The hearing of the certification motion on this is now scheduled for 10:00 a.m. on July 15th, 2013, and will continue on to the 16th, and if a 3rd day is required, on to the 18th. 

The Court will hear arguments from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. each day. There will be no afternoon sitting. 

The location of the hearing is in Courtroom #5, Osgoode Hall, 130 Queen Street West, Toronto.

If there is any change to the location, we will post the change of information here.

We invite all of you to attend the hearings on these days. All the support you can offer is most welcome.

It would be appreciated if those who plan on attending can confirm their attendance on the event page, so that we have an idea of the number of people who will attend, and the court can be informed if it is a large number. A link to the event is here: https://www.facebook.com/events/292292807569600/

Justice Edward Belobaba of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice will hear this first-time case. Plaintiffs Marcia Martel (Brown) and Robert Commanda will be arguing their case for the recognition of a class of 16,000 survivors of the 60′s Scoop before Justice Belobaba. The case will be heard in Toronto. Details of the date have not been announced.

If you believe you are a survivor of the Sixties Scoop and lost your culture or language or traditions as a result, then you may wish to attend the hearing or contact Chithika Withanage via email at chithika@wilsonchristen.com for further information.

Three judges of the Court of Appeal for Ontario (Justices Marc Rosenberg, Eileen Gillese and Michael Tulloch) heard the appeal on October 25, 2012. They released the Court’s decision on January 17, 2013. 

The Court upheld the decision of the first appeal court, except for changing its decision on costs. This means:

1. The case about whether or not the loss of First Nation culture is a legal wrong continues;
2. The case will be heard by a Judge other than the first judge who decided back in May of 2010 to grant conditional certification, and that judge was the Honourable Justice Paul M. Perell. This means that there will have to be another hearing, where, once more, the issue of certifying this action as a class action will be heard by another judge;
3. The costs awarded against Marcia Brown (Martel) and Robert Commanda, the plaintiffs in the amount of $25,000.00 was set aside. The Court of Appeal had this to say about the action when setting aside the Order requiring Marcia Brown and Robert Commanda to pay $25,000: 

“It [referring to the case] is in the nature of a test case and raises novel points of law. The treatment of Aborginal children in Ontario’s child welfare system and Canada’s responsibility for what occurred are matters of public interest.” 

Already, the Plaintiffs have moved the case forward. The Honourable Regional Senior Justice in Toronto has appointed a new judge to hear the case for the action to be certified. The new judge is the Honourable Justice Edward Belobaba. 

As soon as the date for the new hearing is known, we shall post the date. The Plaintiffs Marcia Brown (Martel) and Robert Commanda invite you to attend. The hearing is public. It is an opportunity for the court to begin to hear the voices of those silenced during the 60’s Scoop.

The appeal was heard on October 25, 2012.

We would like to thank everyone who was able to attend the hearing as well as those who were able to make it to the march the previous day. Your dedication and support has been invaluable to us, in this journey.

A decision has not been released by the court yet, and it may be weeks or several months before we hear something from the court. As soon as we hear something, we will be update everyone.

The appeal in this matter is now set to be heard by the Court of Appeal for Ontario on Thursday, October 25, 2012. 

Three judges of the province’s highest court will be considering whether or not the decision of the Honourable Justice Perrell, the first judge who heard the matter over three days, will be upheld, or whether it should be set aside as the Ontario Divisional Court decided was appropriate. There will be submissions made by the lawyers for each side. 

I am very pleased to inform everyone that the Ontario Court of Appeal granted us leave to appeal the decision of the Ontario Divisional Court.

This means that we met the test of compelling reasons to satisfy the Court of Appeal that a further review by a court higher than the Ontario Divisional Court is required.

There will be a further update once we are given a date for the appearance before the Court of Appeal for Ontario.

It is a long road, but we are still on it, moving forward.

We are still awaiting word from the Ontario Court of Appeal as to whether or not that court will grant leave for us to appeal the Order of the Ontario Divisional Court (first Appellate court) to the Court of Appeal as the 2nd Appellate court. Leave is required. 

If leave is granted, then we proceed with the appeal to that Court. 

If leave is not granted, we start the journey again before a different judge.

Chithika Withanage