Lawsuit

June 20, 2003 permalink

A lawsuit is now pending seeking more funding for handicapped children. If the requested relief is granted, this may do families more harm than good by increasing the funding for Children's Aid. The lawyer on the suit, Douglas Elliott, is active in legalizing homosexual marriage. What follows is a recent press release on the suit:

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Special Kids Ontario

Special Kids Class Action certification application dismissed by Ontario Superior Court of Justice

(Huntsville, June 17, 2003) An Ontario Superior Court decision released yesterday by Justice Maurice Cullity declined to certify the lawsuit as a class action. The Court also ruled that parents and families denied access to special needs agreements would not be entitled to damages. The Court left open the question of whether the Province was permitted to cancel the special needs program and to require parents to surrender custody of their children in order to gain access to residential care. Lawyers for the plaintiff say an appeal challenging the ruling will be filed immediately.

Anne Larcade, mother of Alexander Larcade, acted as the representative plaintiff in a class action application on behalf of thousands of other Ontario families with disabled children. Until 1997, these families had been able to access special needs agreements to help meet the needs of their children when community programs proved insufficient. The Minister of Community and Family Services unilaterally cancelled the program that year, without asking the Legislature to change the law which Ms. Larcade claims mandates the program.

Few of the affected families have the emotional or financial resources to challenge the government's actions. Ms. Larcade believed a class action would help to provide the solution to these needy families.

Justice Cullity rejected the class action certification application on the grounds that the government could not be held liable for damages arising from a budgetary decision. Given that finding, the Court concluded that the unresolved question of the legality of the Minister's cancellation of the program could be better determined by a simple application to the Court than by a class action.

Commenting on the case, Anne Larcade said, "My family and others are extremely disappointed by this setback, but we remain committed to ensuring that families of disabled children living in Ontario receive the programs they deserve. The public distaste for the terrible position in which the Ontario Government has put disabled children and their families is not going to go away. No one should have to give up their child to get suitable care."

Douglas Elliott, of McGowan Elliott and Kim LLP, lawyer for Ms. Larcade, observed that Justice Cullity indicated that the issue might be dealt with more suitably as a test case rather than a class action.

Mr. Elliott stated, "While we are vigorously pursuing an appeal, there is nothing to stop an individual family from pursuing a test case on the legality of the Minister's actions. The government has failed to produce the alleged directive that cancelled the program. It is very clear that the Court has not excused the Minister's conduct in cancelling this program without the approval of the legislature."

For more information, please contact: Rob Brown or Sasha Dmitrenko at McGowan Elliott & Kim - 416-362-1989