Case information

None.

Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

Administrative law – Boards and Tribunals – Jurisdiction – Complaints to Child and Family Services Board – Meaning of “an issue that has been decided by the court or is before the court” in s. 68.1(8) of Child and Family Services Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C.11 – Whether Court of Appeal failed to recognize duty of the court to consider the best interests of the child at every stage of a protection application proceeding, including interim and final decisions – Whether Court of Appeal erred in law when it held that complaints had not been decided by the court and were not before the court – Whether Court of Appeal misinterpreted “decided by the court or is before the court” – Whether Court of Appeal erred in law by creating a system of concurrent jurisdiction of the Child and Family Services Board and courts and thereby effectively removed s. 68.1(8) from the Child and Family Services Act?

In February 2009, the applicant apprehended D.D.'s two children. While protection application and temporary care and custody proceedings progressed before the Ontario Court of Justice, D.D. commenced a separate application before the Child and Family Services Review Board raising complaints about how she and her children were being treated by the CAS. The CAS brought a motion before the Child and Family Services Review Board arguing that the Board had no jurisdiction to hear D.D.’s complaints because all matters related to the apprehension of D.D.’s children were the subject of the protection application before the Ontario Court of Justice. The Board held that it had jurisdiction. It heard D.D.’s complaints and ordered the applicant to provide D.D. with reasons for decisions it had made regarding the placement and care of her children. The applicant sought judicial review. The Ontario Superior Court of Justice set aside the Board’s decision on the basis it lacked jurisdiction to hear D.D.’s complaints. The Board and D.D. appealed. The Court of Appeal granted an appeal and reinstated the Board’s decision.