher who repeatedly took photos of Grade 8 girls with his cellphone. A drunk teacher who sexually assaulted a store clerk. A teacher who stole money students deposited with her for school trips to Europe. A teacher who scared female Grade 6 students by drawing pictures depicting one girl’s death and tacking them to her dormitory window during a three-day outdoor education trip. A principal and vice-principal who did not report a child’s allegations of sexual abuse, as required by law. A gym teacher who frequently came late to school, smelled of booze and fell asleep in class. The identity of scores of bad teachers and dozens more each year is kept secret by the profession’s watchdog the Ontario College of Teachers. That’s because the watchdog a self-regulatory body granted them anonymity after the teacher pleaded guilty or no contest to certain allegations. Typically, the teachers received a reprimand or short suspension. In its investigation, the Star also found teachers who help students cheat on provincial EQAO tests; a teacher who ridiculed students’ religious beliefs; a teacher who repeatedly hit or manhandled students; a teacher who flirted with a Grade 7 girl, sending her what a judge ruled (though the teacher was acquitted of sexual assault and exploitation charges) were sexually charged text messages including lots of love and can’t stop thinking about you, I didn’t want you to leave today. In some cases, a summary is published on the watchdog’s website and in its quarterly newsletter, without the teacher’s name or school. Some of the cases particularly those dealing with incompetence are never published at all. Parents, these teachers could be in your school. The Star has found that three years ago the backlogged Ontario College of Teachers began making more and more of these secret deals. These are not the worst of the worst cases where a teacher was convicted of a criminal sexual assault on a student but they are still serious abuses of trust. The Star reports on the more serious cases Saturday and the teaching profession’s inability to reduce the attacks 12 years after retired judge Sydney Robins probed that problem. When it comes to keeping secret the names of some offenders, College Registrar Michael Salvatori said it is done if the teacher had a momentary lapse of judgment. Salvatori said that they make the decision in the public interest. Salvatori said College rules prevented him from commenting on any of the cases. After the Star raised this and other issues with the College this summer, it hired respected retired judge Patrick LeSage just before Labour Day to examine its disciplinary practices. One of LeSage’s jobs is to consider whether the College’s communication and publication practices prior to and following a hearing meet current standards of transparency. To determine how many teachers’ identities are kept secret, the Star first obtained all published decisions of teacher wrongdoing. Each year, the Ontario College of Teachers makes a finding of wrongdoing in about 90 cases. The Star obtained copies of all decisions that the College makes public on its website or in its magazine. The College said it publishes these decisions to educate members and show to the public that it is doing its job of protecting students. More and more, we found, problem teachers are shielded from the public. Of the 49 cases published in 2010, 35 did not identify the teacher. Of the 43 cases published in 2009, 20 did not identify the teacher. Of the 38 cases published in 2008, 5 did not identify the teacher. In most of these cases, the College also did not identify the school board and the school was never named. In addition, between 40 and 50 College cases per year are not published at all. The discipline decisions are made by committees comprised of teachers elected to the College’s governing council and members of the public. The college has three main committees that sit in judgment investigation, discipline and fitness to practise. Typically, a three-person panel has two teachers and one public member. The Star found that most teachers on the panels were previously members of a local bargaining unit of a teachers’ union. The panels hear cases, decide if punishment (anything from an admonishment to revocation of licence) is necessary and determine if the teacher’s name should be published. If Ryan Geekie was your son or daughter’s teacher you would not know that a very serious investigation was carried out into his conduct. You would have no way of knowing that a summary report the College published in April 2010 about a teacher who used profane language was related to 36-year-old Hamilton teacher Ryan Geekie. It took time but the Star was able to identify Geekie. We were then able to obtain a copy of the College’s original allegations and an agreed statement of facts between Geekie and the College. Reached by the Star’s Jesse McLean at his Hamilton apartment, Geekie said he was really tired and could not answer questions. Geekie was licensed by the College to teach in 2001. A well-known hockey goalie (Ontario Provincial Junior League) in the Hamilton area, Geekie attended McMaster University for his undergraduate degree and teachers college at Brock University. He became a high school English teacher at the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board. According to a school board investigation done in 2008, and allegations subsequently made by the College, Geekie was an abusive, lecherous teacher from 2003-2008 who: stuffed rolled paper balls down the shirts of female students called students retarded, hooker, pole dancers, slut and whore challenged a female student to a fist fight, then made a sexual suggestion that he would find something for her to do with her fists asked the class if an absent student’s mother had died of a sexually transmitted disease gave a female student extra marks for work she did not do told a female student with a tongue stud that they were for oral sex spoke in class about having sex in the back of his car, drank with students at parties, swore constantly in class and called people gay if he thought they were stupid, slapped female students on their buttocks with sticks or his hand, took showers with the boys hockey team and brushed a female student’s breast with his arm. The Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic school board had heard complaints about Geekie over the years and they were dealt with at the school level, said board chair Pat Daly. In 2008, following an investigation into more serious allegations Geekie was put on paid home duty in February 2008. He was fired by the board just before the 2008-2009 school year began. Geekie did not respond to three interview requests. He is listed as a teacher in good standing in Ontario after serving a one-month suspension in 2010. It appears he has taken a break from teaching and is delivering mail. The case went to the College’s discipline committee and a deal was reached. Geekie pleaded no contest to a modified list of allegations (a perception among female students that he leered; that he questioned girls about their relationships; that he suggested female students stop talking about tongue studs as they were for oral sex; that he slapped the thigh of a female student with a metre stick; that he swore often and called students whore, retard, gay and ditsy). The committee said it published a summary of the case, keeping Geekie’s name secret, to demonstrate the transparency of the discipline process and as a general deterrent to teachers. The committee kept Geekie’s name secret due to the contents of two teacher evaluations it received (the College does not say what was in them). The committee also heard from lawyers on both sides that his actions were on the low end of the spectrum of problem teachers. Finally, the committee noted that Geekie is likely not to reoffend because he has been told to take a course on boundary issues. In a second case the Star was able to identify Peel District School Board teacher Massimo Tallarico, who was acquitted in 2009 of sexual assault and exploitation charges by a criminal court. The College’s own process found that he committed professional misconduct related to a female student in her Grade 7 and 8 years. According to the College, Tallarico, who hung up when the Star contacted him, engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a student who was shy and introverted and suffered from a social anxiety disorder. He frequently emailed and instant messaged her, saying things like lots of love, miss you lots, I wish I could talk to you all the time, can’t stop thinking about you, I didn’t want you to leave today and I always love it when you come and talk to me. At his trial (two years before the College hearing), the judge called his communication with the girl which he initially denied to police flirty and even sexually charged. The judge said she could not find that any sexual touching occurred (the student alleged it had) but she chided Tallarico for his behaviour. She said he was seen as young and cool and he cultivated his image of being the most fun and popular teacher in the school. In his defence, Tallarico said his emails were innocuous and sent as a way to encourage a shy girl to communicate. The judge found that Tallarico’s online chatting with the girl did a grave disservice in her quest to become an adult. The teacher was reprimanded by the College and told to complete a course on appropriate boundaries. The discipline committee voted two to one not to name him. One committee member argued he should have been identified because publication of the findings and order without the member’s name amounts to suppression of information and raises questions in the minds of the public regarding the transparency of the process. One teacher the College did identify was a teacher whose only crime was to break their secrecy rules. James Black, a teacher and former discipline committee member, was publicly named by the College and suspended for two years because the College suspected he leaked information to the media. The committee suspected (but could not prove) that Black gave information to a CTV reporter in 2006 who was probing the College’s practice of allowing teachers convicted of sex crimes to be reinstated after their licence was revoked. The College claims Black leaked information to CTV News about a teacher convicted of sexual exploitation in 1990, who was jailed 15 months and later sought reinstatement. In 2009, the committee fined its former member, Black, $1,000, and suspended him for two years. The College ruled that Black was guilty of a serious breach of confidentiality which may have damaged the professional image of the College and its members. The need for a strong general deterrent is imperative in this matter. Black, reached by the Star, said he could not comment on his case. The teacher in the case that led to Black’s suspension, Rodney Palmer, was suspended in 1991 and reinstated in 2003 in a closed-door hearing. He taught for a time east of Toronto, then retired. Data analysis: Andrew Bailey Kevin Donovan can be reached at [email protected] or (416) 869-4425 https://www.thestar.com//bad_teachers_ontarios_secret_list ::: Re: Teachers entitled to due process, Letter Oct. 2. 2011. (if the right of the child comes before the right of the parent to due process and procedural protections why should teachers be treated differently?) As a retired Ontario teacher and onetime executive member of the local Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, I was underwhelmed by the letter from the three teachers federations regarding the Sept. 30 article Bad teachers, Ontario’s secret list. https://www.thestar.com//more_reaction_to_teachers_series. ::: 2011: Predator teachers: Students ruined by teacher sex assaults By Kevin Donovan Staff Reporter. Predator teachers have left a trail of wounded students across Ontario. Teachers, mostly male but some female, have sexually abused young people. Broken lives are the result. A Toronto Star investigation has found this is a serious problem that nobody not the teacher watchdog, school boards or teachers' unions has been able to curb. Star investigation Bad Teachers: Ontario’s Secret List Twelve years ago, retired Judge Sydney L. Robins took aim with Protecting Our Students, a provincial review that was supposed to be a road map to help the education system identify and prevent sexual assault by teachers. Sadly, a Star investigation has found the number of known sexual assaults has held steady or increased most years, and most importantly the severity of the attacks has increased. Grooming the term used to describe adults who charm, flatter and court children for months or years before the assault is a factor in many cases. There are many smart, hard-working teachers in Ontario's school system. The ones you are about to read about are not among them. One teacher repeatedly tried to have intercourse with a Grade 9 girl until he finally succeeded. Students say he gave A's for oral sex. Another teacher molested male students as young as 10 for more than a decade before he was recently stopped. The details of the cases many with multiple victims are disgusting. In addition to sexual assaults, some teachers have been caught making and possessing child pornography. This summer, in the course of an investigation that began in the spring, the Star raised numerous issues with the watchdog, the Ontario College of Teachers. Just before Labour Day, the College quietly announced it had hired retired Justice Patrick LeSage, one of Canada's most respected judges, to probe its disciplinary system and report back next May. Two students, one female, the other male, from Ontario schools hundreds of kilometres apart, used similar words to describe the effect of abuse on their life. You have taken so much from me, more than just my virginity, my soul, one of two female victims of Mark Baggio wrote to the teacher before his arrest. Baggio, 34, a former Windsor teacher and guidance counsellor was once a track star at the same school, part of the Windsor Essex Catholic District School Board. The young student and another girl were groomed by Baggio beginning in Grade 7 at elementary school. The tall, bald-headed Baggio followed them to their high school and took a position teaching there. Beginning in Grade 9, he separately told both girls he would one day put a ring on your finger. Over the next four years, at the school, in his truck or at his home he made them give him oral sex and finally had intercourse with them. With one girl he tried numerous times before he was able to have sex with her. At Baggio's trial, evidence emerged that other teachers knew something odd was going on and apparently did nothing. During what is now known to be when one assault occurred, another teacher witnessed Baggio enter a storage room with the girl during a basketball tournament, then saw Baggio pop his head out before retreating back inside. The teacher did nothing at the time, according to his testimony at the trial. The girls swam in Baggio's pool and slept over. Other teachers at the school knew that Baggio, who taught religion and was a guidance counselor and coach, was frequently driving the girls home. When the police arrested Baggio he broke down and cried. He was sentenced to four years in prison in 2005, appealed and was free on bail until the appeal was denied earlier this year. He began serving his sentence in January. The family of one victim is suing the school board alleging that it failed the protect her. The case will go to trial within a year. The school board has denied the allegation. In Peterborough, a former student spoke recently in court of the pain the now 58-year-old Alexander Clachers caused. They rob you of your soul, I guess. They leave you physically there but they murder your soul, said a young man who was one of many victims (most male but one female) of Clachers, a teacher at a technical school. The school principal in Peterborough was well aware young boys were hanging around Clachers' home, and knew Clachers was driving them places and that the teacher was frequently absent from his class, according to testimony at Clachers' trial. The young man, beginning at age 11, was molested repeatedly by Clachers, who taught him and lived nearby. During sleepovers at Clachers' home the boy, who was Clachers' student, would wake up to find Clachers molesting him, his mouth over the boy's penis. In Clachers' classroom, other young boys were grabbed and their genitals fondled over the years. Like Baggio, Clachers was sent to prison this year; Clachers was jailed 10 years for sexual assaults on seven students and was designated a long-term offender. Both were convicted of sexual assault and sexual exploitation, a charge used when someone in a position of power (a teacher over a student) sexually abuses a person. Both men are still listed as teachers because the College, which regulates and acts as a watchdog, has such a backlog of hearings that they will not deal with them for many months or even years. Just how many predators like Clachers and Baggio are in Ontario classrooms is impossible to know. Former Justice Robins, in his 2000 report, concluded the known cases (where someone was caught) were the tip of the iceberg. The College only rules on a teacher's professional fate after any court action ends. Since College hearings often take three, four or five years to be held from the date of the complaint it is impossible to determine annual trends based on the year the college delivers a ruling. The College's own data show that in 2010 it began investigating 48 serious sexual assault complaints and that number has been rising steadily over the past three years 28 in 2008, 44 in 2009 and 48 in 2010. Not all completed College cases could be obtained by the Star. Of just under 400 we could find over the past seven years, more than one-third dealt with sexual assault or pornography (a teacher being caught using school computers to access pornography and, in some cases, make child pornography). Many other College cases are not made public. There are also an unknown number of discipline actions at the local board level. The Star contacted several large school boards, including Toronto, Durham and Peel, but they could not say how many times teachers or principals had been disciplined. In the case of teacher sex crimes, what struck the Star was the seriousness of the cases and how many had multiple victims over years with missed opportunities to stop the teacher. One senior education official told the Star, on condition of anonymity, that pressures from teachers' unions have created a chill no teacher wants to rat another out. Principals, the source said, are sometimes scared to take action because everything is grieved these days. Here are a few recent cases. Antonio Raco In what teachers commonly refer to as passing the trash, the Windsor-Essex Catholic District Board moved this Grade 6 teacher between at least four schools from 1991 to 2005. College prosecutors allege his assaults on girls from Grades 6-8 included taking students into the supply room and groping them; pulling a student close and thrusting his pelvis against her from behind; playing a game he called Red Light, moving his hands all over a girl's body until he touched her vagina; touching their breasts and hugging them so he could feel their breasts; and sitting on the floor in gym class and pulling girls against his groin. Raco swore at students, threw desks and played favourites. When one parent complained he told all the students he was going to shun her daughter. He was also, the college alleges, a dreadful educator. One day, he told his young students never to share classroom discussions with parents: This is Raco's circle whatever happens in Raco's circle stays in Raco's circle. Raco, 53, was convicted of three counts of sexual assault in 2009 and sentenced to six months in jail. He is appealing his conviction. The College began a hearing two weeks ago but adjourned it because it was worried Raco (who was not in attendance) had not been properly notified. Another Windsor teacher (with the Greater Essex County District School Board), Thomas Powers, had a sexual relationship with one of his high school students. During one sexual encounter in the school he told her she would not have to write the final exam and her mark would go up. He was convicted of sexual exploitation, jailed six months and lost his teacher's licence. Terrence Lithgow This 54-year-old York Region high school gym teacher died in jail in 2009 (a coroner’s inquest ruled the cause of death was suicide) after both the criminal courts and the College found him guilty of abusing his position to gain a young girl's trust beginning in Grade 9 at Woodbridge's Father Bressani Catholic High School. It began with emails, drinking together and progressed to touching and finally intercourse on many occasions in the school, a park, a car and a hotel. Lithgow told her he loved her, gave her gifts, acted as her tutor and made her promise never to tell anyone about their activities. The courts sentenced Lithgow to 15 months in jail and the College took away his licence in 2008. Jeremy Raymond Pike An elementary teacher in Oshawa, Pike sexually assaulted eight young boys between the ages of two and 14 and made child pornography. Police raided his home and found DVDs and CDs showing the 36-year-old teacher engaged in fondling, masturbation, acts of fellatio and anal intercourse. Some of the boys were restrained during the attacks. Pike was licensed to teach primary students in 2002. The courts found he began his attacks in 2001 and they lasted until 2005. Pike was convicted of sexual interference and making and possessing child pornography. He was sent to prison for 14 years and his teaching licence was revoked. Scott James Keen The math teacher at West Humber Collegiate in Etobicoke had his licence revoked for a sexual assault in his classroom while he was alone with a 16-year-old student. A staff member walked in and reported Keen. In 2007, Keen pleaded guilty in criminal court to one count of sexual assault; the prosecutor withdrew the more serious charge of sexual exploitation. He was put on probation for three years. Scott Thomas Wells Hamilton teacher Scott Thomas Wells was grooming a student for his sexual gratification starting in Grade 9 at the Catholic high school where he taught religion and Canadian literature. Wells frequently had lunch with the girl and her friends, discussed oral sex and then invited her to babysit his two young children. The College found that beginning in Grade 12 he had sex with the girl in motel rooms, using the ruse that he was going to teach her to drive. The girl became pregnant, he married then divorced her. Wells, who was not charged criminally, was prosecuted by the College and its disciplinary panel revoked his licence in 2009 calling his behaviour reprehensible. In an interview, College registrar Michael Salvatori said he could not discuss any individual cases. The Star had hoped Salvatori would answer questions about whether students were let down by the College or the school boards in cases where it appeared better screening or earlier detection would have saved a lot of pain. We are confident we have processes in place to protect students, Salvatori said. We can always do better. Asked about cases where it appears a teacher did not warn authorities of unusual behaviour (Baggio is one), Salvatori said there are very few cases where (teachers or principals) do not carry out their duties. The College relies on boards of education to screen teachers with a thorough background check. The College requires a police check before the licence is approved; boards require a police check, as well. Salvatori said the College does speak to educational groups and parent groups from time to time about what the College does. The heart (of the College) is the public interest and safety of students, said Salvatori, who added the College is concerned about the welfare of students and ensuring teachers are well qualified and competent. School boards contacted by the Star typically would not give interviews and provided generic responses to questions, saying they follow all College rules about prompt notification of problem teachers. Data analysis by Andrew Bailey Kevin Donovan can be reached at [email protected] or (416) 869-4425 https://www.thestar.com//predator_teachers_students_ruined ::: 2011: Soft-porn writing teacher who targeted teens resigns from watchdog. The former head of the discipline committee of the Ontario College of Teachers (OCT) is facing professional misconduct charges for his role in co-authoring a sexually explicit novel for teens. Jacques Tremblay resigned his position as chair of the OCT’s disciplinary committee, a position that involves overseeing sexual assault cases, in 2011 after his part in writing a soft porn novel titled The Sexteens and the Fake Goddess was exposed in a Toronto Star investigation. The book is a lurid tale of striptease, breast fondling, bum grabbing, orgasms, drugs and blackmail, reported the Star’s Kevin Donovan in the exposé. The cover of the book depicts the backs of a boy and a girl naked from the waist up looking at a silhouette of the CN Tower. The other authors of the book are identified as Tremblay’s wife, Marie-Ange Gagnon, and Frederic Tremblay. Following Jacques Tremblay’s resignation the OCT launched an investigation into the situation, although the teachers’ watchdog had earlier maintained that Tremblay’s writing did not have an impact on his ability to act in the public interest. Tremblay himself had argued that his book was entirely separate from his work at the College and service to the public, saying the book was meant to empower teenagers, to encourage them to be strong and resist or avoid peer pressure. However, in an article on his website Tremblay says the purpose of his novel is to help teens find their inner voice which will affect their future sex life because having higher self-esteem below the belt leads to better sex. He also warns teens that having negative attitudes about sex could have a direct impact on orgasm. https://mychristiandaily.com/teen-sex-novel-lands-former-o/ ::: Ontario’s top teacher watchdog has quit. Jacques Tremblay, who the Star reported was a writer of soft porn replete with questionable administrator-teacher-student conduct, resigned Tuesday. He was the chairperson for five years of the Ontario College of Teachers’ disciplinary panel, which sits in judgment on hundreds of teachers accused of misconduct. In the novel, main character Leila Montana is introduced as a young teen just starting high school. She is also joining a group called the Sexteens’ Select Society. As she awaits initiation into this mysterious alliance, the book describes her appearance as follows: Her half-open shirt divulges the roundness of her gorgeous bosom. Leila’s particularly short skirt exposes her barely fleshy buttocks. There are several other detailed references throughout the book about the bodies of Leila and other girls. Taking an oath to the mysterious society, Leila promises to develop my teenage life at my own rhythm inspired by the aphrodisiac cult, which is based on the power of love and the emancipation of my sexuality. On the day after the initiation, Leila wakes up and feels a new energy swelling within her. . . . Despite her efforts, however, Leila can’t remember what really happened. She is peaceful and undisturbed by this lapse of memory. Meanwhile, Leila feels a very light, but quite pleasant, tingling on her upper right buttock. (Nothing at all creepy about this is there and everything about this little scenario is perfectly normal, right?) ::: Date rape drugs facts: It’s Not Just Roofies Anymore. Date rape drugs are drugs used to assist in a sexual assault, which is any type of sexual activity a person does not agree to. These drugs can affect you very quickly and cause victims to become weak, confused, and even pass out. You may not remember what happened while you were drugged. The most common date rape drugs -- also called "club drugs" -- are flunitrazepam (Rohypnol), also called roofies; gamma hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), also called liquid ecstasy; and ketamine, also called Special K. These drugs may come as pills, liquids, or powders. Alcohol may also be considered a date rape drug because it affects judgment and behavior and can be used to help commit sexual assault. The club drug "ecstasy" (MDMA) has also been used to commit sexual assault. Protect yourself by not accepting drinks from others, not sharing drinks, watching your drink, and by avoiding creepy societies and having a non-drinking friend with you to make sure nothing happens. If you suspect you have been exposed to a date rape drug or have been sexually assaulted, call 911 and get to an emergency room immediately. Date rape drugs can also cause seizures and even death. Adverse Effects of Club Drugs Uncertainties about the sources, chemicals, and possible contaminants used to manufacture many club drugs make it extremely difficult to determine toxicity and associated medical consequences. Nonetheless, we do know that: Coma and seizures can occur following use of GHB. Combined use with other drugs such as alcohol can result in nausea and breathing difficulties. GHB and two of its precursors, gamma butyrolactone (GBL) and 1,4 butanediol (BD), have been involved in poisonings, overdoses, date rapes, and deaths. Rohypnol may be lethal when mixed with alcohol and/or other CNS depressants. Ketamine, in high doses, can cause impaired motor function, high blood pressure, and potentially fatal respiratory problems. https://nationalpost.com//chairman-of-teachers-discipline- https://www.thestar.com//top_teacher_watchdog_who_wrote_po https://www.thespec.com//2221198-soft-porn-writing-teache/ ::: 2013: Project Spade child porn ring arrests by the numbers. In Canada: 40 teachers (no surprises here) 9 doctors and nurses (no surprises here) 32 volunteers (volunteers for who?) 6 law enforcement personnel (no surprises here) 9 faith leaders (priests and pastors) 3 foster parents (big surprise it wasn't more) Ontario: 50 Rest of Canada: 58 United States: 76 International: 164 https://www.macleans.ca//huge-child-porn-ring-busted-toro/ https://www.toronto.com//4219011-toronto-police-s-project/ https://www.cbsnews.com//almost-350-suspects-nabbed-in-hu/ https://northernontario.ctvnews.ca/video

2010: A psychologist with the CAS has pleaded guilty to professional misconduct for making multiple unqualified diagnoses of mental illness. In his practice with the Children’s Aid Society, Mr. Carter’s expertise was used to determine child custody cases. 2014: Almost half of children and youth in foster and group home care aged 5 to 17 48.6 percent are on drugs, such as Ritalin, tranquilizers and anticonvulsants, according to a yearly survey conducted for the provincial ...government and the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies (OACAS). At ages 16 and 17, fully 57 per cent are on these medications. 2019: There’s no rule on who can write assessments that ‘effectively decide’ if an Ontario parent loses their child. Experts say that must change.. 2019: Expert who gave more than 100 assessments in Ontario child protection cases lied about credentials for years, judge finds. 2019: Province avoids independent review and orders children’s aid societies to review credentials of experts used in child welfare cases.

DISPELLING THE MYTHS ABOUT SHARING INFORMATION WITH CHILDREN'S AID SOCIETIES. DOES THE CHILDREN'S AID SOCIETY DO ANYTHING TO ENSURE PROFESSIONALS WHO REPORT "C...ONCERNS" ABOUT OUR CHILDREN DON'T HAVE FINDINGS OF MISCONDUCT, NEGLIGENCE OR INCOMPETENCE ON THEIR PROFESSIONAL RECORDS? Why bad teachers don’t get fired in Ontario. https://www.theglobeandmail.com//why-bad-t/article4249405/ ::: 2011 - Bad teachers: Ontario's secret list. Here are some of the people licensed in Ontario to teach your children. A teacher who disciplined students by warning they would spend time with a pedophile and if the behaviour got worse it would be without vaseline. https://www.cbc.ca//diploma-mills-marketplace-fake-degrees A high school teacher whose female students said he called them sluts, pole dancers, whore and commented that tongue studs were for oral sex. A teacher who shut Grade 8 students in a storage cupboard to discipline them. A teacher who repeatedly took photos of Grade 8 girls with his cellphone. A drunk teacher who sexually assaulted a store clerk. A teacher who stole money students deposited with her for school trips to Europe. A teacher who scared female Grade 6 students by drawing pictures depicting one girl’s death and tacking them to her dormitory window during a three-day outdoor education trip. https://www.thestar.com//bad_teachers_ontarios_secret_list Can you stop a paedophile before they've abused a child? https://www.bbc.com/news/world-35981490 https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31114106 Preying on Children: The Emerging Psychology of Pedophiles https://www.nytimes.com///pedophiles-online-sex-abuse.html ::: THE SEXTEENS: FULL OF GRADE 9 ORGASMS, ASS GRABBING AND DRUGS.. The co-author is teacher Jacques Tremblay, one of the most important education officials in Ontario. 2011. https://www.cambridgetimes.ca//4627435-ontario-teacher-wa/ https://www.cbc.ca//jacques-tremblay-racy-teen-novel-autho https://www.thestar.com//top_teacher_watchdog_who_wrote_po ::: 2018: Anonymous reporting not guaranteed. Ontario has no privacy protection for people who report ALLEGED child abuse.. B.C. woman 'disheartened' after learning agency had right to disclose her identity to tenant she reported and the parents had the right to face their accuser. Despite giving individuals the option to report anonymously, there is nothing in provincial legislation that requires children's aid societies to protect the anonymity of people who report possible child abuse or neglect. A social worker from B.C. is calling for legislative change since discovering an Ontario children's aid society was allowed to disclose her identity after she'd reported a concern anonymously. Despite giving individuals the option to report anonymously, there is nothing in provincial legislation that requires children's aid societies to protect the anonymity of people who report possible child abuse or neglect. Dawn Slykhuis learned that the hard way. Ottawa eyes streamlined centre for child abuse investigations 6 months of silence from Sudbury CAS after privacy breach sees judge suspended She has a rental home in Barrie, and two months ago while Slykhuis was in the process of evicting her tenant she was told by her property manager that there were drugs in the home and in reach of children. Anyone who is aware of possible child abuse or neglect has a legal duty to report it. And as a social worker Slykhuis knew that she would, even though it could make her "messy eviction even messier." Turns out it did, Slykhuis told CBC Toronto. I reiterated several times that it's really important that I stay anonymous. - Dawn Slykhuis Slykhuis phoned the local children's aid society, Simcoe Muskoka Family Connexions, and had to leave her name and number with a call centre so a child protection worker could call her back to take the report. However, she says she made it clear she didn't want to be named. "I reiterated several times that it's really important that I stay anonymous," Slykhuis told CBC Toronto. "At no point did they say that I wouldn't." Three days later, she was shocked to receive a text message from her tenant about the report she'd filed. The B.C. woman called the children's aid society and says she was told the tenant had indeed been informed the complaint originated in B.C. "Her landlord who's evicting her is in British Columbia, she put two and two together and that revealed my identity," said Slykhuis. Harassment after reporting Slykhuis says since then her tenant has been evicted but she says the tenant is refusing to pay back roughly $10,000 in rent she had promised before she found out Slykhuis had reported her. "The house was in very, very poor condition, you could call it trashed," said Slykhuis. "What's worse is she's taken to harassing the new tenants, my family, myself threatening all of it she relates back to me phoning child protection." Even if a child protection worker hadn't told Slykhuis's tenant the call came from B.C., Slykhuis says the children's aid society later told her that her identity would have been revealed if the tenant requested to view her file. Two months ago Dawn Slykhuis was in the process of evicting her tenant when she was told by her property manager that there were drugs in the Barrie home and in reach of children. (Submitted by Dawn Slykhuis) Simcoe Muskoka Family Connexions would not comment on Slykhuis's case specifically, but responded generally to reporting concerns about anonymity. In an email, the agency told CBC Toronto, "confidentiality cannot be explicitly assured when making a referral if the person making the call has disclosed their identifying information." But the email also said Simcoe Muskoka Family Connexions does "adhere whenever possible to concerns about being identified that are relayed when making a report." Slykhuis says she was "so disheartened" when she found out her identity could be revealed. "The most important people in ensuring the safety of children in Ontario are the people reporting the abuse," she said. "Those are the people providing the necessary information for children's aid to do their investigations. And if they're not protected, they're not going to call." The most important people in ensuring the safety of children in Ontario are the people reporting the abuse. - Dawn Slykhuis On the Simcoe Muskoka Family Connexions online reporting page there is an option to click "yes" to report anonymously. The agency acknowledged that "in practice" they ask a person reporting whether "they are open to being identified" in their online form and "when speaking with an intake screener." And Simcoe Muskoka Family Connexions isn't the only agency offering anonymity as an option in reporting child abuse. No provincial protection The Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies says "you can report anonymously" on the "how to report abuse" page of its website. In an email statement, a Ministry of Children and Youth Services spokesperson told CBC Toronto that in Ontario "children's aid societies are independent entities that deliver child protection services in their communities." Children's aid societies "are expected to have policies that comply with Ontario's Case Information Disclosure Policy," but that policy "does not provide a specific approach to preserving the anonymity of individuals who report possible child abuse or neglect." Simcoe Muskoka Family Connexions told CBC Toronto that the Child, Youth and Family Services Act "does not include any provisions that address anonymity and/or privacy for the individual who makes a referral." No privacy oversight until 2020 Slykhuis also contacted Ontario's privacy commissioner to try to file a complaint about what she considers a breach of her privacy. But it turns out the section of the Child, Youth and Family Services Act that deals with the collection, use and disclosure of personal information doesn't fall under the oversight of the privacy commissioner. And it won't until Jan. 1, 2020. "I don't even know what that's going to look like, or if it's going to cover people who report abuse." said Slykhuis. "But that still means we have two more years where people who report child abuse will continue to be put at risk." In the meantime, her only recourse is filing a complaint with Simcoe Muskoka Family Connexions. The children's aid society also addressed the changes coming in 2020. In a statement, it told CBC Toronto that the Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies and children's aid societies "are currently reviewing whether these provisions will cover professionals and the public who make referrals." (Just how registered are professionals who work closely with the society if the society can keep who they are a secret.? I think parents have a right to check the records for any complaints made against any registered or licensed professionals who are making a complaint to the CAS... https://www.thestar.com//bad_teachers_ontarios_secret_list More generally, Slykhuis would like to see Ontario children's aid societies remove information about being able to report anonymously from their websites. "If I had known I couldn't report anonymously I may have given someone else's number or mailed in a complaint done more to protect my identity," she said. "I thought I'd done enough." ABOUT THE AUTHOR Nicole Brockbank Reporter, CBC Toronto Nicole Brockbank is a reporter for CBC Toronto's Enterprise Unit. Fuelled by coffee, she digs up, researches and writes original investigative and feature stories. [email protected] https://www.cbc.ca//anonymous-reporting-child-abuse-in-ont ::: 2015: Daycare operator successfully sued after making an unreasonable complaint to CAS. A North York home daycare operator who called the Children's Aid Society because she was allegedly concerned about a baby in her care has been ordered to pay the child's parents more than $13,000 for the emotional pain and suffering that her report caused. Mar 27, 2015. Mary Ballantyne, the former executive director of the OACAS, said the recent case which penalized a home daycare worker $10,000 for reporting a suspected case of neglect, could prevent them from meeting their funding goals. https://toronto.citynews.ca//exclusive-sued-daycare-owner/ https://globalnews.ca//daycare-operator-successfully-sued/ ::: Fake degrees: Exposing Canadians with phoney credentials (Marketplace) Fake university degrees are being purchased by hundreds of Canadians. CBC Marketplace's investigation exposes the business of phoney degrees. To read more: http://cbc.ca/1.4279513 https://youtu.be/IHTg5zzFEKE ::: 2013: Project Spade child porn arrests by the numbers. Ontario: 40 teachers, 9 doctors and nurses, 32 volunteers, 6 law enforcement personnel, 9 faith leaders, 3 foster parents. (see more below) All too often, a professional may become aware of a risk of harm to a child, but does not report that suspicion to a children’s aid society (CAS) based on the unfounded belief that privacy prevents them from doing so. (BULLSHIT - WITHOUT ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS, SPECIAL LAWS, RULES, STANDARDS AND SECRET COURTROOMS THE SOCIETIES CAN'T MEET THEIR COLLECTIVE FUNDING GOALS) The Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth (shut down by Ford's conservatives) and the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario have worked together to develop this resource to clarify some common misunderstandings about privacy. CASs operate under the authority of the Child and Family Services Act without any judicial oversight. This act and its regulations give them broad duties and powers relating to the protection of children, including the authority to conduct investigations into allegations of alleged harm and review reports of children in need of protection again without any judicial oversight before or after the fact. Despite this broad authority, health providers, police, teachers and social service workers sometimes refuse to provide information to unregistered unregulated unqualified corporate child protection workers with funding goals, decades of scandals and thousands of dead children left in their wake. While well-intentioned, refusal to share information about a child in need of protection may leave the child at risk of harm while sharing the information most certainly put a child at risk of harm. (but that not for you to worry you're little heads about) http://www.oacas.org//2016/11/7798OPACYMyths-Booklayout-We ::: TORONTO -- Nearly 350 people, including school teachers, doctors and actors, have been arrested in what Toronto police called one of the largest child porn busts they had ever seen. Police said at the home of a retired teacher, they found 350,000 pictures and more than 9,000 video showing child sexual abuse. They say some of the children were known to the man, who is also accused of abusing a child in his family. Spinoff investigations led to caches of images and hundreds of children from around the world. At least two teachers and nine medical professionals were among the Canadians arrested. Toronto police Chief Bill Blair called the investigation "extraordinary." "There is no greater responsibility of those who serve and protect than the protection of our children," he said. "And exploitation of children is a crime for which law enforcement comes together united around the world to do our very best." Det. Cst. Lisa Belanger of the Toronto police child exploitation section said many of the pictures and videos were shot in people's apartments, backyards and "dingy saunas." Sometimes they set up in backyards, she said. Beaven-Desjardin said that 24 Canadian children were rescued as a result of Project Spade. She said the children were not necessarily involved in the production of Azov material, and their exploitation was discovered when police were investigating people who bought material from the company. Police said Thursday that 386 children were rescued as a result of the sweeping investigation.More than 100 people were arrested in Canada and 76 in the U.S. in an investigation dubbed Project Spade. Others were arrested in other countries. "It is alleged that officers seized hundreds of thousands of videos detailing horrific sexual acts against very young children, some of the worst that they have ever viewed," Inspector Joanna Beaven-Desjardins said. https://www.thestar.com//child_porn_bust_the_men_who_were_ https://nationalpost.com//at-least-386-victims-rescued-aft https://www.ctvnews.ca//child-porn-probe-began-with-toront ::: The Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth (shut down by Ford's conservatives) and the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario have worked together to develop this resource to clarify some common misunderstandings about privacy. CASs operate under the authority of the Child and Family Services Act without any judicial oversight. This act and its regulations give them broad duties and powers relating to the protection of children, including the authority to conduct investigations into allegations of alleged harm and review reports of children in need of protection again without any judicial oversight before or after the fact. Despite this broad authority, health providers, police, teachers and social service workers sometimes refuse to provide information to unregistered unregulated unqualified corporate child protection workers with funding goals, decades of scandals and thousands of dead children left in their wake. While well-intentioned, refusal to share information about a child in need of protection may leave the child at risk of harm while sharing the information most certainly put a child at risk of harm. (but that not for you to worry you're little heads about) http://www.oacas.org//2016/11/7798OPACYMyths-Booklayout-We ::: 2013: Project Spade child porn arrests by the numbers. Ontario: 40 teachers, 9 doctors and nurses, 32 volunteers, 6 law enforcement personnel, 9 faith leaders, 3 foster parents. TORONTO -- Nearly 350 people, including school teachers, doctors and actors, have been arrested in what Toronto police called one of the largest child porn busts they had ever seen. Police said at the home of a retired teacher, they found 350,000 pictures and more than 9,000 video showing child sexual abuse. They say some of the children were known to the man, who is also accused of abusing a child in his family. Spinoff investigations led to caches of images and hundreds of children from around the world. At least two teachers and nine medical professionals were among the Canadians arrested. Toronto police Chief Bill Blair called the investigation "extraordinary." "There is no greater responsibility of those who serve and protect than the protection of our children," he said. "And exploitation of children is a crime for which law enforcement comes together united around the world to do our very best." Det. Cst. Lisa Belanger of the Toronto police child exploitation section said many of the pictures and videos were shot in people's apartments, backyards and "dingy saunas." Sometimes they set up in backyards, she said. Beaven-Desjardin said that 24 Canadian children were rescued as a result of Project Spade. She said the children were not necessarily involved in the production of Azov material, and their exploitation was discovered when police were investigating people who bought material from the company. Police said Thursday that 386 children were rescued as a result of the sweeping investigation.More than 100 people were arrested in Canada and 76 in the U.S. in an investigation dubbed Project Spade. Others were arrested in other countries. "It is alleged that officers seized hundreds of thousands of videos detailing horrific sexual acts against very young children, some of the worst that they have ever viewed," Inspector Joanna Beaven-Desjardins said. https://www.thestar.com//child_porn_bust_the_men_who_were_ https://nationalpost.com//at-least-386-victims-rescued-aft https://www.ctvnews.ca//child-porn-probe-began-with-toront Why bad teachers don’t get fired in Ontario. https://www.theglobeandmail.com//why-bad-t/article4249405/ ::: 2019: There’s no rule on who can write assessments that ‘effectively decide’ if an Ontario parent loses their child. Experts say that must change. https://www.thestar.com//theres-no-rule-on-who-can-write-a https://www.thespec.com//9552213-ontario-psychologist-use/ ::: 2019: Executive director Elaina Groves does say it's important for the public to know that child protection workers investigate differently than police. Decisions are made on a "balance of probabilities" which often means there's not enough evidence for criminal charges let alone a conviction which is probably why child protection social workers in Ontario refused to comply with the social worker registration act claiming there are no practical benefits for them agreeing to register with a college of social work that also uses a "balance of probabilities" to determine the "facts.." The College of Social Work takes reports about concerns from the public and applies their own standard for investigating complaints as does the society and the same "balance of probabilities" making a ruling. Groves says some may think that sounds "subjective" but she says rulings on abuse are based on the "impressions" of the unqualified unregistered social worker, the opinions of questionable medical professionals, as well as other evidence like the fraudulent Motherisk Test. Balance of Probabilities Definition: Burden of proof in civil trials. The common distinction is made with the burden of truth in a criminal trial, which is beyond a reasonable doubt. In a civil trial, one party's case need only be more probable than the other. https://www.cbc.ca//cas-daycare-operator-dowling-sudbury-c https://www.cbc.ca//home-daycare-lawsuit-cas-police-invest ::: Expert Evidence and Assessments in Child Welfare Cases. Queen's University Legal Research Paper No. 063. Nicholas Bala Queen's University - Faculty of Law. 33 Pages Posted: 23 Dec 2015. Jane Thomson University of New Brunswick, Faculty of Law; Queen's University, Faculty of Law Date Written: December 8, 2015. Abstract: Expert evidence from mental health professionals and medical doctors can play a central role in child welfare cases, and this evidence needs to be carefully scrutinized before it is relied upon in making critical decisions about the future of parent-child relationships. In Ontario, concern about the reliability of expert evidence in child abuse and neglect cases was heightened by the 2014 decision of the Court of Appeal in R v. Broomfield, where a mother’s conviction on criminal charges related to giving her infant child cocaine based on testimony by an expert from the Motherisk Drug Testing Lab at the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children. In overturning the conviction, the Court of Appeal noted that the trial judge made her decision unaware of the genuine controversy among the experts about the use of the testing methods relied upon by the Crown expert at trial to found a conclusion of chronic cocaine ingestion. In the months following the Court of Appeal decision in Broomfield, the Attorney General of Ontario appointed a former justice of the Court of Appeal, Susan Lang, to undertake a Review to assess the adequacy and reliability of hair analysis evidence used in child protection and criminal proceedings (report to be released Dec. 15, 2015). https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2700906 ::: 2010: Psychologist got degree from U.S. 'diploma mill' A psychologist with the Durham Children’s Aid Society has pleaded guilty to professional misconduct for misrepresenting himself and for making multiple unqualified diagnoses of mental illness. Gregory Carter, 63, appeared before the College of Psychologists of Ontario’s disciplinary committee on Tuesday. He and the college agreed on the terms of the penalty, which includes a three-month suspension, a recorded reprimand and one year of supervised practice under an approved practitioner. In his practice with the Children’s Aid Society, Mr. Carter’s expertise was used to determine child custody cases. https://nationalpost.com//psychologist-got-degree-from-u-s ::: 2016: Nov 24, 2016 - Although the Ontario Risk Assessment was a state of the art clinical tool at the... The purpose of the Child Protection Standards in Ontario (dated February 2007) is to promote consistently high quality service delivery to children, youth and their families receiving child protection services from Children’s Aid Societies across the province. http://www.children.gov.on.ca//childprotectionstandards.as ::: 2019: Expert who gave more than 100 assessments in Ontario child protection cases lied about credentials for years, judge finds. https://www.thestar.com//expert-who-gave-more-than-100-ass ::: 2019: Ontario psychologist used ‘obsolete’ tests in expert opinion calling for parents to lose their kids, judge says. ( if it was good enough once upon a time to remove children with what's wrong with it now that wasn't wrong then?) https://www.thestar.com//ontario-psychologist-used-obsolet ::: 2019: Province avoids independent review and orders children’s aid societies to review credentials of experts used in child welfare cases https://www.thestar.com//province-orders-childrens-aid-soc :::

2016: Toronto firm files statement of claim against province seeking $75 million over data leak. Class-Action-News: Family and Children's services of Lanark, Le...eds and Grenville. 2020: The plaintiff class is in the process of bringing a motion for Summary Judgment. This essentially asks the Court to determine all issues of liability as against the defendant. This motion will be heard before the end of 2020. Please keep checking back here for further updates. (-See: Material Uncertainty Related to Going Concern-) We draw attention to Note 3 in the financial statements, which indicates that the Society's operating fund revenues exceeded expenses by $206,391 during the year ended March 31, 2020 and, as of that date, the Society's current liabilities exceeded its current assets by $3,866,228. As stated in Note 3, these events or conditions, along with other matters as set forth in Note 3, indicate that a material uncertainty exists that may cast significant doubt on the Society's ability to continue as a going concern. Our opinion is not modified in respect of this matter. https://fcsllg.ca//u/2020/09/Financial-Statements-2020.pdf SEE MORE: The law firm of Flaherty McCarthy LLP has commenced a multi-million dollar Class Action against Family and Children’s Services of Lanark, Leeds and Grenville, and others, seeking damages arising from a serious and unprecedented privacy breach. The allegations contained in the Statement of Claim have not yet been proven in Court. The proposed Class Proceeding seeks $75 million dollars in damages on behalf of 285 people and their family members whose names were on a list of 285 families involved with children’s services, which was leaked on Facebook. Those affected individuals should receive notice from CAS of the privacy breach. The CAS had contacted 194 of the affected individuals by April 25, 2016. At this point, the matter is a proposed class proceeding. As a class member, you do not have to do anything more to be involved in this lawsuit. You will be a member of the class until you are given the opportunity to opt out, which will be your choice. Class Counsel has commenced and served a new proposed Class Proceeding bearing Court File No. CV-16-557244-00CP. This was necessitated by concerns raised by Counsel for the Crown Defendant that adequate notice of the original action had not been provided in accordance with applicable Statutes. Rather than getting in to a lengthy dispute on this issue, we felt it was more appropriate to commence a fresh action that accorded with the applicable notice provisions. This also allowed us to make several changes to the original claim to further particularize the allegations, causes of action and common issues. This new claim has now been served on all parties. At the appropriate time in the future, we will seek Court approval to discontinue the original action and proceed only on the new action. This does not affect the rights of Class Members in any way. The Honourable Mr. Justice Perell has been appointed as the Judge responsible for managing this proposed Class Proceeding. A Judicial Case Conference was held on October 7, 2016 for the purpose of setting a Certification Motion Schedule. Subsequent to this Conference, the plaintiffs have chosen to discontinue the action against all defendants EXCEPT Family and Children’s Services of Lanark, Leeds and Grenville and Jane Doe. The Certification Motion will proceed in November 2017. The plaintiffs served their Certification Motion Record in January 2017. On December 21, 2017, we were successful in having the lawsuit certified as a class action. The litigation administrator, Deloitte LLP, will be providing notice to class members of the Certification Order and the opt-out process in early 2018. Deloitte LLP will be providing this notice to class members based on their last known contact information stated in the private and confidential FCSLLG document at issue. Therefore, if you are concerned that the document may not have your most recent address and contact information, please contact Deloitte LLP at [email protected]. The Court appointed litigation administrator has now given notice that this matter has been certified as a Class Proceeding, in accordance with the Order of the Court. http://www.casprivacybreach.com/whats-new/ https://ottawacitizen.com//toronto-firm-files-statement-of ::: M.M. v. Lanark, Leeds and Grenville Children’s Aid Society, 2018 ONSC 5032 (CanLII) 2018-08-23. [20] Ms. Denman, who is the central actor either as a commendable whistleblower or as a deplorable newsmonger and hacker and leaker of confidential information is seriously inconvenienced and possibly prejudiced by having to defend or prosecute the various proceedings in Toronto, where she has been unable to obtain a lawyer to represent her. [5] Ms. Denham delivered a Statement of Defence and included a $15 million Crossclaim against the Society Defendants for negligence, intrusion upon seclusion, breach of section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, defamation, abuse of process, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. [1] In 2016, pursuant to the Class Proceedings Act, 1992,[1] M.M., who had been subject to a child protection inquiry, brought a proposed class action against: (a) Family and Children’s Services of Lanark, Leeds and Grenville (the Society), a children’s aid society, then regulated by the Ministry of Children and Youth Services of the Ontario government; (b) Raymond Lemay, the Executive Director of the Society, (b) Tracy MacCharles in her capacity as the Minister of Children and Youth Services, (d) Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Ontario (Ontario), and (e) Jane Doe, who was later identified in an Amended Statement of Claim to be (f) Kelley Denham. [2] On December 21, 2017, M.M. moved for certification of her action as a class action. The Defendants consented or did not oppose certification, and the action was certified as a class proceeding against the Society to advance three causes of action; namely: negligence, intrusion upon seclusion and breach of section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms; and against Ms. Denham to advance an intrusion upon seclusion claim.[2] [3] In the class action, the Class Members claim $75 million in general, special, and punitive damages from the Society and $1 in damages from Ms. Denham. [4] After the certification of the action, the pleadings were completed. The Society delivered a Statement of Defence and included a Crossclaim for contribution and indemnity from Ms. Denham, whom it blamed for the disclosure of the Class Member’s private and confidential information. [6] Now before the court are several motions for a diverse mix of procedural and evidentiary orders. a. M.M. seeks to discontinue her action against Ms. Denham. b. The Society, which, as noted above, had crossclaimed against Ms. Denham, seeks an Order converting its Crossclaim into a Third Party Claim and converting Ms Denham’s Crossclaim into a Counterclaim in the Third Party Action. c. The Society seeks an Order that the Third Party Action including its Counterclaim be case managed in Toronto as a part of the class action and be tried together with or immediately following the class action. d. The Society seeks a sealing order. The sealing Order is said to be required to address confidentiality concerns arising because of s. 87 (8) of the Child Youth and Family Services Act, 2017[3] and s.70(1) of the Children's Law Reform Act.[4] e. Ms. Denham does not oppose the continuation of the crossclaims within a Third Party Action, but she opposes the request for case management in Toronto and asks the court to transfer the Third Party Action to Perth, where she lives and where apparently she will have a lawyer prepared to act for her in defending the Third Party Action and in prosecuting her Counterclaim. [7] The request for a sealing order, which was not opposed, should be granted. [8] Section 87 of the Child Youth and Family Services Act, 2017 prohibits the publication of information that has the effect of identifying a child who is the subject of a child protection proceeding. [9] In order to defend itself to Ms. Denham’s Crossclaim or Counterclaim, the Society may need to identify a child who is the subject of a child protection proceeding, and the Society is rightly concerned that there be no breach of s.87 of Child Youth and Family Services Act, 2017 or of s.70 (1) of the Children's Law Reform Act. [10] The Society’s request for a sealing order will permit it to defend itself to Ms. Denham’s Crossclaim or Counterclaim without beaching these statutes. [11] Moreover, a sealing order would be appropriate in accordance with the common law test for sealing a court file or otherwise limiting the open court principle.[5] [12] Turning to the other requests for relief, the only area of contention is whether the class action and the third party proceeding should be case managed in Toronto or whether these actions should be transferred and case managed by a judge of the East Region of this court. [13] M.M., who is represented by Flaherty, McCarthy LLP, a downtown Toronto law firm, and the Society Defendants, who are represented by Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, a downtown Toronto law firm oppose the transfer of the action to the East Region. [14] Apart from the location of M.M.’s and the Society Defendants’ lawyers, there is nothing to connect the proposed class action to Toronto. All the events in the class action, all the events in the third party proceedings, and all the events in the counterclaim in the third party proceeding occurred in the East Region. [15] The class action and the third party proceeding are inextricably interwoven, with multiple overlapping issues of fact and law to be determined. There is a substantial overlap between the events of the class action and of the third party proceeding, which should not be separated, and where there is no overlap, the events have no connection to Toronto. [16] Although the current litigation plan does not envision any individual proceedings, if the Class Members were to advance individual claims for idiosyncratic special or general damages caused by the release of the private and confidential information, the venue of those individual proceedings would have no connection to Toronto unless the Class Member happened to have moved. [17] Apart from the convenience to counsel, there are no advantages to having the class action managed in Toronto and there is no advantage to having the various actions determined by trial or by summary judgment motion in Toronto. [18] Ms. Denham’s, M.M.’s and the representative of the Society’s examinations for discover will or should occur in the East Region where the parties reside. [19] The events of the various actions, which attracted the attention of the media in Perth, Ontario, are of interest to the citizens of the East Region, who have an interest in the operation of their local children’s aid societies, but the events are of little more than of prurient interest to the citizens of Toronto. https://www.canlii.org//2018/2018onsc5032/2018onsc5032.html ::: Unfair or Indefensible - Costs Against C.A.S.? On behalf of Gene C. Colman Family Law Centre posted in Child Welfare on Tuesday, January 7, 2014. There is a presumption that a successful party is entitled to the costs of a motion, enforcement, case or appeal (Ontario Family Law Rules, R. 24(1)). There is, however, no such presumption for costs in a child protection case (Rule 24(2)). Does that mean that a successful parent can never obtain a costs order against a children's aid society? Let us delve a little further. The lack of presumption for costs is perfectly understandable. The Courts have been hesitant to impose cost orders against children's aid societies as they are faced with the difficult statutory duty of protecting children from harm and the law tells us that they should not be punished (through costs orders) for errors of judgment. A further reason for courts rarely awarding costs against societies stems from the view that societies should not be discouraged from taking action because of the risk of an adverse costs order. Rule 24(2) does not give children's aid societies the authority to behave with impunity though. The courts have (and will) order costs against children's aid societies in limited circumstances. For example the 2013 matter of Catholic Children's Aid Society of Toronto v. SSB awarded costs to the mother and Office of the Children's Lawyer for the procedural failings of the CCAST. This case affirms the courts' approach in awarding costs against children's aid societies in that a society will not be shielded from costs where its behaviour is "unfair or indefensible or where exceptional circumstances exist". In SSB the CCAST sought disclosure of "clinical investigation notes" from the OCL. The OCL claimed that the requested documents were subject to solicitor-client privilege and therefore could not be disclosed as the disclosure would amount to a serious breach of trust between the OCL and the children. The prevailing concern was that the CCAST had sought to obtain the privileged documents on three separate occasions (only to withdraw their motion before a decision could be delivered) and had put the mother and OCL to considerable expense in defending the motions. The judge considered that the repeated attempts to obtain disclosure was tantamount to an abuse of process and verged on acting in bad faith. The judge, most helpfully, summarized the responsibility of the CCAST as follows [at paragraph 12]: ... Like any other litigant, the society must conduct itself according to the rules. It is given broad investigative scope, and cannot and should not be liable for costs for actions it takes in good faith in its duty to investigate cases. That, however, does not give a society licence to ignore the general rules of procedural fairness. When it does, it should be liable in costs. The CCAST matter also made reference to the 2005 decision of Children's Aid Society of Niagara Region v. B. (C.), which provides guidance for the circumstances when children's aid societies should and should not be liable for costs. These can be summarized as follows [paragraphs 89-100]: 1. Bad Faith Not Required: To attract an adverse award of costs, a children's aid society need not have acted in bad faith; 2. Fairness: Costs may be awarded against a society, "where it conducts itself... in a way where it would be perceived by ordinary persons as having acted unfairly"; 3. Indefensible Behaviour: Many cases hold that a children's aid society should only be visited with an adverse award of costs where it has taken a step or position that is "indefensible", ie. "admitting of no defence". 4. Exceptional Circumstances: There is a line of decisions holding that costs should not be awarded against a society "unless exceptional circumstances exist"; 5. Error in Judgment not sufficient to attract costs: A society should not be punished for a mere error of judgement (an error of judgement can truly arise only where one has considered all courses of action reasonably available at the time); 6. Society Not to Be Dissuaded by Costs: A society should not be dissuaded from its statutory mandate by costs considerations; 7. Society to Re-assess Its Position: A children's aid society must be even-handed and act in good faith. To this end a society must be prepared to re-assess its position as an investigation unfolds and more information becomes known; 8. Accountability: "Children's aid societies must be accountable" for the manner in which it investigates a case and in the way it chooses to litigate that case (one method of achieving accountability is through costs sanctions); The judge in CASNR tells us that a society can attract an adverse costs award where it fails in any of the following seven areas (paragraph 102): 1. Investigation before apprehension; 2. Continued investigation after apprehension; 3. Consideration of all appropriate protective measures; 4. Formation of a fair and defensible position; 5. Reassessment of that position as circumstances warrant; 6. Use of properly trained workers; and 7. Accessing independent experts in the field of child psychology. This more critical approach adopted by some courts should provide some modest encouragement to parents who have been subjected to biased investigations or litigation undertaken by a children's aid society where the C.A.S. actions were patently unfair or indefensible. These factors should be relevant not only to a costs determination but also to the expected standard of care to which child protection authority must adhere. Holding these agencies accountable to such standards should hopefully be encouraged by the case management judge as the case unfolds. If you have a matter where a children's aid society has acted unfairly, indefensibly or there are exceptional circumstances, you may benefit from a consultation with our experienced child welfare lawyers. Tags: CAS, Child Custody, Child Protection, Child Welfare, Children's Aid Society, Costs, Procedural Fairness Related Posts: THE EASTER BUNNY AND C.A.S. ABUSE OF POWER, Do's and Don'ts of a CAS Apprehension of Your Child, C.A.S. Attitude: Win child welfare cases at all costs, PROPORTIONALITY, SUMMARY JUDGMENT, SELF REPRESENTED CHILD WELFARE LITIGANTS https://www.complexfamilylaw.com//the-easter-bunny-and-cas ::: "Lemay said the person behind the breach is likely a disgruntled client who was looking to embarrass us. Lemay says the report in question is not "typical" of the work FCSLLG does or the documentation it keeps. He also says the organization has no reason to believe any of its other clients had their personal information compromised. Identifying those who are involved with children’s aid is illegal under the Child and Family Services Act. Releasing this information carries a fine of up to $10,000 and three years in jail. Lemay said there was a previous breach of the agency in February which did not involve the release of confidential information. The person responsible was a children’s aid client who has been embroiled in a campaign against the agency, including posting hours-long YouTube videos of her interactions with members of the staff. Emotions regarding Children’s Aid Societies can run high, but there is no excuse for anyone to deliberately expose clients, said Lemay. Although there have been other examples of clients who have taken their disputes with children’s aid societies to the internet, Lemay know of no other incidents in which confidential lists of names have been released. The February breach was investigated and the agency’s data systems were reviewed by an external consultant, who assured the agency that its documents were secure. The woman involved also received a lawyer’s letter. She had to know that this was illegal, said Lemay. We live in an era where there are people determined to hack through security systems. Everybody has to be prepared for it, said Newton. Family and Children’s Services of Lanark, Leeds and Grenville is answering questions from the public and current and former clients at 1-855-667-2726. The case highlights a glaring omission in provincial and federal privacy laws, which do not cover children’s aid societies. Family and Children’s Services of Lanark, Leeds and Grenville and others across the province are not accountable to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario or the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, meaning when a breach like this occurs neither office has the ability to act. In 2013, the former privacy commissioner of Ontario, Anne Cavoukian, called on government to pass new legislation that would require oversight from the privacy commissioners offices in order to ensure that the sensitive data being managed by these agencies was being properly handled and secured. In my 2004, 2009, and 2012 Annual Reports I recommended that Children’s Aid Societies, which provide services for some of our most vulnerable citizens children and youth in government care, be brought under FIPPA (the Freedom of Information and Personal Privacy Act), she wrote in her 2013 annual report. I am disheartened by the complete lack of action to ensure transparency and accountability by these organizations that received significant public funding. As part of the modernization of the Acts, I call on the government to finally address this glaring omission and ensure that Children’s Aid Societies are added to the list of institutions covered. The only oversight for the province’s children’s aid agencies comes from Ontario’s Ministry of Children and Youth Services, which has been named as a defendant in Thursday’s statement of claim. Lemay admits the report was on the FCSLLG's website but says it was hidden behind several layers of security including a password given only to the organization's board of directors. "You have to go through the back door. You have to be looking for this," he says. This is the second time in about three months that the organization has had to take down its website because of security concerns. An outside expert was brought in after a February scare to better secure the website. No sensitive information was revealed or even in danger in the first breach, Lemay says. He says they made the changes and were told the website was secure. Share this article in your social network. https://ottawacitizen.com//police-probe-leak-of-ids-of-lan https://ottawacitizen.com//toronto-firm-files-statement-of https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/names-of-285-people-referred-to-c ::: 2019: PAGE 29/30 - Trial Testimony. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR RAYMOND LEMAY. I was just repeating what had been explained to me. That the security features of the website, when it was first installed, had not been turned on. That’s what was explained to me, and I am just repeating what I heard. Q. So, all you know is whoever C.A.S. retained for you working in your position did something incorrectly with respect to the website that caused this issue? A. That’s what, that’s what I understand, yes. (Does that mean every file FCSLLG upload to the internet and not just client information but every file could have been downloaded by just anyone since FCSLLG's website went online???) READ THE COMPLETE TRIAL TRANSCRIPT HERE: https://www.kelleyandderek.com/ ::: Kelley Denham was found not guilty on several charges: Mischief over $5,000 (section 430 (1) of the Criminal Code of Canada (CCA); Mischief of data (section 430 (5) of the CCA); Unauthorized use of a computer (section 342 of the CCA); Publication of identifying information (section 85 (3) of the Child and Family Services Act of Ontario CFSA); and, Another charge under section 76 of the CFSA, referring to identifying parties to a protected hearing. MAR. 21, 2018 THE FOLLOWING CHARGES AGAINST KELLEY DENHAM WERE DROPPED: 1) Theft under $5000 - s. 334 Criminal Code of Canada 2) Traffick in identity Information - s. 402.2(2) Criminal Code of Canada ::: 2020: THE ONTARIO COURT OF JUSTICE. BETWEEN: HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN -and- KELLY J. DENHAM APPEARANCES: FOR THE CROWN: Mr. Corbella FOR THE DEFENDANT: Mr. Mansour REASONS FOR JUDGMENT These are reasons for judgment concerning Kelly J. Denham who stands charged with the following counts under the Criminal Code of Canada, and the Child and Family Services Act of Ontario, specifically: - Criminal Code s. 430(1.1)(c): that between 31 January 2016 and 18 April 2016 she did obstruct, interrupt or interfere with the lawful use of computer data of the Family and Child Services of Lanark, Leeds and Grenville. - Criminal Code s. 430(1.1)(d): that between 31 January 2016 and 18 April 2016 she did obstruct, interrupt or interfere with a person in the lawful use of computer data, or denied access to computer data to a person who was entitled to access it. 2 - Criminal Code s. 342.1(1)(c): that between 31 January 2016 and 18 April 2016, she did fraudulently and without colour of right, use, or cause to be used, directly or indirectly a computer system with intent to commit an offence under s. 430 in relation to computer data. And under the Child and Family Services Act - Child and Family Services Act of Ontario s. 76: that on 18 April 2016 she published information that has the effect of identifying a witness at, or a participant in a hearing, or a party to a hearing, to wit; the names of clients of Family and Children Services. - Child and Family Services Act of Ontario s. 45(8): on 18 April 2016 did publish information that has the effect of identifying a child who is a witness at, or a participant in a hearing, or the subject of a proceeding, or the child’s parents, or foster parents, or a member of the child’s family, to wit; the names of clients of Family and Children Services. The trial took place before me at Perth. It was agreed by counsel that the information alleging offences under the Criminal Code would be tried together with the information under the Child and Family Services Act of Ontario, with the evidence received applying to both. At the conclusion of the evidence on 15 August 2019, counsel requested and I agreed to an adjournment for oral and written argument. Argument was finally 3 concluded on 17 December 2019, and the matter was adjourned ultimately to this date for judgement. Overview of the Evidence: The facts are not disputed. It is common ground that Ms. Denham had dealings with the Family and Children Services of Lanark Leeds and Grenville, hereinafter referred to by its initials as FCSLLG, an agency accredited and operating under the Child and Family Services Act of Ontario. Those dealings commenced in April 2015. Ms. Denham soon became dissatisfied with the actions of the FCSLLG. In January 2016, Ms. Denham complained in writing to FCSLLG, and subsequently met with the Director. That meeting was secretly taped by Ms. Denham. The FCSLLG on its own initiative had by this time established a computer web site. The object of the website was twofold; they wished to create a public portal that would be open to the public to provide an overview of the applicable legislation of child protection and the agencies role within the community in fulfilling that role, and a private portal to disseminate private information concerning the FCSLLG and its activities that would be available only to its board members. 4 In reality the website created by FCSLLG did not contain an adequate or any firewall limiting access to the portal containing private information. No special skills or deceptive techniques were necessary to gain access to the board information intended to be private. Nor were there any warnings or disclaimers that the information in the private portal was private or confidential and intended only to be seen by the intended restricted group. In effect the information intended for sole use of the FCSLLG board was available to any interested person. It is acknowledged that Ms. Denham accessed the FCSLLG website and entered what was intended to be the private portal. She thereby gained access to the confidential FCSLLG board information including an Excel spreadsheet that contained the names of mothers and families who had been referred to sought out FCSLLG for service. In early February 2016 FCSLLG became aware that a video of the meeting between Ms. Denham and its Director entitled Full Interview with Director of Service had been posted to You Tube. During the video various FCSLLG documents that it had considered private and confidential were shown on the screen. When this came to the attention of FCSLLG in early February 2016 FCSLLG shut the website down and hired David Schmidt, the son-in-law of Margaret Row who at the time was employed by FCSLLG as a program manager 5 charged with the responsibility of oversight of the computer site, and instructed him to determine how this had happened and rectify any breach of security. Mr. Schmidt gave evidence at trial and was qualified on consent as an expert in the field of computers in general and in website security analysis. In his investigation of the website, Mr. Schmidt discovered that two IP addresses associated with Ms. Denham had accessed the FCSLLG website files. He further reported on the inherent lack of security in the website and made recommendations to correct and secure the private information. Mr. Schmidt determined that 252 discrete files that the FCSLLG intended to be private had in fact been downloaded, and the defense does not dispute that the accused accessed and downloaded the material. FCSLLG implemented some but not all of Mr. Schmidt’s recommendations. In particular Mr. Schmidt advised that the two-portal system in place on the single website should be separated to provide full security. He recommended that there be two distinct and separate websites, one for each task. Contrary to that recommendation, the private Board portal containing the private documentation intended for Board eyes only remained on the single website, however attempts were made to close the file directory through which it was determined that Ms. Denham had obtained access to the private documentation intended for Board use only. FCSLLG took the position at the time that, contrary 6 to the report of Mr. Schmidt, that this was sufficient security to put the website back on line. In fact, the actions of the FCSLLG, did not secure the private information. On April 18, 2016, Ms. Denham posted a hyperlink of a spreadsheet (0-5intake-stats.xslsx) that contained the names of 285 mothers of children who had had interactions with FCSLLG on the Facebook account of Smiths Falls Swap Shop. Smiths Falls Swap Shop is a private group that requires permission for membership and has some minor limiting conditions for membership and agreement that group rules be followed. The link, if clicked, provided direct access to the document on the FCSLLG website. Two women, amongst others, accessed the material and seeing their names complained to FCSLLG concerning the privacy breach. Another woman accessed the link and complained to both FCSLLG and to the police. FCSLLG on being advised of this fresh breach again shut the website down and contacted the police. These charges are the result. THE LAW AND THE SPECIFIC CHARGES: In argument the Crown quite properly cautioned that the competence of the FCSLLG in the manner in which it dealt with the establishment and maintenance 7 of the confidentiality of its clients is not the issue. I agree. The issue is simply whether or not the Crown has established beyond a reasonable doubt that in her actions the accused has violated all elements of the various counts before the Court. As to the charges under s. 430(1.1) of the Criminal Code, the section provides that: Everyone commits mischief who willfully (a) destroys or alters computer data (b) renders computer data meaningless, useless or ineffective (c) obstructs, interrupts or interferes with the lawful use of computer data; or (d) obstructs, interrupts or interferes with a person in the lawful use of computer data or denies access to computer data to a person who is entitled to access to it. The accused is charged under subsections (c) and (d) as set out above. The accused is also charged under s. 342.1(1)(c), which provides: Everyone who, fraudulently and without color of right, (a) obtains, directly or indirectly any computer service; (b) intercepts or causes to be intercepted, directly or indirectly, any function of a computer system; (c) uses or causes to be used, directly or indirectly, a computer system with intent to commit an offence under paragraph (a) or (b) or an offence under section 430 in relation to data or a computer system, Section 342.1(2) defines computer system and data as: computer system means a devise that, or a group of interconnected or related devises, one or more of which, (a) contains computer programs or other data, and (b) pursuant to computer programs, (i)performs logic and control, and (ii)may perform any other function; 8 data means representations of information or of concepts that are being prepared or have been prepared in a form suitable for use in a computer system To succeed in relation to the charges under s. 430(1.1) the Crown is required to satisfy the criminal burden and prove, that Ms. Denham; obstructed interrupted or interfered with the lawful use of computer data (subsection (c)), and/or that she obstructed, interrupted or interfered with a person in the lawful use of computer data or denied access to computer data to a person entitled to access to it, and that she did so willfully, that is with knowledge or recklessness as to the consequences of her actions. The Crown’s theory in relation to the criminal counts casts FCSLLG as a victim that as a result of the actions of the accused was obliged to: shut down their website and disable the hyperlink to confidential material; hire a consultant; delete documents; issue a cease and desist letter to the administrator of the Facebook page where the link was posted; and notify proper authorities. Factually the Crown likens the situation to a victim failing to lock its back door and an accused entering and committing mischief to the interior. The rhetorical analogy is not particularly helpful to the analysis. The facts and the applicable law in the charging sections are specific and determinative of the issues. 9 The defense argued the matter on the basis that the actions of the accused were not fraudulent and fraud is a necessary element of the offence; and further that the actions of the accused did not obstruct, interrupt or interfere with the computer data. I note first of all that the focus of these sections is on computer data not hardware or the computer program employed, and I find there was here no obstruction, interruption or interference with the data. Interference is defined in the Dictionary of Canadian Law (Thomson Carswell (third edition) 2004), as: To obstruct; to disrupt. On the facts, the accused copied various documents, specifically she copied 252 documents from the FCSLLG website and the hyperlink which, if followed by others by a simple click, would lead them directly to and open spreadsheet (0-5intake-stats.xslsx), information that FCSLLG intended to be private. She did not however alter or destroy any computer data on the website of the FCSLLG. The documents remained available and unaltered at all times. Their delivery was temporarily interrupted at the election of the FCSLLG, once it became apparent that the documents were accessible by the world at large. But the closure of the website was the result of decisions made by FCSLLG once they became aware of the shortcomings of their security provisions. While off line the data remained intact and unaltered. 10 I note that in R. v. Livingston, [2018] O.J. No. 254, the obstruction interruption or interference with the data involved the deliberate erasure or deletion of data, while in R. v. Charania [2012] O.J. No. 5113 a case where an unauthorized user name and password were employed to copy personnel records, the court specifically based its finding not on the taking of the documents, but on the fact that doing so resulted in the complainant being locked out of the computer system. The locking out however was not, as is the case before us, of a decision by the complainant to do so because of a perceived breach of its privacy, but rather an automatic computer programing function, beyond the control of the complainant. The automatic computer function activated by the accused denied access to the complainant. The court held; In this case, the Crown has specifically proven that (the accused) actually obstructed and interfered with (the complainant’s) lawful use of data by preventing her from accessing data on the Ritz Villa computer systemThe finding of guilt is not based upon the confidentiality of the data in (the complainants’) email account. (para 120) I cannot find any obstruction, interruption or interference to the data. In the first instance the accused took a picture or copy of the data found on the site. In the second she took a picture or copy of the hyperlink leading to the spread sheet data and posted that to the Smiths Falls Swap Shop web site. It is common ground that the FCSLLG closed down the website on two occasions in order to investigate the supposed security breach and to address the 11 and then readdress and remedy the problem. The evidence shows and I find as a fact that the FCSLLG was in total control of the website. The FCSLLG created it, operated it and chose to shut it down. The cause of the shutdown was the system’s inherent security defect. The accused may have discovered the security shortcomings, she did not however cause those shortcomings nor the shutdown. I agree. The FCSLLG witnesses, Mr. Lemay, Ms. Row, acknowledge that on learning of the inadequacies with the security of the Website, the site was shut down. They acknowledge further that the site would have been closed regardless of the manner in which the security inadequacies were brought to the agency’s attention. The accused demonstrated the inadequacies, but did not create them. Her actions then must be seen on the light of a notifier of the problem but not as a cause. It was the security problem itself that caused the complainant to shut down the website. Turning to the element of fraud. The defense argues that fraud is a necessary element of the charge of unauthorized use of a computer, and that the accused in accessing and downloading the information did not engage in any fraudulent act. As noted previously, the website was theoretically designed for the dual purpose of providing both public and private information. The public was invited to receive public information as to the workings of the FCSLLG; board members 12 were thought to have access to private information unavailable to others. The accused did obtain private information, but was able to do so not through deceit falsehood or other fraudulent means but because of the design flaws inherent in the system. The private information was publicly available. There was no need for a password or user name restricting access. Nor, I find, did the accused require any particular or peculiar skill or ability to gain access. The information was available. This is confirmed in the evidence of Mr. Schmidt, the expert relied upon by FCSLLG: Q: In this case the directory had no password, nothing in it was intended to stop you from getting to it. A: That’s correct. (Transcript p. 105 106) The absence of fraud distinguishes the cases relied upon by the Crown. In R. v. Livingston (supra) Lipson J. of this court expressly found: The totality of evidence proves beyond a reasonable doubt that he was neither justified nor authorized nor had the color of right to arrange for the wiping of the hard drivesHe was clearly aware of his obligation to retain recordsNevertheless, (he) resorted to extreme and unauthorized measures to permanently delete records (emphasis added) The court went on to find and enumerate the fraudulent methods he employed to do so. That is not this case. Nor is R. v. Charia (supra) where deception was found as a fact to be used to obtain the desired material. 13 I am for those reasons left with a reasonable doubt and unable to find Ms. Denham guilty of the criminal charges before the court. Turning then to the charges under the Child and Family Services Act. Section 45(8) of the Act provides that No person shall publish or make public information that has the effect of identifying a child who is a witness at or a participant in a hearing or the subject of a proceeding, or the child’s parent or foster parent or a member of the child’s family. Section 76 of the Act is similar in object and wording, No person shall publish or make public information that has the effect of identifying a witness at or a participant in a hearing, or a party to a hearing other than a society. The elements of the offences charged are; the act of publishing or making public; information that has the effect of identifying the specified participants, parties, witnesses or children; who are involved in a hearing or proceeding. The Crown argues that all elements of these offences have been met. On the element of publishing or making public, the accused, by posting information on Facebook made that information public. The fact that the particular site on which it was posted, Smiths Falls Swap Shop, requires an application for membership that must be accepted by the sites controllers is irrelevant. Even if the site had only one member it would still constitute publishing. 14 As to the element of identification the Crown argues that revealing the client list as set out in spreadsheet 0-5intake-stats.xslsx, some (six) of who were engaged in a hearing is sufficient to satisfy the element of identification. The defense argues that on the facts of this case the Crown has failed to establish that the actions of the accused, constituted publishing or making public information, and has failed to establish that her posts identified a witness, participant or party in a hearing. Section 45(8) was discussed in Children’s Aid Society of HamiltonWentworth v. D.G. (E.), [1995] 21 OR (3d) 643, where Rosenberg J. (as he then was) held on behalf of the Divisional Court, that given the objective of s. 45(8) there must be a link or coupling between the identification of an individual and their involvement in a proceeding or hearing. The impugned publication must make reference to the proceedings or be contrary to some other provision of the Act to justify an injunction based on the Act. It must, to offend the Act, require the disclosure that there are proceedings either directly or impliedly and couple the person identified with those proceedings. Section 76 of the CFSA is similar in object and wording and in my view should be interpreted in the same manner. It is interesting to note that the wording of both sections in restricting publication of information that has the effect of identifying is narrower than that used in section 486.4 of the Criminal Code of Canada which 15 authorizes the court to direct the nonpublication of any information that could identify the victim or a witness If the legislature, in drafting the prohibition, sought to cast a wider net it was open to it to do so and the it has chosen not to. The evidence shows that the spreadsheet 0-5intake-stats.xslsx contained some 285 client names. The purpose of the document was to report to the Board on compliance by the agency with ministry service time guidelines. There is no reference in the document to clients or matters that were or had been before the court in any proceeding or hearing. In fact, some six clients listed in the spreadsheet were involved in court proceedings, but on the information in the spreadsheet their identity as participants in court proceedings could not be determined. The evidence was, and I find, that the determination of who if any of the named clients were involved in proceedings and to be able to conclude that anyone was so involved in a hearing or proceeding, required a records search of the legal department by Karen Von Cramon, whose evidence was given by an agreed statement of facts, filed. The website and spreadsheet accessed by the accused did not contain the records of the legal department. They did not contain any information as to who was involved in a hearing or proceeding. The necessary link between 16 the list of client names and their involvement in any hearing or proceeding is absent. The agency does far more than proceed to court to protect children. It provides multiple services to people in the community that do not involve any court proceeding or hearing. The nonpublication provisions only apply to proceedings or hearings. It is not an offence under the Act to divulge the names of persons who are clients of the FCSLLG. I find accordingly that the information contained in the spreadsheet did not have ... the effect of identifying a child who is a witness at or a participant in a hearing or the subject of a proceeding as required in s. 45(8) of the Act, nor the effect of identifying a witness at or a participant in a hearing, or a party to a hearing as set out in s. 76 of the Act. I turn then to second point raised by the defense that being that the accused did not publish or make public the information by posting the hyperlink on the Smiths Falls Swap Shop. The terms publish and make public are not defined in the legislation. The Crown argues that reference to s. 299 of the Criminal Code which, defines publish in the context of the provisions against criminal defamatory libel should apply. That section provides: A person publishes a libel when he (a) exhibits it in public; 17 (b) causes it to be read or seen; or (c) shows or delivers it with intent that it should be read or seen by the person it defames or by any other person. The Crown further argues that whatever definition is employed the fact is that making public, the alternate wording of the impugned act is satisfied by the simple act of placing information on Facebook. The Crown argues that in this case the accused made the material public by posting the information to Smiths Falls Swap Shop, and that would be so even if the Swap Shop group had only one member. The defense notes that the Information laid particularizes the offence as one of publishing without reference to the alternative of making public. I note that no amendment was sought or granted. That said, given the common definition of publish that follows, the point is largely moot. In Re Orr’s Stated Case (sub nom R. Leong), [1961] 38 WWR 114 at para.9 the court noted: Where the word publication is used in a penal statute without definition, and with context which would assign to it a special meaning, it must be considered to bear the meaning it would bear in in ordinary English speech. Certainly, where crime is involved a court should not go out of its way to attribute to the word an extraordinary meaning involving the culpability of the accused, but should rather hew strictly to the line resolving any possible doubt in favour of the accused. These are propositions that I find to be a fair statement of the law. 18 I turn then to commonly used dictionaries for definitions of the term. In Black’s Law Dictionary publish is defined as: to make public, to circulate, to make known to people in general: An advising of the public or making known of something to the public for a purpose. Webster’s Third New International Dictionary: to declare publicly; make generally known; to place before the public (as through mass medium), circulate, while Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary defines publish as: to make generally known; to make public announcement of; to place before the public; to produce or release for publication. Lastly, the Canadian Oxford Dictionary defines publish as: prepare and issue (a book, a newspaper, information in electronic form, computer software, etc.) for public consumption; make generally known. The accused in this case posted a hyperlink, which if clicked, led directly to the spreadsheet on the FCSLLG website. The test question to be answered is simply, does this action constitute publishing as that term is commonly defined. In Crookes v. Newton, 2011 SCC 47 the Supreme Court held, within the civil context of defamation, that posting a hyperlink to a defamatory document created and controlled by another did not constitute publishing by the person posting the hyperlink. 19 The court outlined the function and effect of a hyperlink in the following terms. Hyperlinks are, in essence, references. By clicking on the link, readers are directed to other sources. Hyperlinks may be inserted with or without the knowledge of the operator of the site containing the secondary article. Because the content of the secondary article is often produced by someone other than the person who inserted the hyperlink in the primary article, the content on the other end of the link can be changed at any time by whoever controls the secondary page. Although the primary author controls whether there is a hyperlink and what article that word or phrase is linked to, inserting a hyperlink gives the primary author no control over the content in the secondary article to which he or she has linked. The court then went on to find that this lack of control over the content of the material discoverable through the hyperlink has the effect of making the poster of the hyperlink not the publisher of the material. The court went on: Communicating something is very different from merely communicating that something exists or where it exists. Even where the goal of the person referring to a defamatory publication is to expand the publications audience, his or her participation is merely ancillary to that of the initial publisher. The background and context in Cook v. Newton differs of course from this situation. The FCSLLG as the creator of the spreadsheet intended that it be for the information of board members only. The principles discussed however remain. The accused exercised no control over the contents of the document, she simply provided the reference to its existence, and that, I find, falls short of publishing. For these reasons, again I am left with a reasonable doubt, and am unable to find the accused guilty of these charges under the Child and Family Service Act. 20 CONCLUSION: There will be an acquittal on all charges. Due to the Covid 19 difficulties currently plaguing the nation and closing the court, these reasons are being delivered in writing. The Information is not before me to endorse. If possible, I authorize the clerk of the court to endorse the dismissal on my behalf. Alternatively, I shall endorse the record and Information when next in Perth. DATED AT BROCKVILLE FOR DELIVERY IN PERTH, THIS 1 MAY 2020 Charles D. Anderson, J. https://www.recorder.ca//local/cas-whistleblower-acquitted ::: Canada: Novel Case On Data Exclusion Interpreted In Favour Of Insureds An Ontario judge recently interpreted a data exclusion in favour of the insureds, ordering the insurer to defend claims arising out of an alleged website security breach.1 A website owned by Family and Children's Services of Lanark, Leeds and Grenville ("FCS"), was breached when an unauthorized party downloaded and published documents stored in a secured section of the website, which contained personal information about individuals who had been the subject of FCS investigations. A broadly worded claim was subsequently brought against FCS, alleging damages resulting from defamation, breach of privacy and other causes of action. Laridae Communications Inc. had provided advice to FCS on the design and security of FCS's website. FCS issued a third-party claim against Laridae. Footnotes: 1 Laridae v Co-Operators, 2020 ONSC 2198. The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances. https://www.mondaq.com//novel-case-on-data-exclusion-inter ::: Court Refuses to Apply Liability Policies’ Electronic Data Exclusions, Cites Lack of Jurisprudence. Laridae v. Co-operators, 2020 ONSC 2198 (CanLII) Earlier in May, in Laridae v. Co-operators, 2020 ONSC 2198, an Ontario court was hesitant to offer guidance on the proper application of two electronic data exclusions that expressly withdrew coverage for the misappropriation and display of electronic information on the internet. At issue were allegations arising from particularly egregious hacking incidents involving a child protection agency’s website. Noting an apparent lack of guiding authority (there is no jurisprudence on the proper interpretation of data exclusion clauses), Pollak J. ordered a liability insurer to separately defend the named and additional insureds. https://www.canliiconnects.org/en/commentaries/71352 https://www.canliiconnects.org/en/cases/2020onsc2198 ::: 2020: How the lack of cyber case law worked against an insurer in a $75-million data breach lawsuit. The lack of cyber case law worked against an insurer in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice recently, with the court deciding that The Co-operators has a duty to defend two parties named in a $75-million cyber breach class action lawsuit. https://www.canadianunderwriter.ca//how-the-lack-of-cyber/ INTERVIEW with Director of Service for Family and Children's Services of Lanark Leeds and Grenville. https://youtu.be/kq6JCx5FlfA This is an audio recording of Kelley Denham's last conversation with FCSLLG's now former director of service Kim Morrow regarding the progress of her complaint detailing FCSLLG's collectively unethical conduct before being arrested and charged by the Smith's Falls police.. The day Miss Denham was charged Kim Morrow again called to discuss the progress of Miss Denham's complaint and left a message on Denham's answering machine. As part of Miss Denham release conditions a no contact order was issued preventing Miss Denham from contacting anyone at FCSLLG or their board members and in fact from completing FCSLLG's needlessly complex complaint process.. https://youtu.be/HALda2OHg4s :::

2019: Psychotherapist Philip Chard talks about holier-than-thou types, who judge themselves by their intentions by others by their actions. https://shepherdexpr...ess.com//the-many-ways-of-being-holie/ https://www.sciencedaily.com/releas/2017//170711220512.htm ::: Forensic Files, originally known as Medical Detectives, is an American documentary-style television program that reveals how forensic science is used to solve violent crimes, mysterious accidents or outbreaks of illness unless it's the death of children connected to Ontario's children's aid society.. 2018: "Ontario’s child protection system fails children, again." By Star Editorial Board. Children should, at the very least, survive the attempts of Ontario’s child protection system to help them. What an incredibly low bar that is, Ontario’s child advocate noted. And how shocking that, yet again, Ontario has failed to meet it. A new and rightly scathing report by Ontario’s coroner is calling on the provincial government to overhaul the child protection system that keeps failing children. The panel of experts appointed by Ontario’s chief coroner Dirk Huyer examined the tragic deaths of 12 youths who were placed in foster homes and group homes for their safety and well-being, and yet died while under provincial care. Eight of the 12 were Indigenous, cut off from their communities in the north, and eight youth died by suicide. All 12 of these young people, who died over a three-and-a-half-year period, were known to have serious mental health challenges and yet the panel found little was done to help them. Despite complex histories and the high-risk nature of these young people’s lives, intervention was minimal and sometimes non-existent, the report states. Ministry oversight of homes is inadequate, caregivers lack proper training and vulnerable children are being warehoused and shuffled from one home to the next without getting the care they need. In fact, the child protection system can barely be called a system given its lack of co-coordinated services, Huyer said. And what makes this worse is that it has all been said before. To her credit, Children, Community and Social Services Minister Lisa MacLeod didn’t seek to dodge these findings. From the CASs to group homes to my ministry, we all bear "some" responsibility, she said, but there is only one captain of the ship, the premier of Ontario. As the new minister, the buck stops with me and I will take action. Let’s hope this time it’s action that actually makes a difference in kids lives. That means, as this expert panel has said, getting away from a crisis driven and reactionary response, to prevention-focused care that works with children and their families, whose troubles are often driven or compounded by poverty. Just yanking kids from their homes, especially when they are placed into a system that has repeatedly proven incapable of dealing with their complex needs, isn’t a solution. (Out of the frying pan and into the child poaching funding predator's fire...) The panel was struck by how often these kids were classified as safe with intervention. The tragedy is that they were far from safe because they didn’t get the constructive intervention they needed. https://www.thestar.com//ontarios-child-protection-system- https://www.thestar.com/news/cas.html ::: OACAS: The duty to report... Reasonable grounds refers to the information that an average person, using normal and honest judgment, would need in order to decide to be concerned . This standard has been recognized by courts in Ontario as establishing a lower funding friendly corporate threshold for reasonable grounds to report any suspicion (no harm no foul) that applies to everyone except employees of the child welfare system who remain totally exempt from this lower standard... It is not necessary to be certain that a child is or may be in need of protection to make a report about a children’s aid society. http://www.oacas.org/childrens-aid-child-pr/duty-to-report/ 2020: Canada’s death investigation system needs an overhaul. In a medical examiner system, like in Alberta, all suspicious deaths are investigated by a medical examiner who is a trained forensic pathologist. Medical examiners review the deceased person’s medical information and the circumstances around the death, complete autopsies, and synthesize all of this information into their opinion on cause of death. In the coroner’s system, a coroner is assigned to oversee death investigations and decides on the additional testing required before formulating an opinion as to an individual’s cause of death. In Ontario, coroners are required to be physicians, usually general practitioners, and work closely with local forensics units to further delineate an individual’s cause of death. In BC, coroners in charge of death investigation are not required to have formal medical training but they decide whether an autopsy by a pathologist is necessary. Ultimately, coroners make conclusions about cause of death based on the best information available to them. Given the lack of formal medical training, it is difficult to be confident that the accuracy of these conclusions will always be sound. And accurate information surrounding death has important implications for the living. https://healthydebate.ca/opinio/death_investigation_feb2020 ::: 2013: National review system needed to save lives: experts Each province has a separate system for failing to collect or hide data on child deaths in care, which makes it impossible to track trends across the country and undermines attempts to learn from tragic deaths .JOHN LUCAS / EDMONTON JOURNAL Leading advocates from across Canada say children’s lives could be saved if governments implement a national death review system that is independent, transparent and staffed with experts. Currently, each province has a separate system for collecting data, which makes it impossible to track trends across the country and undermines attempts to learn from tragic deaths. Gord Phaneuf, executive director of the Child Welfare League of Canada, said only comprehensive historical analysis can create the foundation for targeted, evidence-based system change that will actually prevent child deaths. Any province can lead on that, Phaneuf said. What has happened historically, in jurisdiction after jurisdiction, is they deal with the tragedy of the moment. On a personal level we can understand that, but on a governmental level that’s completely inadequate. We need to move past being reactive. http://www.edmontonjournal.com//nationa/9216992/story.html ::: 2015: Teen’s death raises questions about secrecy surrounding kids in care. It is stunning to me how these children... are rendered invisible while they are alive and invisible in their death, said Irwin Elman, Ontario’s former and last advocate for children and youth. Between 90 and 120 children and youth connected to children’s aid die every year. CHILDREN ARE DYING IN ONTARIO'S CARE AND THE FRONTLINE WORKERS ARE THE ONES BEING REGULATED TO DEATH? https://www.thestar.com//teens-death-raises-questions-abou ::: 2015: Shedding light on the troubles facing kids in group homes. The Star obtained the reports in a freedom of information request and compiled them according to the type of serious event that occurred something the ministry does not do. They note everything from medication errors to emotional meltdowns to deaths. Restraints were used in more than one-third of 1,200 serious occurrence reports filed in 2013 by group homes and residential treatment centres in the city, according to a Star analysis. At one treatment facility, 43 of the 119 serious occurrence reports filed to the Ministry of Children and Youth Services include a youth being physically restrained and injected by a registered nurse with a drug, presumably a sedative. How is a society that's against spanking isn't against tying children to their beds and drugging them? The language used by some group homes evokes an institutional setting rather than a nurturing environment. When children go missing, they are AWOL. In one instance in which a child acted out in front of peers, he was described as a negative contagion. Often, the reasons for behaviour are not noted. Children are in a poor space and are counselled not to make poor choices. Blame is always placed on the child. Their stories are briefly told in 1,200 Toronto reports describing serious occurrences filed to the Ministry of Children and Youth Services in 2013. Most involve children and youth in publicly funded, privately operated group homes. https://www.thestar.com//kids-in-toronto-group-homes-can-b ::: 2016: The ministry doesn’t know how many children are being cared for in Ontario’s 389 licensed group homes. It’s working on a system that will eventually allow it to collect the information. At the end of September 2017, the group homes had 2,914 beds, almost one-third of them operated by private, for-profit companies. The rest are run by non-profit agencies such as children’s aid societies. Another 2,005 beds were in foster homes run by companies, where the limit is four kids to a home. A growing number of kids are also being placed in unlicensed homes with live-in staff. You know your system is based on the flimsiest of foundations when you have absolutely no standards on who can do this work, adds Gharabaghi, director of Ryerson University’s school of child and youth care. https://www.mykawartha.com//7974974-kids-are-going-throug/ https://www.mcgill.ca//report-calls-better-oversight-resid ::: WHY CAN'T THESE DEATHS BE PREDICTED WHEN THEY HAPPEN EVERY YEAR? Vulnerable children are being warehoused and forgotten. The report describes a fragmented system with no means of monitoring quality of care, where ministry oversight is inadequate, caregivers lack training, and children are poorly supervised. By LAURIE MONSEBRAATEN Social Justice Reporter SANDRO CONTENTA Feature Writer. Tues., Sept. 25, 2018. The expert panel convened by Ontario chief coroner Dirk Huyer found a litany of other problems, including: Evidence that some of the youths were "at risk of and/or engaged in human trafficking." A lack of communication between child welfare societies. Poor case file management. An "absence" of quality care in residential placements. Eleven of the young people ranged in age from 11 to 18. The exact age of one youth when she died wasn't clear in the report. Dr. Dirk Huyer said the need for change is starkly spelled out in a report commissioned by his office after 12 youth in the care of a children's aid society or Indigenous Child Wellbeing Society died over a three-and-a-half-year stretch from 2014 to mid 2017. Two thirds of those children were Indigenous, most died by suicide, and all contended with mental health struggles while living away from home. Of the 12 cases examined by the report, eight were Indigenous youth who came from families that showed signs of "intergenerational trauma." They also routinely dealt with the effects of poverty in their remote northern communities, including inadequate housing, contaminated drinking water, and lack of access to educational, health and recreational resources, the report said. Once the child welfare system became involved, the report found many of the children bounced between numerous residential placements ranging from formal care arrangements with more distant relatives to group homes hundreds of kilometres away from family. The report found the 12 children lived in an average of 12 placements each. One one young girl stayed in 20 different placements over 18 months, the report said. All the children had a history of harming themselves, but most received little to no treatment for underlying mental health issues, it said. Eight killed themselves, two deaths were ruled accidental, one was undetermined, and the death of one 14-year-old girl was ultimately deemed a homicide, the report said. https://www.ctvnews.ca//ontario-coroner-s-report-highlight https://www.cbc.ca//ontario-coroner-expert-panel-report-1. ::: 2011: Disgraced pathologist Charles Smith stripped of medical licence. Dr. Charles Randal Smith was long regarded as one of Canada's best in forensic child pathology. A public inquiry was called after an Ontario coroner's inquiry questioned Smith's conclusions in 20 of 45 child autopsies. In 1992, the Ontario Coroner's Office created a pediatric forensic pathology unit at Hospital for Sick Children and Smith was appointed director. He had become almost solely responsible for investigating suspicious child deaths in Ontario including the deaths of all children in Ontario's care. In 1999, a Fifth Estate documentary singled him out as one of four Canadians with this rare expertise. For more than a decade, Mr. Smith enjoyed a stellar reputation as the country's leading pathologist when it came to infant deaths giving lectures to law enforcement, medical students and other coroners. Several complaints about his work had little effect. https://youtu.be/f5-53FhGQ5A In this period he conducted hundreds of autopsies and testified in court multiple times. He conducted training sessions for lawyers on how to examine and cross-examine expert witnesses, and training for law-enforcement and medical staff on detecting child abuse.[5] The inquiry, led by Justice Stephen Goudge and concluding in October 2008, found that Smith "actively misled" his superiors, "made false and misleading statements" in court and exaggerated his expertise in trials. Far from an expert in forensic child pathology, "Smith lacked basic knowledge about forensic pathology," wrote Goudge in the inquiry report. While at Sick Children's Hospital, Smith lived on a farm in Newmarket. His marriage collapsed around the time that his pathology work at Sick Children's received heavy scrutiny.[4] Smith was briefly relocated to Saskatoon and since 2007, he has lived in Victoria, British Columbia, with partner Dr. Bonnie Leadbeater, director of the Centre for Youth and Society at the University of Victoria. A 2008 inquiry on Smith’s work condemned his flawed approach and noted the he lacked the requisite training and qualifications to work as pediatric forensic pathologist. Smith’s findings had helped convict more than a dozen people, some of whom spent years in prison and lost access to their children. For 24 years, Smith worked at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children. In the hospital's pediatric forensic pathology unit, he conducted more than 1,000 child autopsies and never found anything strange about hundreds of children in care or having some contact with the children's aid society dying every year in Ontario. But Smith no longer practices pathology. An Ontario coroner's inquiry reviewed 45 child autopsies in which Smith had concluded the cause of death was either homicide or criminally suspicious. The coroner's review found that Smith made questionable conclusions of foul play in 20 of the cases 13 of which had resulted in criminal convictions. After the review's findings were made public in April 2007, Ontario's government ordered a public inquiry into the doctor's practices. "Smith was adamant that his failings were never intentional," Goudge wrote. "I simply cannot accept such a sweeping attempt to escape moral responsibility." "Dr. Smith expressed opinions ... that were either contrary to, or not supported by, the evidence," Ms. Silver told the hearing Tuesday, reading from an agreed statement of facts. Smith had been in search of his own personal truths. He was born in a Toronto Salvation Army hospital where he was put up for adoption three months later. After years of looking for his biological mother, he called her on her 65th birthday. But she refused to take his call. Smith's adoptive family moved often. His father's job in the Canadian Forces took them throughout Canada and to Germany. He attended high school in Ottawa, and graduated from medical school at the University of Saskatchewan in 1975. --- "Workers found human tissue in disgraced pathologist's office, inquiry told." Tom Blackwell, CanWest News Service Published: Monday, December 17, 2007. TORONTO - A secretary who worked alongside Dr. Charles Smith for years says she found a bag of dried human tissue, a dish containing bones and a child's hospital bracelet during one of her frequent searches of the pathologist's ramshackle office. Maxine Johnson, an administrative co-ordinator at Sick Children's Hospital, told a public inquiry on Monday she once had pictures taken of the chronically messy office to try to prod Smith to keep his quarters neater. It did not work, she said. It was during a 2005 audit of tissue samples requested by the chief coroner's office that Johnson and a colleague made the unusual discoveries in the pathologist's room. "We found some dried-out tissue in plastic bags ... skeletal bones in another little dish," she said. As well, they discovered a bead bracelet of the kind given to young patients at hospital. Court of Appeal Justice Stephen Goudge is leading the inquiry into how the use of faulty forensic pathology evidence by Ontario prosecutors may have led to as many as 13 people being wrongfully convicted of killing children. Johnson also related her attempts to get him to issue reports on surgical cases and autopsies more quickly, as doctors, coroners, police and relatives called incessantly for results. In one case, doctors had waited more than a month for pathology results on a biopsy of a live patient, urgently needed to help determine whether the child should receive radiation treatment. Smith complained to others that he did not have enough secretarial support, but that was not the case, Johnson testified. "We were always available and if Dr. Smith would simply give us the work, we would get (the reports) out," she said. "He loved to type them himself ... He wouldn't give them to us." The consequences of Smith's cluttered existence at the hospital came to the fore as lawyers sought to review what is known at the inquiry as the Valin case. William Mullins-Johnston had been convicted of murdering his niece largely on Smith's evidence. His conviction was overturned last month. Defence lawyers were looking for tissue samples from the case so their pathologist could examine them. They were traced to Smith, but he did not know where they were. Johnson and others set about scouring his office for them, found one on the first day, then another 20 two days later, in the same spot in the office where she had looked earlier. She said Monday she assumed they had been placed there by someone after her first search, something she found "kind of strange." Despite it all, however, Johnson called Smith a "great guy" with whom all the secretaries liked to work. National Post https://www.tapatalk.com//dr-charles-smith-inquiry-t2479.h http:// (DEADLINK) www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html https://www.huffingtonpost.ca//like-a-god-dr-charles-smith https://www.theglobeandmail.com//disgraced-/article578634/ ::: 2019: Ontario coroner getting data for massive analysis of child and youth deaths. TORONTO An Ontario youth court judge has granted the coroner’s office access to justice records that will be reviewed as part of a pilot project looking into thousands of deaths of children and young adults in the province. Chief Coroner Dirk Huyer told Justice Sheilagh O’Connell on Tuesday that more than 7,000 people aged 10 to 24 years old have died in Ontario between 2007 and 2018. He said the project was an effort to better understand the factors at play. It’s very important research, so I commend you for this, O’Connell said as she granted the coroner’s office access to the records. READ MORE: More needs to be done to protect kids in Ontario’s child welfare system, coroner says Huyer said outside court that one area of focus for researchers will be the more than 3,000 children and young people who died due to suicide or gun violence. STORY CONTINUES BELOW: https://globalnews.ca//ontario-coroner-child-youth-deaths/ ::: 2019-2020 ANNUAL REPORT: DEATH AND SERIOUS BODILY HARM.. Children’s aid societies and licensed residential service providers are legally required to inform the Ombudsman’s Office within 48 hours of any death or serious bodily harm of any child who has sought or received services from a children’s aid society within the past 12 months. Because they must be filed within 2 days of the incident, these reports may involve preliminary information and not findings of investigations by the police, child protection authorities or the coroner. From May 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020, we received 1,663 reports about 1,433 incidents (some reports were duplicates, from multiple agencies reporting the same incident). These reports related to 122 deaths and 1,473 cases of serious bodily harm (defined as any situation where a young person requires treatment beyond basic first aid, including for physical, sexual or emotional harm). The Ombudsman will report in more detail on our analysis of these statistics in future reports. TOP CASE TOPICS 1,458 Children’s aid societies 240 Youth justice centres 139 Residential licensees 26 Secure treatment https://www.ombudsman.on.ca//annua/2019-2020-annual-report ::: IS BEING A COMBATANT IN A WAR ZONE SAFER THAN BEING A CHILD IN ONTARIO'S CARE? It is stunning to me how these children... are rendered invisible while they are alive and invisible in their death, said Irwin Elman, Ontario’s advocate for children and youth. Between 90 and 120 children and youth connected to children’s aid die - every year... A TOTAL OF 158 CANADIANS SOLDIERS DIED IN AFGHANISTAN BETWEEN 2002 AND 2011. Canada in Afghanistan - Fallen Canadian Armed Forces Members. One hundred and fifty-eight (158) Canadian Armed Forces members lost their lives in service while participating in our country’s military efforts in Afghanistan. You can click on the names to explore their entries in the Canadian Virtual War Memorial. https://www.veterans.gc.ca//canadian-armed-forces//fallen There are lots of kids in group homes all over Ontario and they are not doing well and everybody knows it, says Kiaras Gharabaghi, a member of a government-appointed panel that examined the residential care system in 2016. ::: 2009: Why did 90 children die? TORONTO - Ontario's advocate for youth and children says it's unacceptable that 90 children known to child protection services died in 2007. Irwin Elman, who was appointed to the post last July, says the 2008 Coroner's report suggests most of these deaths were preventable. Sixteen deaths were accidental, nine were suicides, four were homicides, eight were from natural causes and 22 causes were undetermined. Another 17 deaths are still to be classified and 14 were not considered appropriate by the Coroner for investigation. Where the manner of death is known, 45 per cent of the children who died were under one year of age and 32 per cent were between 12 and 18. In his annual report, Elman says it could be argued that 90 deaths in a small number compared with the 26,260 cases at Children's Aid Societies, but he rejects that, saying the figure is "too high by any standard." Elman says in his report that "blaming some individuals is not helpful" and that society needs to say that it "cannot accept this." https://www.thestar.com//02/23/why_did_90_children_die.html https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ninety-kids-known-to-ont-child-s https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/90-kids-known-to-ontario-s-child- ::: 2013: A CHILD IN CARE IS A CHILD AT RISK. Between 2008/2012 natural causes was listed as the least likely way for a child in Ontario's care to die at 7% (only 15 children) out of the total deaths reviewed while "undetermined cause" was listed as the leading cause of death of children in Ontario's child protection system at 43% (92 children) of the total deaths reviewed over a four year period. The rest of the deaths were categorized as homicide, suicide and accidental. http://www.mcscs.jus.gov.on.ca///2013Report/PDRC_2013.html http://www.mcscs.jus.gov.on.ca//content/mcscs/images/19563 Undetermined means those 92 children had no pre-existing medical conditions and there was no rational reason for them to have died. ::: 2013: The inquest into Jeffrey Baldwin's death was supposed to shed light on the child welfare system and prevent more needless child deaths. Baldwin's inquest jury made 103 recommendations. http://www.cbc.ca//inquest-into-boy-s-death-to-shed-light- Watch: Failing Jeffrey -Aired April 12 2006 on the fifth estate. https://youtu.be/-jF2p_dAYFA ::: 2016: Nearly six months after the inquest into the death of Katelynn Sampson began, jurors delivered another 173 recommendations. https://beta.theglobeandmail.com//inquest/article29798749/ THAT'S 276 OFFICIAL REASONS FOR CONCERN ABOUT CHILDREN IN ONTARIO'S CARE. ::: 2019: SOMETHING STILL STINKS IN THE CORONER'S OFFICE... Christie Blatchford: 'Bullying' Ontario chief forensic pathologist accused of interfering with cases. Dr. Jane Turner, who worked almost two years at the Hamilton Regional Forensic Pathology Unit, made the allegations in a letter to the Solicitor General Dr. Michael Pollanen, Chief Forensic Pathologist for Ontario. "No one is allowed to challenge his views." a former colleague says.Geoff Robins/Postmedia/File. In a case that parallels a scathing judge’s decision about Ontario’s chief forensic pathologist two years ago, Dr. Michael Pollanen has been accused of interfering in the work of the province’s other forensic pathologists, pressing them to change their findings in suspicious deaths and undermining those who disagree with him. Dr. Jane Turner, a forensic pathologist who worked for almost two years at the Hamilton Regional Forensic Pathology Unit and is now working as a consultant in St. Louis, Mo., made the allegations in an Aug. 12 letter to Ontario Solicitor General Sylvia Jones. My complaint against Dr. Pollanen is not that I am always right and Dr. Pollanen is always wrong, but rather that his interference, bullying and insistence on compliance threaten the integrity of the system of death investigation, Turner told Jones. No one is allowed to challenge his views. READ MORE HERE: https://nationalpost.com//christie-blatchford-bullying-ont ::: IS THE POT CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK?? Coroner’s panel calls for overhaul of Ontario child protection system. By LAURIE MONSEBRAATEN Social Justice Reporter SANDRO CONTENTA Feature Writer Tues., Sept. 25, 2018 Vulnerable children are being warehoused and forgotten. A scathing report from Ontario’s coroner presses the provincial government to reform a child protection system that repeatedly failed youths who died while in care for decades. The report describes a fragmented system with no means of monitoring quality of care, where ministry oversight is inadequate, caregivers lack training, and children are poorly supervised. https://www.thestar.com//coroners-panel-calls-for-overhaul ::: 2019: Ontario's chief coroner reviewing 132 cases where coroners investigated the deaths of former patients. The potential conflicts of interest were not declared in 95 per cent of those cases despite established policy, according to a nearly 60-page section of the Ontario auditor general's annual report released last week. "These cases are concerning because there is a risk that the truth about a death will not come to light if the physician's treatment decisions while the patient was alive could have contributed to the patient's death," according to the report. https://www.cbc.ca//ontario-s-chief-coroner-reviewing-132- ::: 2011: Death and Taxes: The Coroner's Inquest System Can't Change or Won't Change?. It is shameful that the Coroner's Office is so poorly set up. There is a demand for it to change from an institution that has none of the hallmarks of public accountability to a body that responds to the needs of 21st-century Ontario. https://www.huffingtonpost.ca//coroners-inquests-ontario_b ::: 2020: NDP call on ombudsman to launch ‘emergency’ investigation into child welfare deaths. https://www.aptnnews.ca//ndp-call-on-ombudsman-to-launch-/ ::: 2020: 11 Indigenous children died in last four months connected to Ontario’s child welfare system. https://www.aptnnews.ca//11-indigenous-children-died-in-l/ ::: 2019: Global News is reporting that an Ontario county Children’s Aid Society failed to detect or act on the systemic abuses of countless vulnerable children in "several" foster care homes over a span of 8 years. Teen ‘sexual cult’ in Ontario foster home known to Children’s Aid Society, victim says. https://globalnews.ca//teen-sexual-cult-ontario-foster-ho/ https://nypost.com//childrens-aid-society-in-canada-turne/ ::: Ford's conservatives shut down 27 ongoing foster home investigations with the closure of the Child Advocate's Office. 2018 - Stalling Tactics: The Ontario government announced in its fall economic statement Thursday afternoon that it would be closing the child advocate office, moving its responsibilities to an expanded Ombudsman's office, one of several cuts announced by a government that has said Ontario faces a $14.5-billion deficit. Nov 16, 2018. https://www.cbc.ca//child-advocate-office-closes-jobs-1.50 ::: 2019: Ontario deficit sits at $7.4-billion, half of what Premier Doug Ford originally claimed. https://www.theglobeandmail.com//article-ontario-deficit-/ https://www.cbc.ca//toron/ontario-deficit-update-1.5282527 https://financialpost.com//doug-fords-ontario-government-s ::: DEFINITION of 'Protected Cell Company (PCC)' A corporate structure in which a single legal entity is comprised of a core and several cells that have separate assets and liabilities. The protected cell company, or PCC, has a similar design to a hub and spoke, with the central core organization linked to individual cells. Each cell is independent of each other and of the company’s core, but the entire unit is still a single legal entity. The basic principle behind cell organization is simple: By dividing the greater organization into many multi-person groups and compartmentalizing and concealing information inside each cell as needed, the greater organization is more likely to survive unchanged if one of its components is compromised and as such, they are remarkably difficult to penetrate and hold accountable in the same way the mafia families, terrorist organizations and the children's aid societies of Ontario are. ::: 2016: Frontline worker Nancy Simone, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees local representing 275 workers at the Catholic Children’s Aid Society of Toronto, argues child protection workers already have levels of oversight that include workplace supervisors, family courts, coroners’ inquests and annual case audits by the ministry. Our work is already regulated to death. https://www.waterloochronicle.ca//6437856-children-s-aid-/ http://thecaribbeancamera.com/training-for-childrens-aid-s/ https://www.thestar.com//childrens-aid-societies-launch-ma The Special Investigations Unit is the civilian oversight agency responsible for investigating circumstances involving police (but not unregulated CAS workers with law enforcement powers even the police don't have) that have resulted in a death, serious injury, or allegations of sexual assault of a civilian in Ontario, Canada. https://www.siu.on.ca/en/index.php ::: Corporatism: Fascism's theory of economic corporatism involved management of sectors of the economy by government or privately-controlled organizations (corporations). Each trade union or employer corporation would theoretically represent its professional concerns, especially by negotiation of labor contracts and the like. Marketization of law making is a process that enables the elites to operate as market oriented firms by changing the legal environment in which they operate in, in the best interest of the child according to a bunch of sociopathic child poaching funding predators... One of the 14 characteristics of fascism is - Corporate Power is Protected. The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite. The people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights and procedural protections can be ignored in certain cases because of special need. When the people who have power in our society can have an influence in law making, the laws that get created will not maintain the appearance of equality and the elites in society can lobby and eventually criminalize the poor. The laws will start to benefit the big corporations (elites). This is well illustrated in Stan Cohen’s concept of the moral panic. A moral panic refers to the reaction of a group within society (elite) to the activities of a non elite group. The targeted group is seen as a threat to society also referred to as the folk devil. Here we can see here how child welfare law is not applied equally to everyone. In this particular instance the child welfare law is benefiting the people with means. The lawyers themselves. Comack states; While the pivotal point in the rule of law is ‘equality of all before the law’, the provision of formal equality in the legal sphere does not extend to the economic sphere. Thus, the law maintains only the appearance of equality because, it never calls into question the unequal and exploitative relationship between capital and labour. This statement implies that the law is in place to be neutral. Therefore, the law would apply equally to everyone, including both the working and elite class. It can be said that in today’s society we have the marketization of law making. The current hierarchical corporate structures that dominate our economies have been in place for over 200 years and were notably supported and defined by Max Weber during the 1800s. Even though Weber was considered a champion of bureaucracy, he understood and articulated the dangers of bureaucratic organisations as stifling, impersonal, formal, protectionist and a threat to individual freedom, equality and cultural vitality. ::: 2019: Ontario is using a new law to retroactively dismiss lawsuits it lost. Ontario Premier Doug Ford's government is arguing that under a new law called the Crown Liability and Proceedings Act, which came into law on July 1, the suits should be thrown out. And it is using the law retroactively. https://www.cbc.ca//ontario-is-using-a-new-law-to-retroact. ::: 2017: Youth homelessness linked to foster care system in new study. The study, to be released Wednesday, found nearly three out of every five homeless youth were part of the child welfare system at some point in their lives, a rate almost 200 times greater than that of the general population. Of those with a history in the child welfare system, almost two of every five respondents eventually "aged out" of provincial or territorial care, losing access to the sort of support that could have kept them from becoming homeless, the study found. https://www.cbc.ca//h/homeless-youth-foster-care-1.4240121 ::: 2019: Ontario 'pauses' homelessness count citing gaps and limitations in data.. TORONTO -- A program aimed at measuring homelessness in Ontario has been put on hold by Premier Doug Ford's government, raising concerns that lack of access to data could prevent some municipalities from addressing the problem. The enumeration was launched by the former Liberal government in 2018 as part of a broader strategy to eliminate chronic homelessness in Ontario by 2025. The Liberals issued a ministerial directive making the count mandatory for municipal housing service managers. But in a recent letter to those managers, a top civil servant with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing said the government recognizes some things have changed since last year, including the fact that some communities are using real-time data to track homelessness. https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-pauses-homelessness-coun ::: 2009: Open child-death files: NDP. Queen's Park is "stonewalling" the provincial child advocate in his bid to get more information about 90 children in Ontario's child welfare system who died in 2007, says New Democratic Party Leader Howard Hampton. "We are talking about children under the control of children's aid societies. These are troubled children, vulnerable children who are dying," Hampton said in the wake of Irwin Elman's annual report to the Legislature yesterday, which highlighted the deaths. "As he says in his report, the government is stonewalling him, making it difficult for him to do his job," Hampton said. Elman, who became the province's first (and last) independent child advocate last summer, said the government's refusal to share detailed information about the deaths with his office limits his ability to act. "I'm not talking about doing investigations," he said yesterday. "I'm talking about having the information about my children and youth so I know what's going on with them." He said he will "vigorously pursue" the issue by proposing an amendment to the provincial Coroner's Act to give him full access to all reports concerning the death of children and youth involved in the child welfare system. In his report, Elman notes that the 90 deaths represent less than a quarter of all children who died in the province in 2007 and are a fraction of the 26,260 open cases of children's aid societies. But the number of deaths is "too high by any standard." A sombre Premier Dalton McGuinty said the deaths are "troubling." https://www.thestar.com//02/24/open_childdeath_files_ndp.h ::: Ontario portrayed as pedophile paradise in U.S. ruse to capture predators. A controversial website set up by the Department of Homeland Security promoted the bogus firm Precious Treasure Holiday Co., which promised to arrange illegal encounters in Ontario for pedophiles. A pamphlet that came with the website offered one night hotel accommodations in Canada and travel under the guise of boyfriend and girlfriend going to gamble at casino. The pamphlet said transportation to Cleveland, meals and condoms, lube, etc. . . were not included in the travel package. But it was the use of Canada as a safe haven for sex tourism that raised questions about how the country was portrayed in the sting. Canada made for a more plausible scenario, Brian Moskowitz, the special agent in charge of the investigation, told Postmedia News shortly after the indictments were announced. https://nationalpost.com//ontario-portrayed-as-pedophile-p ::: 2020: TORONTO -- Ontario's child welfare system will be redesigned to focus on prevention and early intervention, the provincial government said Wednesday. "Child welfare should not be the system that is feared," Dunlop said in a news conference. "No one should be scared to lose their children for speaking to a children's aid society." Associate Minister of Children and Women's Issues Jill Dunlop said the new strategy will also work to address the over-representation of Black and Indigenous families in the children's aid system. She said children and youth in care experience worse outcomes than those in a family setting, including lower graduation rates, a higher risk of homelessness and more involvement with the justice system. https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-plans-to-redesign-child- ::: What’s the difference between psychologist, psychological associate, registered psychotherapist, social worker, psychiatrist, therapist, counsellor and a child protection worker? Some child protection workers have qualifications or minimal qualifications in social work but refuse to register or be accountable to anyone other than the ministry that holds the purse strings.. Should unregistered child protection workers with social worker qualifications have the same privilege registered social workers have? Social Workers are registered with the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers. They have a Bachelor degree in Social Work. Social Workers provide assessment and psychotherapy to clients. They have knowledge of diagnostic criteria, and evidence-based treatments for mental health conditions. Social Workers often play an integral role in assessment and diagnosis under supervision of Psychologists and/or Psychiatrists. Often, Social Workers have a special interest in how individuals are impacted upon by society and factors such as discrimination. http://www.hamiltonpsych.ca/faq.html. In the US: https://www.humanservicesedu.org/lcswvspsychologist.html 2017: Under suspicion: Concerns about child welfare (OHRC) Racial profiling is an insidious and particularly damaging type of racial discrimination that relates to notions of safety and security. Racial profiling violates people’s rights under the Ontario Human Rights Code (Code). People from many different communities experience racial profiling. However, it is often directed at First Nations, Métis, Inuit and other Indigenous peoples, Muslims, Arabs, West Asians and Black people, and is often influenced by the negative stereotypes that people in these communities face. http://www.ohrc.on.ca//Under%20suspicion_research%20and%20 In 2015, the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) began a year-long consultation to learn more about the nature of racial profiling in Ontario. Our aim was to gather information to help us guide organizations, individuals and communities on how to identify, address and prevent racial profiling. We connected with people and organizations representing diverse perspectives. We conducted an online survey, analyzed cases (called applications) at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario that alleged racial profiling, held a policy dialogue consultation, and reviewed academic research. We conducted focus groups with Indigenous peoples and received written submissions. Overall, almost 1,650 individuals and organizations told us about their experiences or understanding of racial profiling in Ontario. We heard concerns about racial profiling in the child welfare sector, particularly affecting Black and Indigenous families. We heard that systemic racism was perceived to be embedded in this system, and that racial profiling that may take place in this sector targets mothers for over-scrutiny most often. We heard concerns that racialized and Indigenous parents are disproportionately subjected to surveillance and scrutiny, which contributes to families being reported to children’s aid societies (CASs). We also heard that once a referral to child welfare authorities takes place, families are more likely to have prolonged child welfare involvement, and be more at risk of having their children apprehended. Consultation participants suggested these experiences arise in part from referrers’ and child welfare authorities’ incorrect assumptions about risk based on race and related grounds, and intersections between these grounds and poverty. http://www.ohrc.on.ca//under-suspicion-concerns-about-chil :::

Canada: It Has Gotten A Lot Harder To Sue The Ontario Government. 10 June 2019. by Kenneth A. Dekker. Affleck Greene McMurtry LLP. A key value in any free and d...emocratic society is the principle that no one is above the law. In democracies, even the government can be required by the Courts to pay compensation to persons harmed by negligent or intentional government actions. However, thanks to the Crown Liability and Proceedings Act, 2019, which was buried in the Ontario budget bill passed in April, it has just gotten a lot harder for individuals and corporations to sue the Ontario government, government employees and government officials when their negligence or misfeasance has caused harm. https://www.mondaq.com//it-has-gotten-a-lot-harder-to-sue- https://www.cbc.ca//ford-government-mandate-letters-court- ::: 2020: TORONTO -- Ontario lawmakers approved a bill on Wednesday that sets a higher bar for class action suits, and experts say it will be harder for consumers to sue businesses. "Because the test is more challenging now, many cases will get dropped. Businesses could likely defeat them," says Toronto lawyer Margaret Waddell. "Now if a company acts badly, that behaviour will go unchecked -- and consumers won't have remedy for the harms they suffered." Currently, a judge must approve or "certify" that a class action meets minimum legal requirements for it to proceed. Under the new law, judges would have to consider stricter guidelines before permitting a group to sue a company. That means businesses could successfully bat away more potential lawsuits before they go forward, Waddell says. The new standard, similar to what is used in the U.S., is not easy for the average consumer to meet. Successful class actions on residential schools, environmental tragedies such as the E. coli outbreak in Walkerton, Ont. and tainted blood would not have made it past this new test, the Law Commission of Ontario has estimated. https://www.insauga.com/new-ontario-law-makes-it-harder-to- ::: 2019: TORONTO -- A new law enacted in Ontario in July makes it harder to take class action lawsuits against the Ontario government, according to legal critics. The provincial government is asking the courts to throw out at least eight such cases against it under the Crown Liability and Proceedings Act. There has always been a law which allows us to sue the government, lawyer Ari Singer told CTV’s Your Morning. https://www.ctvnews.ca//legal-critics-claim-new-ont-law-ma. ::: 2020: Ford government's fight to keep its mandate letters secret heard at Ontario Divisional Court. Ford refused to comment on his government's actions when asked about it during a Friday news conference, saying he couldn't because the matter is before the courts. Intervenor groups in the case say the government's argument amounts to a radical re-interpretation of the FIPPA exemption posing a threat to the public's right to know that goes beyond access to mandate letters. Intervenor group says government’s argument poses threat to public’s right to know. Ford's senior officials hope to keep mandate letters away from public view 'as long as possible.' The Ontario government took its nearly two year fight to keep Premier Doug Ford's mandate letters secret to Divisional Court Thursday after it was ordered to disclose the records by the province's information and privacy commissioner (IPC) last summer. Mandate letters traditionally lay out a checklist of expectations a premier has for each of his or her cabinet ministers after taking office and have been routinely made public by governments across the country. But in a virtual judicial review hearing Thursday, counsel for the government argued that all 23 of the premier's mandate letters should not be released to CBC News to maintain cabinet secrecy. They told the three-judge panel that Ford provided the letters to the ministers at a cabinet meeting so it's reasonable to infer the records were discussed. Ontario's Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) states that any records that "would reveal the substance of deliberations of the executive council or its committee" are exempt from disclosure. Ford's senior officials hoped to keep mandate letters away from public view 'as long as possible' https://www.cbc.ca//ford-s-senior-officials-hoped-to-keep- https://www.cbc.ca//ford-government-s-fight-to-keep-its-ma ::: 2020: Mandate letters traditionally lay out the marching orders a premier has for each of his or her cabinet ministers after taking office and have been routinely made public by governments across the country. Since the province first denied freedom of information request from CBC News for the records in August 2018, the government has argued that releasing the roughly 150 pages of records would reveal the substance of cabinet deliberations. "They got slapped down by the privacy commissioner himself, they got slapped down by the Divisional Court, now they're going to the Court of Appeal," said James Turk. But Ford's government is now seeking leave to argue the case in a higher court to prevent its letters from becoming public. It's a surprising and "bizarre" move, according to the director of the Centre for Free Expression at Ryerson University. "It's a total waste of taxpayers' money, but apart from that, it's a total denial of the kind of transparency that's necessary in a democracy." Government's case dismissed by 3-judge panel In late August, a three-judge panel ruled that Ontario's information and privacy commissioner's (IPC) original decision ordering Ford's government to disclose its mandate letters to CBC News was reasonable and dismissed the judicial review. "The Attorney General's submission amounts to no more than an invitation for this Court to re-weigh the evidence and overturn the findings of the IPC with which the Cabinet Office disagrees," said Justice Michael Penny in the Aug. 27 decision. https://www.cbc.ca//ford-government-mandate-letters-court- ::: 2018: Report of the Motherisk Commission. "Most of the parents who were tested were powerless to resist. They told us they submitted to the testing under duress, in fear of losing custody of or access to their children. In some of the cases we reviewed, parents were told explicitly that this would be the consequence if they did not submit to testing." Judith C. Beaman Commissioner Disclosure The Family Rules Committee should amend the Family Law Rules to require children’s aid societies to provide automatic, ongoing, thorough and timely disclosure to parents. Ensuring the Reliability of Expert Evidence: Bodily samples The Ministry of Children and Youth Services should direct children’s aid societies to ensure that all child protection workers meet the requirements for obtaining valid written consent, in accordance with s 4(2) of the Child and Family Services Act (s 21(2) of the Child, Youth and Family Services Act), in every situation where a parent is asked to provide a bodily sample. The directive should require workers to document the steps they took to obtain consent and should require workers to obtain confirmation signed by the parent acknowledging that the requirements for valid consent were met. The Ontario government should amend the Child, Youth and Family Services Act to: A) require courts to exclude evidence of tests of parents’ bodily samples unless the court is satisfied that the parent provided valid consent, or that the sample was obtained by order under the Act. The only exception should be situations where the introduction of the evidence is critical to protecting a child’s immediate safety. The provision should require the court to consider the parent’s right to privacy and security of the person before making this exception; B) prohibit courts from admitting evidence of a person’s failure or refusal to voluntarily provide a bodily sample for testing where the evidence is being introduced in order to demonstrate that the person is less worthy of belief, is or has been engaging in substance use, or is being uncooperative; and C) provide specific criteria for judicial orders that require a person to provide a bodily sample, with those criteria relating to the safety of a child. https://youtu.be/WIJqYz91ceU Temporary proceedings Children's aid societies and courts often drew negative inferences about parents who didn't submit to testing or who disputed the results, she said. The tests were often used as a proxy for assessing parenting and the results were regularly admitted into evidence without the usual checks and balances, she said. Judith C. Beaman Commissioner The Family Rules Committee should amend the Family Law Rules to require courts to assess the necessity for and reliability of any expert evidence through a voir dire before admitting that expert’s report into evidence on any motion in a child protection proceeding, except at the first appearance. Deviation from this requirement should only be permitted where the parent expressly acknowledges to the court that the findings of the expert are correct and the court is satisfied that the parent adequately understands the expert opinion and the consequences of such an acknowledgement. The Ontario government should amend the Child, Youth and Family Services Act to prohibit the admission of hearsay evidence of expert opinion, including test results and the interpretation of those results, at any stage of a child protection proceeding other than the first appearance. Deviation from this requirement should only be permitted where the parent expressly acknowledges to the court that the findings of the expert are correct and the court is satisfied that the parent adequately understands the expert opinion and the consequences of such an acknowledgement. https://youtu.be/3POTUUN2tXU Information for parents The Ministry of Children and Youth Services should fund the development of a comprehensive, plain-language guide on the child protection system for parents who are involved with a children’s aid society. The Ministry should require that societies provide a copy of this guide to all parents at the time of their first interaction with them. Summary judgment motions The Family Rules Committee should amend the Family Law Rule relating to summary judgment motions to A) permit only evidence that would be admissible at trial, and in particular, to prohibit hearsay evidence that does not meet the common law tests for admissibility; B) require all expert evidence tendered at a summary judgment motion to comply with the Rule regarding experts and expert reports (as amended by these Recommendations); require the court to conduct a voir dire before admitting any expert evidence; and C) permit deviation from these requirements only where the parent expressly acknowledges to the court that the findings of the expert are correct and the court is satisfied that the parent adequately understands the expert opinion and the consequences of such an acknowledgement. "The testing was imposed on parents and other caregivers who were among the poorest and most vulnerable members of our society. There was scant regard for due process or their rights to privacy and bodily integrity," she said in a news conference. Judith C. Beaman Commissioner Accessibility of Legal Aid funds Legal Aid Ontario should A) in authorizing disbursements to parents’ counsel related to expert evidence, consider the complexity of child protection cases and the miscarriages of justice that could result from failing to vigorously challenge expert evidence; B) expand its Big Case Management program to child protection cases; and C) expand its Complex Case Rate policy to child protection counsel. The Ministry of the Attorney General should ensure that the total funding available to Legal Aid Ontario is sufficient to enable the Recommendations in this Report to be implemented. Child welfare education for self proclaimed child protection social workers.. All social work schools in Ontario that do not already do so should offer a specialized child welfare program, which should include placements in children’s aid societies or related agencies serving parents and children. These programs should be developed with the input of parents and youth who have experience with the child welfare system. Social work schools should also ensure that their students are taught about the legal framework and social context for child protection work, including training on systemic racism. https://www.cbc.ca//ford-government-mandate-letters-court- SEEMS TO ME THREE RECOMMENDATIONS HAVE BEEN OVERLOOKED.. ETHICAL AND JUDICIAL OVERSIGHT... NO RECOMMENDATION FOR WORKERS TO BE REGISTERED WITH THE COLLEGE OF SOCIAL WORK AND NO JUDICIAL OVERSIGHT TO PREVENT WORKERS FROM CREATING FILES AND SEARCHING HOMES JUST TO MEET THEIR FUNDING GOALS.. https://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca//about/pubs/mot/ 2018: Anonymous reporting not guaranteed: Ontario has no privacy protection for people who report child abuse B.C. woman 'disheartened' after learning agency had right to disclose her identity to tenant she reported and the parents had the right to face their accusor. Despite giving individuals the option to report anonymously, there is nothing in provincial legislation that requires children's aid societies to protect the anonymity of people who report possible child abuse or neglect. A social worker from B.C. is calling for legislative change since discovering an Ontario children's aid society was allowed to disclose her identity after she'd reported a concern anonymously. Despite giving individuals the option to report anonymously, there is nothing in provincial legislation that requires children's aid societies to protect the anonymity of people who report possible child abuse or neglect. Dawn Slykhuis learned that the hard way. Ottawa eyes streamlined centre for child abuse investigations 6 months of silence from Sudbury CAS after privacy breach sees judge suspended She has a rental home in Barrie, and two months ago while Slykhuis was in the process of evicting her tenant she was told by her property manager that there were drugs in the home and in reach of children. Anyone who is aware of possible child abuse or neglect has a legal duty to report it. And as a social worker Slykhuis knew that she would, even though it could make her "messy eviction even messier." Turns out it did, Slykhuis told CBC Toronto. I reiterated several times that it's really important that I stay anonymous. - Dawn Slykhuis Slykhuis phoned the local children's aid society, Simcoe Muskoka Family Connexions, and had to leave her name and number with a call centre so a child protection worker could call her back to take the report. However, she says she made it clear she didn't want to be named. "I reiterated several times that it's really important that I stay anonymous," Slykhuis told CBC Toronto. "At no point did they say that I wouldn't." Three days later, she was shocked to receive a text message from her tenant about the report she'd filed. The B.C. woman called the children's aid society and says she was told the tenant had indeed been informed the complaint originated in B.C. "Her landlord who's evicting her is in British Columbia, she put two and two together and that revealed my identity," said Slykhuis. Harassment after reporting Slykhuis says since then her tenant has been evicted but she says the tenant is refusing to pay back roughly $10,000 in rent she had promised before she found out Slykhuis had reported her. "The house was in very, very poor condition, you could call it trashed," said Slykhuis. "What's worse is she's taken to harassing the new tenants, my family, myself threatening all of it she relates back to me phoning child protection." Even if a child protection worker hadn't told Slykhuis's tenant the call came from B.C., Slykhuis says the children's aid society later told her that her identity would have been revealed if the tenant requested to view her file. Two months ago Dawn Slykhuis was in the process of evicting her tenant when she was told by her property manager that there were drugs in the Barrie home and in reach of children. (Submitted by Dawn Slykhuis) Simcoe Muskoka Family Connexions would not comment on Slykhuis's case specifically, but responded generally to reporting concerns about anonymity. In an email, the agency told CBC Toronto, "confidentiality cannot be explicitly assured when making a referral if the person making the call has disclosed their identifying information." But the email also said Simcoe Muskoka Family Connexions does "adhere whenever possible to concerns about being identified that are relayed when making a report." Slykhuis says she was "so disheartened" when she found out her identity could be revealed. "The most important people in ensuring the safety of children in Ontario are the people reporting the abuse," she said. "Those are the people providing the necessary information for children's aid to do their investigations. And if they're not protected, they're not going to call." The most important people in ensuring the safety of children in Ontario are the people reporting the abuse. - Dawn Slykhuis On the Simcoe Muskoka Family Connexions online reporting page there is an option to click "yes" to report anonymously. The agency acknowledged that "in practice" they ask a person reporting whether "they are open to being identified" in their online form and "when speaking with an intake screener." And Simcoe Muskoka Family Connexions isn't the only agency offering anonymity as an option in reporting child abuse. No provincial protection The Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies says "you can report anonymously" on the "how to report abuse" page of its website. In an email statement, a Ministry of Children and Youth Services spokesperson told CBC Toronto that in Ontario "children's aid societies are independent entities that deliver child protection services in their communities." Children's aid societies "are expected to have policies that comply with Ontario's Case Information Disclosure Policy," but that policy "does not provide a specific approach to preserving the anonymity of individuals who report possible child abuse or neglect." Simcoe Muskoka Family Connexions told CBC Toronto that the Child, Youth and Family Services Act "does not include any provisions that address anonymity and/or privacy for the individual who makes a referral." No privacy oversight until 2020 Slykhuis also contacted Ontario's privacy commissioner to try to file a complaint about what she considers a breach of her privacy. But it turns out the section of the Child, Youth and Family Services Act that deals with the collection, use and disclosure of personal information doesn't fall under the oversight of the privacy commissioner. And it won't until Jan. 1, 2020. "I don't even know what that's going to look like, or if it's going to cover people who report abuse." said Slykhuis. "But that still means we have two more years where people who report child abuse will continue to be put at risk." In the meantime, her only recourse is filing a complaint with Simcoe Muskoka Family Connexions. The children's aid society also addressed the changes coming in 2020. In a statement, it told CBC Toronto that the Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies and children's aid societies "are currently reviewing whether these provisions will cover professionals and the public who make referrals." (Just how registered are professionals who work closely with the society if the society can keep who they are a secret.? I think parents have a right to check the records for any complaints made against any registered or licensed professionals who are making a complaint to the CAS... https://www.thestar.com//bad_teachers_ontarios_secret_list) More generally, Slykhuis would like to see Ontario children's aid societies remove information about being able to report anonymously from their websites. "If I had known I couldn't report anonymously I may have given someone else's number or mailed in a complaint done more to protect my identity," she said. "I thought I'd done enough." ABOUT THE AUTHOR Nicole Brockbank Reporter, CBC Toronto Nicole Brockbank is a reporter for CBC Toronto's Enterprise Unit. Fuelled by coffee, she digs up, researches and writes original investigative and feature stories. [email protected] https://www.cbc.ca//anonymous-reporting-child-abuse-in-ont https://www.cbc.ca//ford-government-mandate-letters-court- ::: "As of January 1, 2020 FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER IN ONTARIO, if you or your family have BEEN DRAGGED THROUGH THE FAMILY COURTS AND NOT received help or support from a Children’s Aid Society, group home, or other child and family service provider in Ontario, you have the right to see and ask for corrections to your personal information in your file... ISN'T THAT NICE OF THEM? ...You can ask to see and get a copy of your personal information in your file. It includes information about your history, your health or notes from talks you’ve had with a social worker or other professional. Your service provider must help you get this information if you ask." REQUEST YOUR FILE TODAY! Get informed, you have rights! - Why weren't clients and suspected clients allowed to see their files? Former Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian wrote: I am disheartened by the complete lack of action to ensure transparency and accountability by these organizations that received significant public funding. As part of the modernization of the Acts, I call on the government to finally address this glaring omission and ensure that Children’s Aid Societies are added to the list of institutions covered. The only oversight for the province’s children’s aid agencies comes from Ontario’s Ministry of Children and Youth Services. "As the law stands now clients of the Ontario Children's Aid Society under Wynne's liberals are routinely denied a timely (often heavily censored) file disclosure before the court begins making decisions and the clients can not request files/disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act nor can censored information reviewed by the Privacy Commissioner of Ontario or the federal counter-part." In her 2004 annual report, which was released on June 22, 2005, the Commissioner called for amendments that would bring virtually all organizations that are primarily funded by government dollars under FOI for the purposes of transparency and accountability: This would include the various children’s aid agencies in the Province of Ontario. Many parents and families complain about how difficult it is, if not impossible, to obtain information from children’s aid agencies. Many citizens complain that CAS agencies appear to operate under a veil of secrecy. Unlicensed and untrained CAS workers are making decisions which are literally destroying families, yet there is little or no accountability for their actions short of a lawsuit AFTER THE DAMAGE TO THE CHILD AND FAMILY HAS BEEN DONE. Hundreds of organizations that are recipients of large transfer payments from the government are not subject to the provincial or municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Acts, said the Commissioner, which means they are not subject to public scrutiny. Among the examples she cites are hospitals and Children’s Aid Societies. Openness and transparency of all publicly funded bodies is essential they should be publicly accountable. In her annual report for 2013 released on June 17 there is just one paragraph on children's aid on page 12: In my 2004, 2009, and 2012 Annual Reports I recommended that Children’s Aid Societies, which provide services for some of our most vulnerable citizens children and youth in government care, be brought under FIPPA. I am disheartened by the complete lack of action to ensure transparency and accountability by these organizations that received significant public funding. As part of the modernization of the Acts, I call on the government to finally address this glaring omission and ensure that Children’s Aid Societies are added to the list of institutions covered. The Information and Privacy Commissioner is appointed by and reports to the Ontario Legislative Assembly, and is independent of the government of the day. The Commissioner's mandate includes overseeing the access and privacy provisions of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, and the Personal Health Information Protection Act, and commenting on other access and privacy issues. http://www.theglobeandmail.com//beef-up-in/article1120573/ http://www.newswire.ca//commissioner-cavoukian-calls-on-go The harshest tyranny is that which acts under the protection of legality and the banner of justice.. Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. ::: Your Right to Complain to a Children’s Aid Society (and no one else so it becomes a matter for union arbitration should their employer find discipline justified) WHAT PROTECTIONS DO INVOLUNTARY CLIENTS OF ONTARIO'S CHILDREN'S AID SOCIETIES HAVE BEHIND ALL THE CLOSED DOORS? If you have a question or concern about services from a children’s aid society, you can talk to the unregistered worker who is helping you, the worker’s unregistered supervisor, or someone else at the society. If you do not want to first speak to them or if speaking to your worker or others at the society does not answer your questions, you have the right to start a formal process to complain to the society. Societies are required, by law, to establish an Internal Complaints Review Panel to review formal complaints submitted in writing who will totally deny any wrongdoing by their workers or themselves. IS THERE ANY REASON TO TRUST THE MANY FACES OF A SOCIETY SHROUDED IN SECRECY AND THEIR ALL INTERNAL COMPLAINT PROCESSES? https://stepstojustice.ca//how-do-i-complain-about-childre https://www.thestar.com//in_leaked_memo_peel_cas_staff_ask ::: 2019: Access and Privacy Under Ontario’s Child and Family Services Law. On January 1, 2020, Part X of the Child, Youth, and Family Services Act comes into force, creating a new access and privacy framework for Ontario’s child and family services sector. The Information and Privacy Commissioner will oversee these new rules for the collection, use and disclosure of personal information. To raise awareness of access and privacy rights among, children, youth and families, the IPC has prepared a brochure, poster and quick reference card. In the coming months, we’ll continue to update our website with additional materials for youth and answers to frequently asked questions. If you have not done so, check out our resources for service providers. These include a guide to Part X, a guide to tracking and submitting annual statistics to the IPC and reporting privacy breaches to the IPC. Your first annual statistics report is due to the IPC on March 2021, so it is essential that you begin your tracking program as soon as Part X takes effect in January 2020. Starting January 1, 2020, if you or your family have received help or support from a children’s aid society, group home, or other child and family service provider in Ontario, you have the right to see and ask for corrections to your personal information in your file. Under Ontario’s child and family services law, service providers must let you know how your personal information will be used and tell you how they might share it. They must also make sure any personal information they get from you stays private and let you know if it has been lost, shared, stolen or viewed when it shouldn’t be. Click Here For It’s About You Brochure https://www.payukotayno.ca//2019-its-about-you-brochure-we https://www.payukotayno.ca/access-and-privacy-under-ontari/ https://www.cbc.ca//ford-government-mandate-letters-court- ::: Are You Ready for the New Privacy Scheme under the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017? September 24, 2019 5 min read By: Jordan D. Simon. "The Children's Aid Society will provide non-identifying information from our records to qualifying adult adopted persons, adoptive parents, birth parents, birth grandparents, birth siblings, birth aunts/uncles as well as to former Crown Wards." The new Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017 (Act) which largely came into force on April 30, 2018 constituted a significant overhaul of the legislative and regulatory framework for children’s services. One of the key changes is the introduction of a detailed legislative privacy scheme to regulate the handling of personal information of individuals receiving or participating in the provision of services governed by the Act. These provisions are due to come into force on January 1, 2020. Learn more in this edition of Reaching Out. Overview of Changes Relating to Privacy The provisions set out new rules as to when personal information can be collected, used and disclosed, with or without consent of an individual or their substitute decision-maker, including disclosures without consent between Children’s Aid Societies. There are also express provisions for the disclosure of personal information to the Ministry of Children and Youth Services to permit it to exercise its oversight functions. The legislation is modelled on provisions in the Personal Health Information and Protection Act, 2004. Collection, Use and Disclosure of Personal Information The Act creates specific rules as to when clients’ personal information can be collected, used and shared. Specifically, with the exception of personal information that is required to be collected, used or disclosed by law, the collection, use and disclosure of an individual’s personal information from the person to whom the information pertains will only be permitted if: consent is provided the collection, use or disclosure is necessary for a lawful purpose other information is not available that will serve the purpose of that collection, use or disclosure; and the collection, use or disclosure is limited to what is reasonably necessary There are some exceptions to the rules surrounding collection. Service providers may collect personal information without consent if it is reasonably necessary for the provision of a service and obtaining consent is not reasonably possible or, if collection is reasonably necessary to assess, reduce or eliminate the risk of serious harm to a person or a group of persons. Exceptions to the Requirement for Consent The Act also sets out certain exceptions to the requirement of consent when personal information is shared or disclosed. Personal information may be disclosed without consent in the following circumstances: to law enforcement to aid an investigation to a proposed litigation guardian for the purposes of contacting a relative or potential substitute decision-maker if the individual is injured, incapacitated, otherwise not capable or deceased if it is necessary to assess, reduce or eliminate risk of serious harm to a person or group of persons; or to another Children’s Aid Society or child welfare authority. Collection of Personal Information from a Third Party The Act outlines rules regarding the collection of an individual’s personal information from a source that is not the person to whom the information pertains. Indirect collection of personal information is permitted if the individual to whom the information relates consents. In the absence of consent, indirect collection is permitted where: the collection is necessary to assess, reduce or eliminate a risk of serious harm to a person or a group of persons and it is not reasonably possible to collect the information directly from the individual to whom it relates the collection is by a Children’s Aid Society from another Children’s Aid Society or a child welfare agency outside Ontario and the information is reasonably necessary to assess, reduce or eliminate a risk of harm to a child it is authorized by the Information and Privacy Commissioner, or it is required by law. Right to Access Personal Information The new provisions of the Act will provide clients with the right to request access to their records of personal information in addition to the right to request that their information be corrected. Additional Requirements There are additional requirements in the Act regarding the protection of clients’ personal information and the need to ensure that information is accurate and up-to-date. This includes an obligation to ensure that personal information is protected against theft, loss and unauthorized access. Further, in the event that personal information is stolen, lost, used or disclosed without authority, service providers are obligated to notify the affected individual at the first reasonable opportunity. In certain circumstances, the Information and Privacy Commissioner and the Minister of Children and Youth Services will also need to be notified. Complaint Procedure The Act creates a complaint procedure whereby any individual who has reasonable grounds to believe that the Act has been contravened may make a complaint to the Information and Privacy Commissioner. Additionally, the Commissioner has the authority to conduct a review of any matter, even in the absence of a formal complaint. The complaint procedure provides the Commissioner with broad inspection powers, including the right to access premises to inspect books, records or other documents relating to complaint. After assessing any complaint, the Commissioner may make orders regarding the collection, use, disclosure or disposal of personal information. Service providers have a right to appeal orders made by the Commissioner. However, once an order has become final as a result of there being no further right of a appeal, individuals may commence proceedings in the Superior Court of Justice for damages for actual harm suffered as a result of any contravention of the Act. Conclusion The new legislative privacy scheme regulating the handling of personal information reflects a move towards greater oversight by the Ministry of Children and Youth Services and a greater emphasis on accountability within the sector. As such, service providers should be in the process of auditing their current compliance protocols and accountability safeguards to ensure that they are prepared to comply with the provisions of the Act that will come into force on January 1, 2020. Hicks Morley is uniquely situated to assist you in the development of policies and protocols in relation to these new privacy initiatives. Please contact any member of our Information, Data Security & Privacy group for more information. The article in this client update provides general information and should not be relied on as legal advice or opinion. This publication is copyrighted by Hicks Morley Hamilton Stewart Storie LLP and may not be photocopied or reproduced in any form, in whole or in part, without the express permission of Hicks Morley Hamilton Stewart Storie LLP. Practice Areas: Information, Data Security & Privacy Industries: Social Services Tags: Child and Family Services Act, Personal Health Information and Protection of Privacy Act https://hicksmorley.com//are-you-ready-for-new-privacy-sc/ ::: Parents Rights were ripped out by the roots... The testing was imposed on people who were among the poorest and most vulnerable members of our society, with scant regard for due process of their rights to privacy and bodily integrity, the report states. Without checks, balance or judicial oversight all of the parents who were tested were powerless to resist because they weren't testing people with the resources their own lawyer or to get a second opinion. Poor disadvantaged parents told us that they submitted to the testing under duress, in fear of losing custody of or access to their children only to lose access or custody anyway. https://www.cbc.ca//ford-government-mandate-letters-court- Respecting Procedural Safeguards: There is a major power imbalance between an impoverished parent (we know that families of low socio-economic status are hugely overrepresented in the child welfare system) and a state agency. To guard against such an imbalance, it is critical that our legal system respect the time-tested procedural safeguards developed to specifically ensure that the disadvantaged party is treated fairly. Yet according to the Motherisk report, these safeguards were ignored. The report describes a litany of procedural injustices perpetrated on parents: parents were pressured to consent to testing; were not informed of their right to reject testing; they had adverse inferences drawn against them when they rejected testing; they were required to prove the unreliability of testing instead of the other way around; and they were refused the right to cross-examine Motherisk "experts" at summary judgment motions. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees procedural fairness when the state interferes with fundamental personal rights, such as the right by parents to care for their children. Ironically enough, the issue of taking body samples (such as hair for testing) without proper consent for the purpose of criminal investigations was found to be an infringement of the Charter 20 years ago by the Supreme Court. It is unconscionable that these protections are available to accused persons, but were never considered applicable to parents at the mercy of child protection services. There is nothing new about the commission's finding that many parents were explicitly or implicitly told that there would be negative consequences if they did not undergo hair testing. In fact, this type of coercive action continues to happen: parents are often given messages that if they do not consent, for example, to a finding that the child is in need of protection, that there will be negative consequences. For example, they may be prevented from bringing further motions, or more damning in CAS work labelled as being "uncooperative." One would have thought that post-Motherisk, we would want parents and children to have more procedural protections and safeguards, and yet, it looks like the opposite is happening again. In the wake of Motherisk, children's aid societies have continued to emphasize working with parents outside of court on a "voluntarily" basis, which might include parents giving up their children to the agency under a temporary care agreement. These agreements are usually signed without lawyers and circumvent the court, which is the only place the powers of the CAS can be kept in check. To me, Motherisk is a symptom of a larger problem in child protection work. The Motherisk scandal came about because of the failure of the legal system to protect parents and families. Somehow, we have forgotten that the desire to do good cannot be done at the expense of rights violations. The balance between protecting children from the risk of harm and protecting parents' and children's basic rights to fairness is a challenging one. It is easy to fall too heavily on the side of overriding a parent's rights in favour of efficiency and expediency. But to ensure that something like Motherisk never happens again, it is something to which everyone involved in child welfare lawyers, judges and caseworkers must strive. Tammy Law is a lawyer practicing in child protection, family and criminal law in Toronto. This column is part of CBC's Opinion section. For more information about this section, please read this editor's blog and our FAQ. http://www.canada24news.com//the-motherisk-saga/71858-news ::: NOT ALL SOCIAL WORKERS ARE CREATED EQUAL. 2009: Ontario CAS caseworkers come armed with vaster powers than any police officer investigating crime and shrouded in secrecy. It is an immense authority easily abused, without vigilant restraint. https://www.cbc.ca//diploma-mills-marketplace-fake-degrees Whether we wanted it or not, knew it or not, over time, the work of child-welfare organizations has become parenting by the state and the imposition of their value system on other people, says Marty McKay, a clinical psychologist who has worked on abuse cases in the U.S and Canada. Provincial agencies have the power to intervene when children are considered at risk of abuse or neglect even if none has actually occurred. http://www.nationalpost.com/children+society+w//story.html ::: 2004: Child Welfare Reform: Protecting Children or Policing the Poor? It was in the context of dramatic media coverage of tragic child welfare outcomes and a rapidly shrinking welfare state that Ontario's child welfare reform was introduced in 1997. The reform involves a series of changes to both law and policy that have transformed child welfare in this province within a very short time. The initiatives to support this new and much more focused direction, as we will show, have produced a high level of surveillance and intrusion into the lives of clients and suspected client of the system. https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/jlsp/vol19/iss1/1/ ::: The ministry sidestepped a question emailed by the Toronto Star on whether it would impose the requirement to register their 5000 plus employees with the College of Social Work, stating instead that it is funding the authorization process and leaving the society to police themselves with secret internal processes. https://www.thestar.com//childrens-aid-societies-launch-ma https://www.cbc.ca//ford-government-mandate-letters-court- ::: What’s the difference between psychologist, psychological associate, registered psychotherapist, social worker, psychiatrist, therapist, counsellor and a child protection worker? Some child protection workers have qualifications or minimal qualifications in social work but refuse to register or be accountable to anyone other than the ministry that holds the purse strings.. Should unregistered child protection workers with social worker qualifications have the same privilege registered social workers have? Social Workers are registered with the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers. They have a Bachelor degree in Social Work. Social Workers provide assessment and psychotherapy to clients. They have knowledge of diagnostic criteria, and evidence-based treatments for mental health conditions. Social Workers often play an integral role in assessment and diagnosis under supervision of Psychologists and/or Psychiatrists. Often, Social Workers have a special interest in how individuals are impacted upon by society and factors such as discrimination. http://www.hamiltonpsych.ca/faq.html. ::: Principles of fundamental justice: In order to be a principle of fundamental justice, a rule or principle must be (1) a legal principle (2) about which there is significant societal consensus that it is fundamental to the way in which the legal system ought fairly to operate, and (3) it must be identified with sufficient precision to yield a manageable standard against which to measure deprivations of life, liberty or security of the person. https://www.justice.gc.ca//rfc-d/ccrf-ccdl/check/art7.html ::: FORMER ONTARIO MPP FRANK KLEES EXPLAINS "A DISTINCTION WITHOUT A DIFFERENCE." I'M NOT A SOCIAL WORKER, I'M A CHILD PROTECTION WORKER! You can hear former MPP Frank Klees say in a video linked below the very reason the social worker act was introduced and became law in 1998 was to regulate the "children's aid societies" and they ignored that.. Do you care what kind of social workers they call themselves? https://youtu.be/SA1YyWO0RTQ Two decades later... Without the deterrents professional regulation provides what prevents child protection social workers from being or becoming a danger to children and their families? (See Motherisk Report and the OHRC Report) The union representing child protection social workers is firmly opposed to oversight from a professional college and the Ministry of Children and Youth Services, which regulates and funds child protection, is so far staying out of it. The report Towards Regulation notes that the clearest path forward would be for the provincial government to -again- legislate the necessity of professional regulation, which would be an appallingly heavy-handed move according to OACAS/Cupe. http://joincupe2190.ca//Professional-regulation-at-childre ::: Here are some facts and figures I think point to significant problems for the child welfare sector and for underprivileged families in particular: There are over 5,000 child protection workers in Ontario (5160) The College regulates about 17,000 social workers and social service workers In Ontario, only 7% of College-registered social workers are employed by a CAS Only 4% of members of the Ontario Association of Social Workers work for a CAS Between 30% and 50% of Ontario’s child welfare workers do NOT hold a BSW Only 63% of direct service staff in CASs have a BSW or MSW (in 2012, it was 57%) Only 78% of direct service supervisors have a BSW or MSW (in 2012, it was 75.5%) The 2013 OACAS Human Resources survey estimates that 70% of relevant CAS job classifications would qualify for registration with the College (so about 1500 CAS currently employed workers would be unable to register with the College) From 2002 to 2014, 41 child welfare employees who did not hold a BSW or MSW submitted equivalency applications to register as social workers; only 16 were successful and 25 were refused. http://cupe2190.ca//SSWCC_CAS-letters-re-college-regulatio https://mydefence.ca/ontario-college-of-social-workers-and/ A logical fallacy is a flaw in reasoning. Logical fallacies are like tricks or illusions of thought, and they're often very sneakily used by child protection social workers and the ministry to fool people. Don't be fooled! This post has been designed to help you identify and call out dodgy child poaching funding predator logic wherever it may raise its ugly, incoherent head. Follow the link and rollover the icons to click for examples. If you see a child protection social worker committing a fallacy, link them to it ... https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/ https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-logical-fallacy-1691259 https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/common-logical-fallacies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies https://www.cbc.ca//ford-government-mandate-letters-court-

2019-2020 OMBUDSMAN'S FIRST ANNUAL REPORT: DEATH AND SERIOUS BODILY HARM. Children’s aid societies and licensed residential service providers are legally required to inform the Ombudsman’s Office within 48 hours of any death or serious bodily harm of any child who has sought or received services from a children’s aid society within the past 12 months. Because they must be filed within 2 days of the incident, these reports may involve preliminary information and not findings o...f investigations by the police, child protection authorities or the coroner. Submitted online through a secure portal on our website, the purpose of these reports is to provide data that we review and analyze regularly to identify potential systemic issues; they are not the same as complaints or emergency calls, although we do flag any cases that require follow-up. From May 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020, we received 1,663 reports about 1,433 incidents (some reports were duplicates, from multiple agencies reporting the same incident). These reports related to 122 deaths and 1,473 cases of serious bodily harm (defined as any situation where a young person requires treatment beyond basic first aid, including for physical, sexual or emotional harm). The Ombudsman will report in more detail on our analysis of these statistics in future reports. TOP CASE TOPICS 1,458 Children’s aid societies 240 Youth justice centres 139 Residential licensees 26 Secure treatment

"Most of the parents who were tested were powerless to resist. They told us they submitted to the testing under duress, in fear of losing custody of or access t...o their children. In some of the cases we reviewed, parents were told explicitly that this would be the consequence if they did not submit to testing." Judith C. Beaman Commissioner. 2018: Report of the Motherisk Commission. Recommendations... Disclosure The Family Rules Committee should amend the Family Law Rules to require children’s aid societies to provide automatic, ongoing, thorough and timely disclosure to parents. Ensuring the Reliability of Expert Evidence: Bodily samples The Ministry of Children and Youth Services should direct children’s aid societies to ensure that all child protection workers meet the requirements for obtaining valid written consent, in accordance with s 4(2) of the Child and Family Services Act (s 21(2) of the Child, Youth and Family Services Act), in every situation where a parent is asked to provide a bodily sample. The directive should require workers to document the steps they took to obtain consent and should require workers to obtain confirmation signed by the parent acknowledging that the requirements for valid consent were met. The Ontario government should amend the Child, Youth and Family Services Act to: A) require courts to exclude evidence of tests of parents’ bodily samples unless the court is satisfied that the parent provided valid consent, or that the sample was obtained by order under the Act. The only exception should be situations where the introduction of the evidence is critical to protecting a child’s immediate safety. The provision should require the court to consider the parent’s right to privacy and security of the person before making this exception; B) prohibit courts from admitting evidence of a person’s failure or refusal to voluntarily provide a bodily sample for testing where the evidence is being introduced in order to demonstrate that the person is less worthy of belief, is or has been engaging in substance use, or is being uncooperative; and C) provide specific criteria for judicial orders that require a person to provide a bodily sample, with those criteria relating to the safety of a child. https://youtu.be/WIJqYz91ceU Temporary proceedings Children's aid societies and courts often drew negative inferences about parents who didn't submit to testing or who disputed the results, she said. The tests were often used as a proxy for assessing parenting and the results were regularly admitted into evidence without the usual checks and balances, she said. Judith C. Beaman Commissioner The Family Rules Committee should amend the Family Law Rules to require courts to assess the necessity for and reliability of any expert evidence through a voir dire before admitting that expert’s report into evidence on any motion in a child protection proceeding, except at the first appearance. Deviation from this requirement should only be permitted where the parent expressly acknowledges to the court that the findings of the expert are correct and the court is satisfied that the parent adequately understands the expert opinion and the consequences of such an acknowledgement. The Ontario government should amend the Child, Youth and Family Services Act to prohibit the admission of hearsay evidence of expert opinion, including test results and the interpretation of those results, at any stage of a child protection proceeding other than the first appearance. Deviation from this requirement should only be permitted where the parent expressly acknowledges to the court that the findings of the expert are correct and the court is satisfied that the parent adequately understands the expert opinion and the consequences of such an acknowledgement. https://youtu.be/3POTUUN2tXU Information for parents The Ministry of Children and Youth Services should fund the development of a comprehensive, plain-language guide on the child protection system for parents who are involved with a children’s aid society. The Ministry should require that societies provide a copy of this guide to all parents at the time of their first interaction with them. Summary judgment motions The Family Rules Committee should amend the Family Law Rule relating to summary judgment motions to A) permit only evidence that would be admissible at trial, and in particular, to prohibit hearsay evidence that does not meet the common law tests for admissibility; B) require all expert evidence tendered at a summary judgment motion to comply with the Rule regarding experts and expert reports (as amended by these Recommendations); require the court to conduct a voir dire before admitting any expert evidence; and C) permit deviation from these requirements only where the parent expressly acknowledges to the court that the findings of the expert are correct and the court is satisfied that the parent adequately understands the expert opinion and the consequences of such an acknowledgement. "The testing was imposed on parents and other caregivers who were among the poorest and most vulnerable members of our society. There was scant regard for due process or their rights to privacy and bodily integrity," she said in a news conference. Judith C. Beaman Commissioner Accessibility of Legal Aid funds Legal Aid Ontario should A) in authorizing disbursements to parents’ counsel related to expert evidence, consider the complexity of child protection cases and the miscarriages of justice that could result from failing to vigorously challenge expert evidence; B) expand its Big Case Management program to child protection cases; and C) expand its Complex Case Rate policy to child protection counsel. The Ministry of the Attorney General should ensure that the total funding available to Legal Aid Ontario is sufficient to enable the Recommendations in this Report to be implemented. Child welfare education for self proclaimed child protection social workers.. All social work schools in Ontario that do not already do so should offer a specialized child welfare program, which should include placements in children’s aid societies or related agencies serving parents and children. These programs should be developed with the input of parents and youth who have experience with the child welfare system. Social work schools should also ensure that their students are taught about the legal framework and social context for child protection work, including training on systemic racism. SEEMS TO ME THREE RECOMMENDATIONS HAVE BEEN OVERLOOKED.. ETHICAL AND JUDICIAL OVERSIGHT... NO RECOMMENDATION FOR WORKERS TO BE REGISTERED WITH THE COLLEGE OF SOCIAL WORK AND NO JUDICIAL OVERSIGHT TO PREVENT WORKERS FROM CREATING FILES AND SEARCHING HOMES JUST TO MEET THEIR FUNDING GOALS.. https://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca//about/pubs/mot/ ::: 2018: Anonymous reporting not guaranteed: Ontario has no privacy protection for people who report child abuse B.C. woman 'disheartened' after learning agency had right to disclose her identity to tenant she reported and the parents had the right to face their accusor. Despite giving individuals the option to report anonymously, there is nothing in provincial legislation that requires children's aid societies to protect the anonymity of people who report possible child abuse or neglect. A social worker from B.C. is calling for legislative change since discovering an Ontario children's aid society was allowed to disclose her identity after she'd reported a concern anonymously. Despite giving individuals the option to report anonymously, there is nothing in provincial legislation that requires children's aid societies to protect the anonymity of people who report possible child abuse or neglect. Dawn Slykhuis learned that the hard way. Ottawa eyes streamlined centre for child abuse investigations 6 months of silence from Sudbury CAS after privacy breach sees judge suspended She has a rental home in Barrie, and two months ago while Slykhuis was in the process of evicting her tenant she was told by her property manager that there were drugs in the home and in reach of children. Anyone who is aware of possible child abuse or neglect has a legal duty to report it. And as a social worker Slykhuis knew that she would, even though it could make her "messy eviction even messier." Turns out it did, Slykhuis told CBC Toronto. I reiterated several times that it's really important that I stay anonymous. - Dawn Slykhuis Slykhuis phoned the local children's aid society, Simcoe Muskoka Family Connexions, and had to leave her name and number with a call centre so a child protection worker could call her back to take the report. However, she says she made it clear she didn't want to be named. "I reiterated several times that it's really important that I stay anonymous," Slykhuis told CBC Toronto. "At no point did they say that I wouldn't." Three days later, she was shocked to receive a text message from her tenant about the report she'd filed. The B.C. woman called the children's aid society and says she was told the tenant had indeed been informed the complaint originated in B.C. "Her landlord who's evicting her is in British Columbia, she put two and two together and that revealed my identity," said Slykhuis. Harassment after reporting Slykhuis says since then her tenant has been evicted but she says the tenant is refusing to pay back roughly $10,000 in rent she had promised before she found out Slykhuis had reported her. "The house was in very, very poor condition, you could call it trashed," said Slykhuis. "What's worse is she's taken to harassing the new tenants, my family, myself threatening all of it she relates back to me phoning child protection." Even if a child protection worker hadn't told Slykhuis's tenant the call came from B.C., Slykhuis says the children's aid society later told her that her identity would have been revealed if the tenant requested to view her file. Two months ago Dawn Slykhuis was in the process of evicting her tenant when she was told by her property manager that there were drugs in the Barrie home and in reach of children. (Submitted by Dawn Slykhuis) Simcoe Muskoka Family Connexions would not comment on Slykhuis's case specifically, but responded generally to reporting concerns about anonymity. In an email, the agency told CBC Toronto, "confidentiality cannot be explicitly assured when making a referral if the person making the call has disclosed their identifying information." But the email also said Simcoe Muskoka Family Connexions does "adhere whenever possible to concerns about being identified that are relayed when making a report." Slykhuis says she was "so disheartened" when she found out her identity could be revealed. "The most important people in ensuring the safety of children in Ontario are the people reporting the abuse," she said. "Those are the people providing the necessary information for children's aid to do their investigations. And if they're not protected, they're not going to call." The most important people in ensuring the safety of children in Ontario are the people reporting the abuse. - Dawn Slykhuis On the Simcoe Muskoka Family Connexions online reporting page there is an option to click "yes" to report anonymously. The agency acknowledged that "in practice" they ask a person reporting whether "they are open to being identified" in their online form and "when speaking with an intake screener." And Simcoe Muskoka Family Connexions isn't the only agency offering anonymity as an option in reporting child abuse. No provincial protection The Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies says "you can report anonymously" on the "how to report abuse" page of its website. In an email statement, a Ministry of Children and Youth Services spokesperson told CBC Toronto that in Ontario "children's aid societies are independent entities that deliver child protection services in their communities." Children's aid societies "are expected to have policies that comply with Ontario's Case Information Disclosure Policy," but that policy "does not provide a specific approach to preserving the anonymity of individuals who report possible child abuse or neglect." Simcoe Muskoka Family Connexions told CBC Toronto that the Child, Youth and Family Services Act "does not include any provisions that address anonymity and/or privacy for the individual who makes a referral." No privacy oversight until 2020 Slykhuis also contacted Ontario's privacy commissioner to try to file a complaint about what she considers a breach of her privacy. But it turns out the section of the Child, Youth and Family Services Act that deals with the collection, use and disclosure of personal information doesn't fall under the oversight of the privacy commissioner. And it won't until Jan. 1, 2020. "I don't even know what that's going to look like, or if it's going to cover people who report abuse." said Slykhuis. "But that still means we have two more years where people who report child abuse will continue to be put at risk." In the meantime, her only recourse is filing a complaint with Simcoe Muskoka Family Connexions. The children's aid society also addressed the changes coming in 2020. In a statement, it told CBC Toronto that the Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies and children's aid societies "are currently reviewing whether these provisions will cover professionals and the public who make referrals." (Just how registered are professionals who work closely with the society if the society can keep who they are a secret.? I think parents have a right to check the records for any complaints made against any registered or licensed professionals who are making a complaint to the CAS... https://www.thestar.com//bad_teachers_ontarios_secret_list) More generally, Slykhuis would like to see Ontario children's aid societies remove information about being able to report anonymously from their websites. "If I had known I couldn't report anonymously I may have given someone else's number or mailed in a complaint done more to protect my identity," she said. "I thought I'd done enough." ABOUT THE AUTHOR Nicole Brockbank Reporter, CBC Toronto Nicole Brockbank is a reporter for CBC Toronto's Enterprise Unit. Fuelled by coffee, she digs up, researches and writes original investigative and feature stories. [email protected] https://www.cbc.ca//anonymous-reporting-child-abuse-in-ont ::: "As of January 1, 2020 FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER IN ONTARIO, if you or your family have BEEN DRAGGED THROUGH THE FAMILY COURTS AND NOT received help or support from a Children’s Aid Society, group home, or other child and family service provider in Ontario, you have the right to see and ask for corrections to your personal information in your file... ISN'T THAT NICE OF THEM? ...You can ask to see and get a copy of your personal information in your file. It includes information about your history, your health or notes from talks you’ve had with a social worker or other professional. Your service provider must help you get this information if you ask." REQUEST YOUR FILE TODAY! Get informed, you have rights! - Why weren't clients and suspected clients allowed to see their files? Former Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian wrote: I am disheartened by the complete lack of action to ensure transparency and accountability by these organizations that received significant public funding. As part of the modernization of the Acts, I call on the government to finally address this glaring omission and ensure that Children’s Aid Societies are added to the list of institutions covered. The only oversight for the province’s children’s aid agencies comes from Ontario’s Ministry of Children and Youth Services. "As the law stands now clients of the Ontario Children's Aid Society under Wynne's liberals are routinely denied a timely (often heavily censored) file disclosure before the court begins making decisions and the clients can not request files/disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act nor can censored information reviewed by the Privacy Commissioner of Ontario or the federal counter-part." In her 2004 annual report, which was released on June 22, 2005, the Commissioner called for amendments that would bring virtually all organizations that are primarily funded by government dollars under FOI for the purposes of transparency and accountability: This would include the various children’s aid agencies in the Province of Ontario. Many parents and families complain about how difficult it is, if not impossible, to obtain information from children’s aid agencies. Many citizens complain that CAS agencies appear to operate under a veil of secrecy. Unlicensed and untrained CAS workers are making decisions which are literally destroying families, yet there is little or no accountability for their actions short of a lawsuit AFTER THE DAMAGE TO THE CHILD AND FAMILY HAS BEEN DONE. Hundreds of organizations that are recipients of large transfer payments from the government are not subject to the provincial or municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Acts, said the Commissioner, which means they are not subject to public scrutiny. Among the examples she cites are hospitals and Children’s Aid Societies. Openness and transparency of all publicly funded bodies is essential they should be publicly accountable. In her annual report for 2013 released on June 17 there is just one paragraph on children's aid on page 12: In my 2004, 2009, and 2012 Annual Reports I recommended that Children’s Aid Societies, which provide services for some of our most vulnerable citizens children and youth in government care, be brought under FIPPA. I am disheartened by the complete lack of action to ensure transparency and accountability by these organizations that received significant public funding. As part of the modernization of the Acts, I call on the government to finally address this glaring omission and ensure that Children’s Aid Societies are added to the list of institutions covered. The Information and Privacy Commissioner is appointed by and reports to the Ontario Legislative Assembly, and is independent of the government of the day. The Commissioner's mandate includes overseeing the access and privacy provisions of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, and the Personal Health Information Protection Act, and commenting on other access and privacy issues. http://www.theglobeandmail.com//beef-up-in/article1120573/ http://www.newswire.ca//commissioner-cavoukian-calls-on-go The harshest tyranny is that which acts under the protection of legality and the banner of justice.. Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. ::: Parents Rights were ripped out by the roots... The testing was imposed on people who were among the poorest and most vulnerable members of our society, with scant regard for due process of their rights to privacy and bodily integrity, the report states. Without checks, balance or judicial oversight all of the parents who were tested were powerless to resist. Poor disadvantaged parents told us that they submitted to the testing under duress, in fear of losing custody of or access to their children only to lose access or custody anyway. Respecting Procedural Safeguards: There is a major power imbalance between an impoverished parent (we know that families of low socio-economic status are hugely overrepresented in the child welfare system) and a state agency. To guard against such an imbalance, it is critical that our legal system respect the time-tested procedural safeguards developed to specifically ensure that the disadvantaged party is treated fairly. Yet according to the Motherisk report, these safeguards were ignored. The report describes a litany of procedural injustices perpetrated on parents: parents were pressured to consent to testing; were not informed of their right to reject testing; they had adverse inferences drawn against them when they rejected testing; they were required to prove the unreliability of testing instead of the other way around; and they were refused the right to cross-examine Motherisk "experts" at summary judgment motions. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees procedural fairness when the state interferes with fundamental personal rights, such as the right by parents to care for their children. Ironically enough, the issue of taking body samples (such as hair for testing) without proper consent for the purpose of criminal investigations was found to be an infringement of the Charter 20 years ago by the Supreme Court. It is unconscionable that these protections are available to accused persons, but were never considered applicable to parents at the mercy of child protection services. There is nothing new about the commission's finding that many parents were explicitly or implicitly told that there would be negative consequences if they did not undergo hair testing. In fact, this type of coercive action continues to happen: parents are often given messages that if they do not consent, for example, to a finding that the child is in need of protection, that there will be negative consequences. For example, they may be prevented from bringing further motions, or more damning in CAS work labelled as being "uncooperative." One would have thought that post-Motherisk, we would want parents and children to have more procedural protections and safeguards, and yet, it looks like the opposite is happening again. In the wake of Motherisk, children's aid societies have continued to emphasize working with parents outside of court on a "voluntarily" basis, which might include parents giving up their children to the agency under a temporary care agreement. These agreements are usually signed without lawyers and circumvent the court, which is the only place the powers of the CAS can be kept in check. To me, Motherisk is a symptom of a larger problem in child protection work. The Motherisk scandal came about because of the failure of the legal system to protect parents and families. Somehow, we have forgotten that the desire to do good cannot be done at the expense of rights violations. The balance between protecting children from the risk of harm and protecting parents' and children's basic rights to fairness is a challenging one. It is easy to fall too heavily on the side of overriding a parent's rights in favour of efficiency and expediency. But to ensure that something like Motherisk never happens again, it is something to which everyone involved in child welfare lawyers, judges and caseworkers must strive. Tammy Law is a lawyer practicing in child protection, family and criminal law in Toronto. This column is part of CBC's Opinion section. For more information about this section, please read this editor's blog and our FAQ. http://www.canada24news.com//the-motherisk-saga/71858-news ::: Your Right to Complain to a Children’s Aid Society (and no one else so it becomes a matter for union arbitration should their employer find discipline justified) WHAT PROTECTIONS DO INVOLUNTARY CLIENTS OF ONTARIO'S CHILDREN'S AID SOCIETIES HAVE BEHIND ALL THE CLOSED DOORS? If you have a question or concern about services from a children’s aid society, you can talk to the unregistered worker who is helping you, the worker’s unregistered supervisor, or someone else at the society. If you do not want to first speak to them or if speaking to your worker or others at the society does not answer your questions, you have the right to start a formal process to complain to the society. Societies are required, by law, to establish an Internal Complaints Review Panel to review formal complaints submitted in writing who will totally deny any wrongdoing by their workers or themselves. IS THERE ANY REASON TO TRUST THE MANY FACES OF A SOCIETY SHROUDED IN SECRECY AND THEIR ALL INTERNAL COMPLAINT PROCESSES? https://stepstojustice.ca//how-do-i-complain-about-childre https://www.thestar.com//in_leaked_memo_peel_cas_staff_ask ::: 2019: Access and Privacy Under Ontario’s Child and Family Services Law. On January 1, 2020, Part X of the Child, Youth, and Family Services Act comes into force, creating a new access and privacy framework for Ontario’s child and family services sector. The Information and Privacy Commissioner will oversee these new rules for the collection, use and disclosure of personal information. To raise awareness of access and privacy rights among, children, youth and families, the IPC has prepared a brochure, poster and quick reference card. In the coming months, we’ll continue to update our website with additional materials for youth and answers to frequently asked questions. If you have not done so, check out our resources for service providers. These include a guide to Part X, a guide to tracking and submitting annual statistics to the IPC and reporting privacy breaches to the IPC. Your first annual statistics report is due to the IPC on March 2021, so it is essential that you begin your tracking program as soon as Part X takes effect in January 2020. Starting January 1, 2020, if you or your family have received help or support from a children’s aid society, group home, or other child and family service provider in Ontario, you have the right to see and ask for corrections to your personal information in your file. Under Ontario’s child and family services law, service providers must let you know how your personal information will be used and tell you how they might share it. They must also make sure any personal information they get from you stays private and let you know if it has been lost, shared, stolen or viewed when it shouldn’t be. Click Here For It’s About You Brochure https://www.payukotayno.ca//2019-its-about-you-brochure-we https://www.payukotayno.ca/access-and-privacy-under-ontari/ ::: Are You Ready for the New Privacy Scheme under the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017? September 24, 2019 5 min read By: Jordan D. Simon. "The Children's Aid Society will provide non-identifying information from our records to qualifying adult adopted persons, adoptive parents, birth parents, birth grandparents, birth siblings, birth aunts/uncles as well as to former Crown Wards." The new Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017 (Act) which largely came into force on April 30, 2018 constituted a significant overhaul of the legislative and regulatory framework for children’s services. One of the key changes is the introduction of a detailed legislative privacy scheme to regulate the handling of personal information of individuals receiving or participating in the provision of services governed by the Act. These provisions are due to come into force on January 1, 2020. Learn more in this edition of Reaching Out. Overview of Changes Relating to Privacy The provisions set out new rules as to when personal information can be collected, used and disclosed, with or without consent of an individual or their substitute decision-maker, including disclosures without consent between Children’s Aid Societies. There are also express provisions for the disclosure of personal information to the Ministry of Children and Youth Services to permit it to exercise its oversight functions. The legislation is modelled on provisions in the Personal Health Information and Protection Act, 2004. Collection, Use and Disclosure of Personal Information The Act creates specific rules as to when clients’ personal information can be collected, used and shared. Specifically, with the exception of personal information that is required to be collected, used or disclosed by law, the collection, use and disclosure of an individual’s personal information from the person to whom the information pertains will only be permitted if: consent is provided the collection, use or disclosure is necessary for a lawful purpose other information is not available that will serve the purpose of that collection, use or disclosure; and the collection, use or disclosure is limited to what is reasonably necessary There are some exceptions to the rules surrounding collection. Service providers may collect personal information without consent if it is reasonably necessary for the provision of a service and obtaining consent is not reasonably possible or, if collection is reasonably necessary to assess, reduce or eliminate the risk of serious harm to a person or a group of persons. Exceptions to the Requirement for Consent The Act also sets out certain exceptions to the requirement of consent when personal information is shared or disclosed. Personal information may be disclosed without consent in the following circumstances: to law enforcement to aid an investigation to a proposed litigation guardian for the purposes of contacting a relative or potential substitute decision-maker if the individual is injured, incapacitated, otherwise not capable or deceased if it is necessary to assess, reduce or eliminate risk of serious harm to a person or group of persons; or to another Children’s Aid Society or child welfare authority. Collection of Personal Information from a Third Party The Act outlines rules regarding the collection of an individual’s personal information from a source that is not the person to whom the information pertains. Indirect collection of personal information is permitted if the individual to whom the information relates consents. In the absence of consent, indirect collection is permitted where: the collection is necessary to assess, reduce or eliminate a risk of serious harm to a person or a group of persons and it is not reasonably possible to collect the information directly from the individual to whom it relates the collection is by a Children’s Aid Society from another Children’s Aid Society or a child welfare agency outside Ontario and the information is reasonably necessary to assess, reduce or eliminate a risk of harm to a child it is authorized by the Information and Privacy Commissioner, or it is required by law. Right to Access Personal Information The new provisions of the Act will provide clients with the right to request access to their records of personal information in addition to the right to request that their information be corrected. Additional Requirements There are additional requirements in the Act regarding the protection of clients’ personal information and the need to ensure that information is accurate and up-to-date. This includes an obligation to ensure that personal information is protected against theft, loss and unauthorized access. Further, in the event that personal information is stolen, lost, used or disclosed without authority, service providers are obligated to notify the affected individual at the first reasonable opportunity. In certain circumstances, the Information and Privacy Commissioner and the Minister of Children and Youth Services will also need to be notified. Complaint Procedure The Act creates a complaint procedure whereby any individual who has reasonable grounds to believe that the Act has been contravened may make a complaint to the Information and Privacy Commissioner. Additionally, the Commissioner has the authority to conduct a review of any matter, even in the absence of a formal complaint. The complaint procedure provides the Commissioner with broad inspection powers, including the right to access premises to inspect books, records or other documents relating to complaint. After assessing any complaint, the Commissioner may make orders regarding the collection, use, disclosure or disposal of personal information. Service providers have a right to appeal orders made by the Commissioner. However, once an order has become final as a result of there being no further right of a appeal, individuals may commence proceedings in the Superior Court of Justice for damages for actual harm suffered as a result of any contravention of the Act. Conclusion The new legislative privacy scheme regulating the handling of personal information reflects a move towards greater oversight by the Ministry of Children and Youth Services and a greater emphasis on accountability within the sector. As such, service providers should be in the process of auditing their current compliance protocols and accountability safeguards to ensure that they are prepared to comply with the provisions of the Act that will come into force on January 1, 2020. Hicks Morley is uniquely situated to assist you in the development of policies and protocols in relation to these new privacy initiatives. Please contact any member of our Information, Data Security & Privacy group for more information. The article in this client update provides general information and should not be relied on as legal advice or opinion. This publication is copyrighted by Hicks Morley Hamilton Stewart Storie LLP and may not be photocopied or reproduced in any form, in whole or in part, without the express permission of Hicks Morley Hamilton Stewart Storie LLP. Practice Areas: Information, Data Security & Privacy Industries: Social Services Tags: Child and Family Services Act, Personal Health Information and Protection of Privacy Act https://hicksmorley.com//are-you-ready-for-new-privacy-sc/ ::: NOT ALL SOCIAL WORKERS ARE CREATED EQUAL. 2009: Ontario CAS caseworkers come armed with vaster powers than any police officer investigating crime and shrouded in secrecy. It is an immense authority easily abused, without vigilant restraint. https://www.cbc.ca//diploma-mills-marketplace-fake-degrees Whether we wanted it or not, knew it or not, over time, the work of child-welfare organizations has become parenting by the state and the imposition of their value system on other people, says Marty McKay, a clinical psychologist who has worked on abuse cases in the U.S and Canada. Provincial agencies have the power to intervene when children are considered at risk of abuse or neglect even if none has actually occurred. http://www.nationalpost.com/children+society+w//story.html ::: 2004: Child Welfare Reform: Protecting Children or Policing the Poor? It was in the context of dramatic media coverage of tragic child welfare outcomes and a rapidly shrinking welfare state that Ontario's child welfare reform was introduced in 1997. The reform involves a series of changes to both law and policy that have transformed child welfare in this province within a very short time. The initiatives to support this new and much more focused direction, as we will show, have produced a high level of surveillance and intrusion into the lives of clients and suspected client of the system. https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/jlsp/vol19/iss1/1/ ::: The ministry sidestepped a question emailed by the Toronto Star on whether it would impose the requirement to register their 5000 plus employees with the College of Social Work, stating instead that it is funding the authorization process and leaving the society to police themselves with secret internal processes. https://www.thestar.com//childrens-aid-societies-launch-ma ::: What’s the difference between psychologist, psychological associate, registered psychotherapist, social worker, psychiatrist, therapist, counsellor and a child protection worker? Some child protection workers have qualifications or minimal qualifications in social work but refuse to register or be accountable to anyone other than the ministry that holds the purse strings.. Should unregistered child protection workers with social worker qualifications have the same privilege registered social workers have? Social Workers are registered with the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers. They have a Bachelor degree in Social Work. Social Workers provide assessment and psychotherapy to clients. They have knowledge of diagnostic criteria, and evidence-based treatments for mental health conditions. Social Workers often play an integral role in assessment and diagnosis under supervision of Psychologists and/or Psychiatrists. Often, Social Workers have a special interest in how individuals are impacted upon by society and factors such as discrimination. http://www.hamiltonpsych.ca/faq.html. ::: Principles of fundamental justice: In order to be a principle of fundamental justice, a rule or principle must be (1) a legal principle (2) about which there is significant societal consensus that it is fundamental to the way in which the legal system ought fairly to operate, and (3) it must be identified with sufficient precision to yield a manageable standard against which to measure deprivations of life, liberty or security of the person. https://www.justice.gc.ca//rfc-d/ccrf-ccdl/check/art7.html ::: FORMER ONTARIO MPP FRANK KLEES EXPLAINS "A DISTINCTION WITHOUT A DIFFERENCE." I'M NOT A SOCIAL WORKER, I'M A CHILD PROTECTION WORKER! You can hear former MPP Frank Klees say in a video linked below the very reason the social worker act was introduced and became law in 1998 was to regulate the "children's aid societies" and they ignored that.. Do you care what kind of social workers they call themselves? https://youtu.be/SA1YyWO0RTQ Two decades later... Without the deterrents professional regulation provides what prevents child protection social workers from being or becoming a danger to children and their families? (See Motherisk Report and the OHRC Report) The union representing child protection social workers is firmly opposed to oversight from a professional college and the Ministry of Children and Youth Services, which regulates and funds child protection, is so far staying out of it. The report Towards Regulation notes that the clearest path forward would be for the provincial government to -again- legislate the necessity of professional regulation, which would be an appallingly heavy-handed move according to OACAS/Cupe. http://joincupe2190.ca//Professional-regulation-at-childre ::: Here are some facts and figures I think point to significant problems for the child welfare sector and for underprivileged families in particular: There are over 5,000 child protection workers in Ontario (5160) The College regulates about 17,000 social workers and social service workers In Ontario, only 7% of College-registered social workers are employed by a CAS Only 4% of members of the Ontario Association of Social Workers work for a CAS Between 30% and 50% of Ontario’s child welfare workers do NOT hold a BSW Only 63% of direct service staff in CASs have a BSW or MSW (in 2012, it was 57%) Only 78% of direct service supervisors have a BSW or MSW (in 2012, it was 75.5%) The 2013 OACAS Human Resources survey estimates that 70% of relevant CAS job classifications would qualify for registration with the College (so about 1500 CAS currently employed workers would be unable to register with the College) From 2002 to 2014, 41 child welfare employees who did not hold a BSW or MSW submitted equivalency applications to register as social workers; only 16 were successful and 25 were refused. http://cupe2190.ca//SSWCC_CAS-letters-re-college-regulatio https://mydefence.ca/ontario-college-of-social-workers-and/ A logical fallacy is a flaw in reasoning. Logical fallacies are like tricks or illusions of thought, and they're often very sneakily used by child protection social workers and the ministry to fool people. Don't be fooled! This post has been designed to help you identify and call out dodgy child poaching funding predator logic wherever it may raise its ugly, incoherent head. Follow the link and rollover the icons to click for examples. If you see a child protection social worker committing a fallacy, link them to it ... https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/ https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-logical-fallacy-1691259 https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/common-logical-fallacies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies

2016: A psychologist explains the top factor con artists use to choose their victims. The chosen: Con artists choose you very carefully. They are only intereste...d in those people who can be turned around to believe in them without question, who can be manipulated to believe in their illusions. They don't merely seek out the greedy or the weak or the stupid. Not at all. They seek out the needy. They sniff and snuffle around until they find someone who has an unfulfilled desire that even you yourself may be unaware of until the carrot is dangled in front of your face. Con artists will stalk anyone whose weaknesses or strengths can be used to advantage. Scan through the character traits below, and you will see the con artist's menu. As far as he is concerned any character trait can be exploited and manipulated once your needs have been established. No one is immune. Character traits: Pride, Ego, Anxiety, Ignorance, Ageing, Youth, Dreams, Security, Insecurity, Fear, Greed, Loneliness, Popularity, Assumed knowledge, Success, Failure, Illness, Self-Confidence, Desperation, Vulnerability, Ambition, Laziness, Wisdom, Hateful, Loving, any trait will do. Scam victims: Yuppies, Volunteers, Attorneys, Wannabes, Stars, Do-gooders, Malcontents, Authority Figures, Politicians, Law Enforcement Officers, Single Moms, Students, Officials, Bankers, Sports Figures, Professors, Psychologists, Scientists, Psychologists, Blue Collar Workers, Unemployed, Doctors, Nurses, Physically Challenged, Elders, Children, Corporate Executives, Insurance Agents, Accountants, Real Estate Agents, ... You name it! Right from the start: From the very moment a con artist targets you, his entire arsenal of psychological manipulation is brought into play. You are moved from a position of control to one of no control over anything at all. The con artist moves into the position of supreme power, regardless of how powerful you may be in real life. How can this be? Because you are the only character in the play who hasn't a clue as to what is really happening. No one has given you a script to follow. The only choice given you is to react to what the other players are saying and doing. Reality is gone, you just doesn't know it - your real world has been completely and effectively replaced with that of the con artist and his cronies. Smoke and mirrors. You know the game is over when he starts using fear tactics to keep you off balance: how scammers stay out of jail http://www.fraudaid.com/ba/why_scammers_dont_go_to_jail.htm http://www.fraudaid.com/b/victims_con_artists_look_for.htm. "There's one thing in particular that makes anyone, intelligent or not, a good victim," she told Business Insider. "And that isn't a personality trait. It's not a demographic trait. It's a situational kind of thing: Where are you at this point in your life? People who are going through life transitions become more emotionally vulnerable and con artists can spot that." These can be negative: The victim can be experiencing the sadness of a divorce, getting fired, or the death of a loved one. These can be positive: The victim can be experiencing the joy of a new marriage, a job promotion, or the birth of a child. What's common among all these is that they are periods of upheaval. Con artists, as predators, love to pounce on these opportunities of emotional vulnerability. During these periods, "we become a little bit uncomfortable because humans don't really like uncertainty and ambiguity," Konnikova said. "We like things to kind of be meaningful. Everyone really wants black and white answers. It's really hard to deal with when everything is kind of shifting around you." "Con artists can spot that and they can take advantage of it because what they sell is meaning and certainty. They're going to tell you the story that makes sense, that actually makes you say, 'Ok, now I have something that makes sense in this particular moment in my life.'" https://www.businessinsider.com/psychologist-explains-how-c ::: 2019: Psychotherapist Philip Chard talks about holier-than-thou types, who judge themselves by their intentions by others by their actions. https://shepherdexpress.com//the-many-ways-of-being-holie/ https://www.sciencedaily.com/releas/2017//170711220512.htm ::: 2017: All of us can be harmed': Investigation reveals hundreds of Canadians have phoney degrees. Fake diplomas are a billion-dollar industry, according to experts, and Marketplace obtained business records of its biggest player, a Pakistan-based IT firm called Axact. The team spent months combing through thousands of degree transactions, cross referencing personal information with customers' social media profiles. The investigation revealed more than 800 Canadians could have purchased a fake degree. (I bet most of them work for the Ontario children's aid societies...) "Keep in mind this is just the one operation," said Allen Ezell, a former FBI agent who investigated diploma mills for decades. "This does not give you totality of how many are being sold throughout Canada by all schools that are operating." Ezell, who co-wrote the book Degree Mills: The Billion-Dollar Industry That Has Sold Over a Million Fake Diplomas, estimates half of new PhDs issued every year in the U.S. are fake. https://www.cbc.ca//diploma-mills-marketplace-fake-degrees ::: 2016: Regulation of child protection workers by Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers: CUPE responds: Please send or adapt any of the following letters to the Executive Director of your CAS. (remember the Union can't arbitrate for you with the college) DRAFT Letter 1 Oversight I have worked as a child protection worker with [CAS] for [xx] years. I love my job and I do it to the best of my ability because I care deeply about keeping children and families safe. I am aware that OACAS, the organization that represents my employer, is planning to make it mandatory for me to register with the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers in order for me to do my job. One of the reasons given for introducing this requirement is that it will provide more oversight Children’s Aid Societies and child protection social workers. Regulation through the College is entirely appropriate for social workers who are in private practice (aren't doctors with private practises required by law to be registered with their regulating college regardless of what kind of doctor they are are?) and whose work is not overseen by a private corporate employer. But I would like to remind [CAS] that my colleagues and I already answer to more than enough people, all internal secret processes, and outside bodies (bound by confidentiality laws) in the course of our work, as the following list shows: CAS in-house management structure, including supervisors, managers, lawyers, and case conferences; a society’s internal standards, policies, procedures and protocols, -some-of which are governed by the Children and Family Services Act; a society’s internal disciplinary and complaints procedures; Office of the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth, which has new powers to investigate CAS workers; (closed by conservatives) ministry audits in almost every area of service, including Crown Ward Reviews and Licensing; Child and Family Services Review Board, which conducts reviews and hearings of complaints against a CAS worker; family courts; Ontario’s human rights tribunal; the provincial auditor general; child death reviews, including the Paediatric Death Review and internal reviews; coroner’s inquests. How could anyone look at this list and possibly think that child protection workers need more independent third party public oversight? Asking for more ways to regulate and oversee the work of child protection social workers is clearly unnecessary and leads me to think there is another agenda at work in this exercise. https://globalnews.ca//prince-edward-county-cas-executive/ https://globalnews.ca//41/childrens-aid-executive-charged/ https://globalnews.ca//woman-charged-with-sex-assault-of-/ https://www.cbc.ca//prince-edward-county-foster-care-abuse https://www.intelligencer.ca//3fd07287-3f2a-1755-7386-1c8c. https://globalnews.ca//drugs-theft-alcohol-abuse-alleged-/ https://www.thestar.com//two-teens-harrowing-stories-of-on https://globalnews.ca//teen-sexual-cult-ontario-foster-ho/ https://nypost.com//childrens-aid-society-in-canada-turne/ https://www.thestar.com//shocking-conditions-at-now-shutte https://www.thestar.com//province-shuts-down-three-thunder https://www.thestar.com//in_leaked_memo_peel_cas_staff_ask I’m calling OACAS out on this spurious attempt to bring more oversight to our sector. Regulation will not make children safer; instead, it is distracting attention from what’s really needed to improve safety for children and youth and I hope that [CAS] will back me up on that. Sincerely, http://cupe2190.ca//SSWCC_CAS-letters-re-college-regulatio ::: 2020: Registration of Children’s Aid Society workers. As a result of past efforts, regulations were updated in 2018 to require Local Directors of CASs to be registered with the College. https://fcsllg.ca/about-us/leadership-team/ 2020: Erin Lee Marcotte. Executive Director - Family and Children's services of Lanark, Leeds and Grenville OCSWSSW Registration No 806687 - Certificate is administratively suspended for non-payment of fees on September 6, 2013. Administrative Revocation of certificate of registration on March 9, 2017. https://onlineservices.ocswssw.org/Thinclient/Public/PR/EN/ The College has allegedly long worked with its stakeholders and with Government (speaking to anyone except the people directly affected, the clients) to address its concerns about registration requirements under the Child, Youth and Family Services Act while avoiding talking to families who have been harmed by the CAS since 2000. https://www.ocswssw.org//OCSWSSW-Submission-re-Proposed-Re We also received a commitment from Government at that time to work with the College and the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies toward a goal of requiring registration of CAS supervisors. We are disappointed that this objective remains unaddressed. (They're disappointed? How meaningful is that total bullshit..) Registration of all those who are eligible is included as part of the College’s 2020-2023 Strategic Plan as fundamental to achieving our mandate to: serve and protect the public interest; regulate our members; and ensure that we are accountable and accessible to the communities we serve. https://www.ocswssw.org//message-from-the-registrar-and-c/ Considering how closely the societies work with courts, the police and the ministry maybe the SIU would be a proactive way to deal with the children's aid societies refusal to register with the college. The Special Investigations Unit is the civilian oversight agency responsible for investigating circumstances involving police that have resulted in a death, serious injury, or allegations of sexual assault of a civilian in Ontario, Canada and might easily be adapted to investigated complaints about CAS workers... https://www.siu.on.ca/en/index.php ::: 2017: The proposed regulation would prescribe minimum qualification requirements for Local Directors of children's aid societies. Local Directors of children's aid societies will have a number of powers, duties and procedural rights under the CYFSA related to child protection and adoption and as such, require specific expertise. The proposed regulations would require that Local Directors have successfully completed a professional degree or diploma in social work at an accredited school of social work in Canada or an equivalent school of social work outside of Canada, and have a minimum of three years of experience working in the child welfare practice areas of child protection, adoption, or residential services. Under the proposed regulation, existing Local Directors would continue as Local Directors (e.g. will be "grandfathered in"). Additionally, societies would be permitted to appoint a person as a Local Director who does not meet these minimum requirements, but only if the Minister is satisfied that the person has educational qualifications and professional experience suitable for the position. The proposed regulation would include a common definition of a "society supervisor" and set minimum qualification requirements for society supervisors. Children's aid society supervisors provide clinical oversight of key decisions affecting the safety, permanency and well-being of children and as such, require specific expertise. The proposed regulation would require that society supervisors have a professional degree or diploma in social work from an accredited school of social work in Canada or educational qualifications and experience that, in the opinion of the Local Director, constitute adequate and suitable preparation for supervising child protection workers and other society employees providing child welfare services. It is proposed that existing regulatory provisions under the CFSA which specify various classifications of "social workers" to be employed by societies would be revoked and not continue under the CYFSA, as they do not align with the Social Work and Social Service Work Act, 1998. The Social Work and Social Service Work Act establishes the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers, and sets the objects of the College. The Act provides that only registered social workers or social service workers can use the title "social worker" or "social service worker". The College, through regulation, prescribes standards, qualifications and other requirements for the issuing of certificates of registration. Reference Regulations: Regulation 70 under the CFSA O. Reg 206/00 under the CFSA Further Information:Click to open Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017 Proposal Number:17-CYS034 Posting Date:December 12, 2017 Comments Due Date:January 26, 2018 Contact Address:Ministry of Children and Youth Services 56 Wellesley St West, 15th Floor Toronto, ON M5S 2S3 https://www.ontariocanada.com/registry/view.do ::; 2016: Taking off her lanyard in and putting on her union pin frontline worker Nancy Simone, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees local representing 275 workers at the Catholic Children’s Aid Society of Toronto, argues child protection workers already have levels of all internal secret oversight that include unregistered workplace supervisors, family courts that reverse burden of proof, internal reports bypassing the public coroners’ inquest process and annual rubber stamp case audits by the ministry. Our work is already regulated to death. (minus judicial oversight) https://www.waterloochronicle.ca//6437856-children-s-aid-/ https://www.ctvnews.ca//ontario-coroner-s-report-highlight http://thecaribbeancamera.com/training-for-childrens-aid-s/ https://www.thestar.com//coroners-panel-calls-for-overhaul https://www.thestar.com//childrens-aid-societies-launch-ma ::: 2019-2020 OMBUDSMAN'S FIRST ANNUAL REPORT: DEATH AND SERIOUS BODILY HARM.. Children’s aid societies and licensed residential service providers are legally required to inform the Ombudsman’s Office within 48 hours of any death or serious bodily harm of any child who has sought or received services from a children’s aid society within the past 12 months. Because they must be filed within 2 days of the incident, these reports may involve preliminary information and not findings of investigations by the police, child protection authorities or the coroner. From May 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020, we received 1,663 reports about 1,433 incidents (some reports were duplicates, from multiple agencies reporting the same incident). These reports related to 122 deaths and 1,473 cases of serious bodily harm (defined as any situation where a young person requires treatment beyond basic first aid, including for physical, sexual or emotional harm). The Ombudsman will report in more detail on our analysis of these statistics in future reports. TOP CASE TOPICS 1,458 Children’s aid societies 240 Youth justice centres 139 Residential licensees 26 Secure treatment https://www.ombudsman.on.ca//annua/2019-2020-annual-report https://www.aptnnews.ca//inside-a-child-welfare-system-wh/ 2010: Ont. Ombudsman probes Children's Aid Society. The provincial ombudsman will now be able to look into any complaints about a cash-strapped Children's Aid Society in southwestern Ontario. Andre Marin's office said the ombudsman has jurisdiction over the Huron-Perth Children's Aid Society, now that the provincial government has appointed a supervisor for the agency. Children and Youth Services Minister Laurel Broten announced this week that she has appointed an interim manager to replace the Stratford, Ont.-based society's board of directors. Normally, the ombudsman does not have jurisdiction over children's aid societies in Ontario. But Marin's office said that changes when the provincial government takes direct control, since the ombudsman has jurisdiction over the Ministry of Children and Youth Services. https://www.cbc.ca//ont-ombudsman-probes-children-s-aid-so 2011: Who oversees children’s aid societies? https://www.thestar.com//who_oversees_childrens_aid_societ 2019: Ontario Child Advocate’s Office Closes. https://www.hamiltoncas.com//ontario-child-advocates-offi/ https://www.nationalobserver.com//ontario-child-advocate-w. https://www.change.org/p/the-honourable-john-gerretsen-allo https://www.globenewswire.com//Ombudsman-can-now-take-comp ::: IS BEING A COMBATANT IN A WAR ZONE SAFER THAN BEING A CHILD IN ONTARIO'S CARE? It is stunning to me how these children... are rendered invisible while they are alive and invisible in their death, said Irwin Elman, Ontario’s advocate for children and youth. Between 90 and 120 children and youth connected to children’s aid die - every year... A TOTAL OF 158 CANADIANS SOLDIERS DIED IN AFGHANISTAN BETWEEN 2002 AND 2011. Canada in Afghanistan - Fallen Canadian Armed Forces Members. One hundred and fifty-eight (158) Canadian Armed Forces members lost their lives in service while participating in our country’s military efforts in Afghanistan. You can click on the names to explore their entries in the Canadian Virtual War Memorial. https://www.veterans.gc.ca//canadian-armed-forces//fallen There are lots of kids in group homes all over Ontario and they are not doing well and everybody knows it, says Kiaras Gharabaghi, a member of a government-appointed panel that examined the residential care system in 2016. https://www.mykawartha.com//7974974-kids-are-going-throug/ https://www.theglobeandmail.com//nearly-hal/article687480/ https://www.thestar.com//use_of_behaviouraltering_drugs_wi ::: Children's Aid: A Glaring Omission In Provincial And Federal Privacy Laws: As far back as 2004, Ontario's Privacy Commissioner has lobbied for oversight and accountability for the Children’s Aid Society and been completely ignored. Many parents and families complain about how difficult it is, if not impossible, to obtain information from children’s aid agencies. Many citizens complain that CAS agencies appear to operate under a veil of secrecy. CAS workers are making decisions which are literally destroying families, yet there is little or no accountability for their actions short of a lawsuit after the damage is done. "As the law stands now clients of the Ontario Children's Aid Society under Ministry are routinely denied a timely (often heavily censored) file disclosure before the court begins making life altering decisions decisions and the clients can not request files/disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act nor can censored information reviewed by the Privacy Commissioner of Ontario or the federal counter-part." (law updated in 2020 to include children's aid societies though as usual some restrictions/excuses will be applied) Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a constitutional provision that protects an individual's autonomy and personal legal rights from actions of the government in Canada. This Charter provision provides both substantive and procedural rights. There are three types of protection within the section, namely the right to life, liberty, and security of the person. Denials of these rights are constitutional only if the denials do not breach what is referred to as fundamental justice. Each year, said former Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian , my office has to tell Ontarians, again and again: ‘We’re sorry, but the situation you describe doesn’t fall under Ontario privacy legislation.’ Residents of several other Canadian provinces have more effective privacy protection than Ontarians. Ontario, Canada’s most populous province and the hub of business, needs a made-in-Ontario privacy law that will cover all of the private sector and non-government sectors, similar to laws in Alberta, B.C. and Quebec. This would be the final cornerstone statute for privacy protection in Ontario. I am disheartened by the complete lack of action to ensure transparency and accountability by these organizations that received significant public funding. As part of the modernization of the Acts, I call on the government to finally address this glaring omission and ensure that Children’s Aid Societies are added to the list of institutions covered. Hundreds of organizations that are recipients of large transfer payments from the government are not subject to the provincial or municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Acts, said the Commissioner, which means they are not subject to public scrutiny. Among the examples she cites are hospitals and Children’s Aid Societies. Openness and transparency of all publicly funded bodies is essential they should be publicly accountable. Her recommendations would include making changes to the law which would make a number of publicly funded organizations more accountable to the public, include Children’s Aid Agencies. http://www.theglobeandmail.com//beef-up-in/article1120573/ http://www.newswire.ca//commissioner-cavoukian-calls-on-go CAS actions are shrouded in secrecy, and media investigations are chilled by CAS (a multi-billion dollar private corporation) lawyers, who claim to be protecting the privacy rights of all involved to the exclusion of all other rights. The GONE theory holds that Greed, Opportunity, Need and the Expectation of not being caught are what lay the groundwork for fraud. Greed and/or need provides the motive. ::: CAS workers offend claim it's illegal to record or document them as it violates their right to personal privacy as they force their way into our homes looking in closets, cupboards and under furniture without warrants - with police officers looking over their shoulders for anything in plain sight. A person employed by another person or agency for financial remuneration is not on their own personal time anymore than an on duty police officer or a cashier at Walmart is... Regulation of child protection workers by Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers: CUPE responds: Please send or adapt any of the following letters to the Unregistered Executive Director of your CAS. DRAFT Letter 6 Privacy and discipline The move toward a regulated child protection workforce in Ontario gives me cause for serious concern about my privacy as a child protection worker. One of the rationalizations for registration and regulation with the College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers is the restoration of public confidence in Ontario’s child protection system. But violating my rights to privacy and confidentiality will do nothing to achieve this goal. Currently, workplace disciplines, complaints and other personnel matters at [CAS] are treated confidentially. But if child protection workers become subject to regulation by the College, previously confidential workplace matters will become matters of public record (like every other professional). My membership in the College would mean that anyone can see information about my status or complaints made against me and under the College’s rules, there is no time limit in which to make a complaint. Disciplinary hearings are open to the public and once a complaint is made, it is on file forever (like every other professional). There is no process for appeal. (YES THERE IS) Employers must also file a written report with the College if one of its registered members is terminated. This requirement conflicts with an employee’s right to grieve a termination under the collective agreement or appeal it through arbitration, where a termination may be overturned. (like every other professional) I also have concerns for my personal safety and that of my family, since college registration is open to public scrutiny and provides no protection from potentially violent clients. (see Motherisk Report: https://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca//about/pubs/mot/ -and the OHRC Report Under suspicion: Concerns about child welfare: http://www.ohrc.on.ca//under-suspicion-concerns-about-chil) None of the ways that the College deals with personal information, complaints, and discipline allow for a fair or safe process for child protection workers. There are any number of measures that can be and ought to be taken to restore public confidence in child protection and keep at-risk children and youth safer. Regulation by the college is not one of them. Sincerely, http://cupe2190.ca//SSWCC_CAS-letters-re-college-regulatio The Special Investigations Unit is the civilian oversight agency responsible for investigating circumstances involving police that have resulted in a death, serious injury, or allegations of sexual assault of a civilian in Ontario, Canada. https://www.siu.on.ca/en/index.php ::: CONSENT TO INTERCEPTION - CANADA. Documenting the facts is not a crime... Broadly speaking, Canadians can legally record their own conversations with other people, but not other peoples' conversations that they are not involved in. 183.1 Where a private communication is originated by more than one person or is intended by the originator thereof to be received by more than one person, a consent to the interception thereof by any one of those persons is sufficient consent for the purposes of any provision of this Part. [1993, c.40, s.2.] The Criminal Code, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-46 [Criminal Code] imposes a general prohibition on interception (recording) of private communications, but then provides an exception where one of the parties to the private communication consents to the interception of that communication. Thus, broadly speaking, Canadians can legally record their own conversations with other people, but not other people's conversations that they are not involved in. Other legislation in Canada protects various privacy rights, but does not prevent Canadians from recording their own conversations with others overtly or covertly. http://www.legaltree.ca/node/908 ::: 2017: Is It Time for Civilians to Start Wearing Their Own Body Cameras? (Everything you say can and will be used against you -should apply to everyone equally.) These days, it's become increasingly common for police officers to record interactions with the public using cameras they wear on their bodies. While current numbers are difficult to come by, a 2015 survey found that 19 percent of police departments across the United States were using body cameras, and another 77 percent had plans to do so. There's growing evidence that wearing body cams benefits both police and the people they deal with in the street, in part because research suggests that sides tend to behave with more restraint when they know they're being recorded. A 2015 study in the Journal of Quantitative Criminology, for example, found that after police in the city of Rialto, California, started wearing body cams, incidents in which officers used force dropped by around 60 percent, and the number of citizen complaints against them dropped by 88 percent. (A more recent study, though, suggests that the cams reduce use of force by both sides only when individual officer can't turn them on and off at their discretion.) Proponents say body cams can help protect police against false accusations of abuses though in some instances, the footage also sometimes can lead to allegations of misconduct. But would civilians themselves benefit from wearing cams, capturing whatever happens from their perspective as well? Wolfcom, a Los Angeles-based manufacturer of body cams worn by law enforcement officers, recently announced that it's developed a similarly sophisticated gadget that it plans to market to ordinary folks. The new Venture cam, which weighs just 2.2 ounces, features a rotatable camera head and a multi-functional, clippable design so it can be used as a body cam, a mountable car cam, a flashlight cam with four bright LEDs, and even a livestream camera. What sets the Venture cam apart from many existing wearable personal cameras GoPro actions cameras have been available for more than a decade, for instance and other body camera systems is that Wolfcom started as a supplier for law enforcement, and is modifying those cameras and systems for the general public. "The concept of a consumer camera has been in our minds for a while," says Wolfcom founder and president Peter Austin Onruang, via email. Over the years, he says, the company received hundreds of requests from the public to buy the cameras that Wolfcom sells to law enforcement, but was unable to sell directly to the public because the police cams could only be used with special software designed for police departments, making them unsuitable for consumers. The company envisions the cams as a way for people to record and livestream what Onruang called "the best moments of his or her life," such as exciting mountain-biking or snowboarding adventures. But the same technology also could capture an encounter with police. https://electronics.howstuffworks.com//civilian-body-camer ::: "Shonin isn’t just a wearable, it’s a body cam for civilians." The team behind Shonin says the camera is designed to capture your side of the story, citing possible uses like documenting road rage, abuses of power, events and protests, threats, and assault. Shonin also notes several everyday situations where it could be used, like walking alone at night, or at home alone with a child protection social worker where the visible design of the camera itself might act as a deterrent. A new palm-sized body cam called Shonin has launched on Kickstarter, positioning itself as a security device (as opposed to other wearable cameras like FrontRow meant for capturing experiences). The camera, which can be attached either by a clip or magnetic backing, begins recording with a tap to the body, and uses either cellular or Wi-Fi connectivity to instantly allow you to share video to destinations like Facebook Live or YouTube. It also securely stores videos on the Shonin cloud, lets you view videos on your phone via the Shonin app, and perform simple edits. If no connectivity is available, the camera can also store encrypted captured footage to its internal 8GB SD card. The camera is also IP67 waterproof, is GPS enabled, and has a single charge that delivers 2.5 hours of battery life, which can be doubled with an additional magnetic battery the company promises to also add image stabilization. https://www.theverge.com//shonin-wearable-body-cam-civilia ::: In the psychology of human behavior, denialism is a person's choice to deny reality, as a way to avoid a psychologically uncomfortable truth like child protection in Ontario is a rogue agency gone mad with power. There are those who engage in denialist tactics because they are protecting some "overvalued idea" which is critical to their identity. Since legitimate dialogue is not a valid option for those who are interested in protecting bigoted or unreasonable ideas from facts, their only recourse is to use these types of rhetorical tactics to give the appearance of argument and legitimate debate, when there is none. Regulation of child protection workers by Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers: CUPE responds: (continued) DRAFT Letter 4 (the slippery slope) Accountability: "Mandatory registration and regulation by the College is not in The Best Interest of Child Protection Workers and ultimately , not in the best interest of vulnerable children, youth and families." A logical fallacy is an error in reasoning that renders an argument invalid. It is also called a fallacy, an informal logical fallacy, and an informal fallacy. All logical fallacies are nonsequitursarguments in which a conclusion doesn't follow logically from what preceded it. Here are some facts and figures I think point to significant problems for the child welfare sector and for underprivileged families in particular: There are over 5,000 child protection workers in Ontario (5160) The College regulates about 17,000 social workers and social service workers In Ontario, only 7% of College-registered social workers are employed by a CAS Only 4% of members of the Ontario Association of Social Workers work for a CAS Between 30% and 50% of Ontario’s child welfare workers do NOT hold a BSW Only 63% of direct service staff in CASs have a BSW or MSW (in 2012, it was 57%) Only 78% of direct service supervisors have a BSW or MSW (in 2012, it was 75.5%) The 2013 OACAS Human Resources survey estimates that 70% of relevant CAS job classifications would qualify for registration with the College (so about 1500 CAS currently employed workers would be unable to register with the College) From 2002 to 2014, 41 child welfare employees who did not hold a BSW or MSW submitted equivalency applications to register as social workers; only 16 were successful and 25 were refused. http://cupe2190.ca//SSWCC_CAS-letters-re-college-regulatio https://mydefence.ca/ontario-college-of-social-workers-and/ A logical fallacy is a flaw in reasoning. Logical fallacies are like tricks or illusions of thought, and they're often very sneakily used by child protection social workers and the ministry to fool people. Don't be fooled! This post has been designed to help you identify and call out dodgy child poaching funding predator logic wherever it may raise its ugly, incoherent head. Follow the link and rollover the icons to click for examples. If you see a child protection social worker committing a fallacy, link them to it ... https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/ https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-logical-fallacy-1691259 https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/common-logical-fallacies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies ::: You can hear former MPP Frank Klees say in a video linked below the very reason the social worker act was introduced and became law in 1998 was to regulate the "children's aid societies" and they ignored that.. FORMER ONTARIO MPP FRANK KLEES EXPLAINS "A DISTINCTION WITHOUT A DIFFERENCE." I'M NOT A SOCIAL WORKER, I'M A CHILD PROTECTION WORKER! https://youtu.be/SA1YyWO0RTQ Two decades later... Without the deterrents professional regulation provides what prevents child protection social workers from being or becoming a danger to children and their families? The union representing child protection social workers is firmly opposed to oversight from a professional college and the Ministry of Children and Youth Services, which regulates and funds child protection, is so far staying out of it. The report Towards Regulation notes that the clearest path forward would be for the provincial government to -again- legislate the necessity of professional regulation, which would be an appallingly heavy-handed move according to OACAS/Cupe. http://joincupe2190.ca//Professional-regulation-at-childre ::: 2020: TORONTO -- Ontario's child welfare system will be redesigned to focus on prevention and early intervention, the provincial government said Wednesday. "Child welfare should not be the system that is feared," Dunlop said in a news conference. "No one should be scared to lose their children for speaking to a children's aid society." Associate Minister of Children and Women's Issues Jill Dunlop said the new strategy will also work to address the over-representation of Black and Indigenous families in the children's aid system. She said children and youth in care experience worse outcomes than those in a family setting, including lower graduation rates, a higher risk of homelessness and more involvement with the justice system. https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-plans-to-redesign-child- ::: NOT ALL SOCIAL WORKERS ARE CREATED EQUAL. 2009: Ontario CAS caseworkers come armed with vaster powers than any police officer investigating crime and shrouded in secrecy. It is an immense authority easily abused, without vigilant restraint. https://www.cbc.ca//diploma-mills-marketplace-fake-degrees Whether we wanted it or not, knew it or not, over time, the work of child-welfare organizations has become parenting by the state and the imposition of their value system on other people, says Marty McKay, a clinical psychologist who has worked on abuse cases in the U.S and Canada. Provincial agencies have the power to intervene when children are considered at risk of abuse or neglect even if none has actually occurred. http://www.nationalpost.com/children+society+w//story.html ::: 2004: Child Welfare Reform: Protecting Children or Policing the Poor? It was in the context of dramatic media coverage of tragic child welfare outcomes and a rapidly shrinking welfare state that Ontario's child welfare reform was introduced in 1997. The reform involves a series of changes to both law and policy that have transformed child welfare in this province within a very short time. The initiatives to support this new and much more focused direction, as we will show, have produced a high level of surveillance and intrusion into the lives of clients and suspected client of the system. https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/jlsp/vol19/iss1/1/ ::: OACAS TODAY: The duty to report. Reasonable grounds refers to the information that an average person, using normal and honest judgment, would need in order to decide to report. This standard has been recognized by courts in Ontario as establishing a lower funding friendly corporate threshold for reasonable grounds to open files. Can there really be two thresholds for reasonable grounds and still be reasonable? http://www.oacas.org/childrens-aid-child-pr/duty-to-report/ ::: 2003: Children's Aid in Ontario facing serious cash crunch. https://www.theglobeandmail.com//childrens/article1010103/ ::: 2013: In leaked memo, Peel CAS staff asked to keep cases open to retain funding. https://www.thestar.com//in_leaked_memo_peel_cas_staff_ask ::: Harassment is a form of discrimination. It includes any unwanted behaviour that offends, humiliates, degrades or marginalizes you. Generally, harassment is a behaviour that persists over time. Serious one-time incidents can also sometimes be considered harassment. CRIMINAL HARASSMENT Are you worried about your family's security because a child poaching funding predator is: using a lower corporate standard for reasonable grounds for continually launching or reopening investigations into your personal life hoping for a different result refuses to let you review your file for inaccurate information ignores or suppresses any information or documentation that indicates happy healthy children refuses you an opportunity to address concerns threatens to arbitrary remove your children if you don't allow them to search your home without a warrant or threatens court action to remove your children if you fail sign consent forms and service agreements interviews your children in school without recording the interview... is contacting you over and over by phone, email and knocking at your door multiple times every day is watching your home or workplace is making you or your family feel threatened... is peeking through your windows or attempts to talk your very young children into unlocking the door for them when they don't think your in the immediate vicinity... You are experiencing criminal harassment unless it's a CAS worker it’s a crime and you can get help... ::: 2016: Report shines light on poverty’s role on kids in CAS system. The effect of provincial policies on struggling families was especially apparent in the late 1990s, when the Conservative government slashed welfare payments and social service funding while at the same time, it introduced in child protection the notion of maltreatment by omission, including not having enough food in the home and this after giving the society what amounted to an unlimited funding scheme. The number of children taken into care spiked as did their funding. https://youtu.be/CG6PT3Hw568 The ministry has been pretty clear with us that advocacy is not part of our mandate, Goodman said speaking for the society. It’s not like they’re asking for the (poverty) data. They’re not. Goodman then when on to suggest the silence suited the government more than the silence suited the society's funding goals. https://www.thestar.com//report-shines-light-on-povertys-r ::: 2019: There’s no rule on who can write assessments that ‘effectively decide’ if an Ontario parent loses their child. Experts say that must change. https://www.thestar.com//theres-no-rule-on-who-can-write-a https://www.thespec.com//9552213-ontario-psychologist-use/ ::: 2019: Executive director Elaina Groves does say it's important for the public to know that child protection workers investigate differently than police. Decisions are made on a "balance of probabilities" which often means there's not enough evidence for criminal charges let alone a conviction which is probably why child protection social workers in Ontario refused to comply with the social worker registration act claiming there are no practical benefits for them agreeing to register with a college of social work that also uses a "balance of probabilities" to determine the "facts.." The College of Social Work takes reports about concerns from the public and applies their own standard for investigating complaints as does the society and the same "balance of probabilities" making a ruling. Groves says some may think that sounds "subjective" but she says rulings on abuse are based on the "impressions" of the unqualified unregistered social worker, the opinions of questionable medical professionals, as well as other evidence like the fraudulent Motherisk Test. Balance of Probabilities Definition: Burden of proof in civil trials. The common distinction is made with the burden of truth in a criminal trial, which is beyond a reasonable doubt. In a civil trial, one party's case need only be more probable than the other. https://www.cbc.ca//cas-daycare-operator-dowling-sudbury-c https://www.cbc.ca//home-daycare-lawsuit-cas-police-invest ::: Expert Evidence and Assessments in Child Welfare Cases. Queen's University Legal Research Paper No. 063. Nicholas Bala Queen's University - Faculty of Law. 33 Pages Posted: 23 Dec 2015. Jane Thomson University of New Brunswick, Faculty of Law; Queen's University, Faculty of Law Date Written: December 8, 2015. Abstract: Expert evidence from mental health professionals and medical doctors can play a central role in child welfare cases, and this evidence needs to be carefully scrutinized before it is relied upon in making critical decisions about the future of parent-child relationships. In Ontario, concern about the reliability of expert evidence in child abuse and neglect cases was heightened by the 2014 decision of the Court of Appeal in R v. Broomfield, where a mother’s conviction on criminal charges related to giving her infant child cocaine based on testimony by an expert from the Motherisk Drug Testing Lab at the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children. In overturning the conviction, the Court of Appeal noted that the trial judge made her decision unaware of the genuine controversy among the experts about the use of the testing methods relied upon by the Crown expert at trial to found a conclusion of chronic cocaine ingestion. In the months following the Court of Appeal decision in Broomfield, the Attorney General of Ontario appointed a former justice of the Court of Appeal, Susan Lang, to undertake a Review to assess the adequacy and reliability of hair analysis evidence used in child protection and criminal proceedings (report to be released Dec. 15, 2015). https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2700906 ::: 2010: Psychologist got degree from U.S. 'diploma mill' A psychologist with the Durham Children’s Aid Society has pleaded guilty to professional misconduct for misrepresenting himself and for making multiple unqualified diagnoses of mental illness. Gregory Carter, 63, appeared before the College of Psychologists of Ontario’s disciplinary committee on Tuesday. He and the college agreed on the terms of the penalty, which includes a three-month suspension, a recorded reprimand and one year of supervised practice under an approved practitioner. In his practice with the Children’s Aid Society, Mr. Carter’s expertise was used to determine child custody cases. https://nationalpost.com//psychologist-got-degree-from-u-s ::: 2016: Nov 24, 2016 - Although the Ontario Risk Assessment was a state of the art clinical tool at the... The purpose of the Child Protection Standards in Ontario (dated February 2007) is to promote consistently high quality service delivery to children, youth and their families receiving child protection services from Children’s Aid Societies across the province. http://www.children.gov.on.ca//childprotectionstandards.as ::: 2019: Expert who gave more than 100 assessments in Ontario child protection cases lied about credentials for years, judge finds. https://www.thestar.com//expert-who-gave-more-than-100-ass ::: 2019: Ontario psychologist used ‘obsolete’ tests in expert opinion calling for parents to lose their kids, judge says. ( if it was good enough once upon a time to remove children with what's wrong with it now that wasn't wrong then?) https://www.thestar.com//ontario-psychologist-used-obsolet ::: 2019: Province orders children’s aid societies to review credentials of experts used in child welfare cases https://www.thestar.com//province-orders-childrens-aid-soc ::: Harmful Impacts is the title of the Motherisk commission's report written by the Honourable Judith C. Beaman after two years of study. After reading it, harmful seems almost to be putting it lightly. Out of the over 16 000 tests the commission only examined 56 cases of the flawed Motherisk tests, administered by the Motherisk lab between 2005 and 2015 and were determined to have a substantial impact on the decisions of child protection agencies to keep files open or led to children being permanently removed from their families. WHAT ARE THE HARMFUL IMPACTS? 2018: What separation from parents does to children: ‘The effect is catastrophic’ This is what happens inside children when they are forcibly separated from their parents. Their heart rate goes up. Their body releases a flood of stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline. Those stress hormones can start killing off dendrites the little branches in brain cells that transmit messages. In time, the stress can start killing off neurons and especially in young children wreaking dramatic and long-term damage, both psychologically and to the physical structure of the brain. The effect is catastrophic, said Charles Nelson, a pediatrics professor at Harvard Medical School. There’s so much research on this that if people paid attention at all to the science, they would never do this. Separating kids from parents a 'textbook strategy' of domestic abuse, experts say and causes irreversible, lifelong damage even when there seems to be no other choice. Being separated from parents or having inconsistent living conditions for long periods of time can create changes in thoughts and behavior patterns, and an increase in challenging behavior and stress-related physical symptoms, such as sleep difficulty, nightmares, flashbacks, crying, and yelling says Amy van Schagen - California State University. The Science Is Unequivocal: Separating Families Is Harmful to Children In news stories and opinion pieces, psychological scientists are sharing evidence-based insight from decades of research demonstrating the harmful effects of separating parents and children. In an op-ed in USA Today, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff (University of Delaware), Mary Dozier (University of Delaware), and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek (Temple University) write: Years of research are clear: Children need their parents to feel secure in the world, to explore and learn, and to grow strong emotionally. In a Washington Post op-ed, James Coan (University of Virginia) says: As a clinical psychologist and neuroscientist at the University of Virginia, I study how the brain transforms social connection into better mental and physical health. My research suggests that maintaining close ties to trusted loved ones is a vital buffer against the external stressors we all face. But not being an expert on how this affects children, I recently invited five internationally recognized developmental scientists to chat with me about the matter on a science podcast I host. As we discussed the border policy’s effect on the children ensnared by it, even I was surprised to learn just how damaging it is likely to be. Mia Smith-Bynum (University of Maryland) is quoted in The Cut: The science leads to the conclusion that the deprivation of caregiving produces a form of extreme suffering in children. Being separated from a parent isn’t just a trauma it breaks the relationship that helps children cope with other traumas. Forceful separation is particularly damaging, explains clinical psychologist Mia Smith-Bynum, a professor of family science at the University of Maryland, when parents feel there’s nothing in their power that can be done to get their child back. For all the dislocation, strangeness and pain of being separated forcibly from parents, many children can and do recover, said Mary Dozier, a professor of child development at the University of Delaware. Not all of them some kids never recover, Dr. Dozier said. But I’ve been amazed at how well kids can do after institutionalization if they’re able to have responsive and nurturing care afterward. The effects of that harm may evolve over time, says Antonio Puente, a professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington who specializes in cultural neuropsychology. What may begin as acute emotional distress could re emerge later in life as PTSD, behavioral issues and other signs of lasting neuropsychological damage, he says. A parent is really in many ways an extension of the child’s biology as that child is developing, Tottenham said. That adult who’s routinely been there provides this enormous stress-buffering effect on a child’s brain at a time when we haven’t yet developed that for ourselves. They’re really one organism, in a way. When the reliable buffering and guidance of a parent is suddenly withdrawn, the riot of learning that molds and shapes the brain can be short-circuited, she said. In a story from the BBC, Jack Shonkoff (Harvard University) discusses evidence related to long-term impacts: Jack P Shonkoff, director of the Harvard University Center on the Developing Child, says it is incorrect to assume that some of the youngest children removed from their parents’ care will be too young to remember and therefore relatively unharmed. When that stress system stays activated for a significant period of time, it can have a wear and tear effect biologically. Respecting procedural safeguards: There is a major power imbalance between an impoverished parent (we know that families of low socio-economic status are hugely overrepresented in the child welfare system) and a state agency. To guard against such an imbalance, it is critical that our legal system respect the time-tested procedural safeguards developed to specifically ensure that the disadvantaged party is treated fairly. Yet according to the Motherisk report, these safeguards were ignored. The report describes a litany of procedural injustices perpetrated on parents: parents were pressured to consent to testing; were not informed of their right to reject testing; they had adverse inferences drawn against them when they rejected testing; they were required to prove the unreliability of testing instead of the other way around; and they were refused the right to cross-examine Motherisk "experts" at summary judgment motions. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees procedural fairness when the state interferes with fundamental personal rights, such as the right by parents to care for their children. Ironically enough, the issue of taking body samples (such as hair for testing) without proper consent for the purpose of criminal investigations was found to be an infringement of the Charter 20 years ago by the Supreme Court. It is unconscionable that these protections are available to accused persons, but were never considered applicable to parents at the mercy of child protection services. There is nothing new about the commission's finding that many parents were explicitly or implicitly told that there would be negative consequences if they did not undergo hair testing. In fact, this type of coercive action continues to happen: parents are often given messages that if they do not consent, for example, to a finding that the child is in need of protection, that there will be negative consequences. For example, they may be prevented from bringing further motions, or more damning in CAS work labelled as being "uncooperative." https://www.cbc.ca//o/motherisk-child-protection-1.4559905 https://nationalpost.com//chris-selley-motherisk-is-the-on https://torontosun.com//mandel-victims-of-bad-science-at-m https://nationalpost.com//discredited-hair-testing-program https://www.thespec.com//motherisk-hair-testing-unfair-and http://www.thestar.com//daycare-operator-sued-for-calling- https://www.thestar.com//losing_a_child_to_cas_should_be_m https://www.insideottawavalley.com//5926359-cas-watchdog-/ https://kmlaw.ca/cases/crown-ward-class-action/ https://www.thestar.com//in-a-rare-legal-case-toronto-teen https://nypost.com//childrens-aid-society-in-canada-turne/ https://nationalpost.com//chris-selley-motherisk-is-the-on https://globalnews.ca//teen-sexual-cult-ontario-foster-ho/ https://www.intelligencer.ca//3fd07287-3f2a-1755-7386-1c8c https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/cornwall-sex-abuse-victims-given- https://www.theglobeandmail.com//suit-sett/article4290587/ https://nationalpost.com//barbara-kay-childrens-aid-societ https://lfpress.com///e7867b5c-7d22-73c4-0e36-450327791eeb https://www.osler.com//children-s-aid-society-of-london-an https://globalnews.ca//teen-sexual-cult-ontario-foster-ho/ https://nypost.com//childrens-aid-society-in-canada-turne/ https://www.thestar.com//daycare-operator-sued-for-calling https://www.cbc.ca//h/homeless-youth-foster-care-1.4240121 https://www.thestar.com//use_of_behaviouraltering_drugs_wi https://www.theglobeandmail.com//nearly-hal/article687480/ https://www.thestar.com//a-system-should-not-raise-a-child https://www.intelligencer.ca//9f07f58b-e46f-2a49-4e7f-9693 https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/ontario-child-advocate-stands-by- https://aptnnews.ca//ontario-coroner-finds-potential-crim/ https://blackburnnews.com//layoffs-windsor-essex-children/ https://lfpress.com///e32079bc-4395-7c5e-70ec-378d688f0b6a https://www.thestar.com//cas-managers-charged-more-than-10 https://windsorstar.com//childrens-aid-gets-4-3-million-ca https://www.thestar.com//province-orders-childrens-aid-soc Discredited hair-testing program harmed vulnerable families across Ontario, report says. https://www.cbc.ca/n/health/motherrisk-commission-1.4552160 https://blog.cansfordlabs.co.uk/5-reasons-why-the-motherisk http://projects.thestar.com/motherisk/ https://www.thestar.com//head-of-motherisk-probe-had-ties- https://www.cbc.ca//o/motherisk-child-protection-1.4559905 ::: https://youtu.be/IHTg5zzFEKE