Articles 2021

This article reviews a recent Webinar regarding Family Court decisions related to the pandemic, including vaccination and remote learning, that will interest members of the Education Law, Family Law and Child and Youth Law sections.

A review of the submissions made during an application for judicial review in Federal Court concerning a 2019 compensation order made by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (“CHRT”) for Indigenous victims of the discriminatory underfunding of child and family services (the “Compensation Decision”) and the CHRT’s 2020 decision regarding the definition of “First Nations child” (the “First Nations child Decision”).

Recent developments in openness in adoption proceedings in Ontario are reviewed, including three decision from the Ontario Court of Appeal.

This article reviews the first merits decision of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (“HRTO”) on the role of human rights during the Covid-19 pandemic: JL v. Empower Simcoe, 2021 HRTO 222.

A review of Part X of the CYFSA, which has sought to establish new rules for the collection, use, disclosure of, and access to, personal information held by ministry-funded and licensed service providers.

For young persons who become involved in both the youth criminal and family court systems, the lawful sharing or exchanging of information between them is often legally complex and fraught with the potential for errors. A case comment on Children’s Aid Society of the Districts of Sudbury and Manitoulin v. A.A., 2021 ONCJ 188.

A review of recent court decisions addressing Criminal Code s. 278 applications in sexual-offence based cases where the records sought are youth records.

This article reviews the significance of changes to the Child, Youth and Family Services Act (Ontario, 2018) and the federal legislation An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis Children, Youth and Families (2020) on child protection proceedings and Indigenous youth.

A review of the Supreme Court of Canada's decision of R v TJM, 2021 SCC 6, which address the jurisdiction of the Superior Court of Justice for youth bail hearings.

On August 29, 2020, the Ontario Court of Appeal rendered an important decision on the priority between a child’s refugee claim and a parent’s application for return of the child to another country. Maryellen Symons summarizes the key points of this decision.