Judge admonishes agency for ‘overbearing’ attempt to have innocent man placed on child abuse registry

A Manitoba child-welfare agency made continued attempts to have a man placed on the provincial child abuse registry — even after he was found not guilty in criminal court of committing sex offences against his daughter.

The application from the Child and Family All Nations Coordinated Response Network, which sought to have the man put on the registry, is detailed in a written decision issued by Court of King’s Bench family division Justice L. Kim Berthaudin early last month.

“ANCR pursued its case in an overbearing manner,” Berthaudin said.

Berthaudin had already ruled against placing the man, referred to by his initials, D.S., on the registry, after a hearing in 2024.

The judge then ordered the agency to pay court costs of just less than $25,000 to D.S. in a decision in May this year because she found the organization’s pursuit of the case to be aggressive.

The agency then put forward a motion, seeking time to file an appeal disputing the order to pay costs. Berthaudin rejected the appeal Oct. 1. D.S. opposed the motion, arguing the judge’s decision to order costs was sound.

It said the order to pay costs had “broader implications” for it as a child-protection agency, necessitating time to file an appeal.

“It argued that clarification from the Court of Appeal on when costs are appropriate would be helpful,” said Berthaudin.

Previously, Berthaudin found Child and Family All Nations Coordinated Response Network had failed to prove D.S. had abused his child and that his name should not be placed on the registry.

D.S. had been found not guilty of 13 counts of sexual interference and sex assault by another King’s Bench justice in 2021.

The agency, which began reviewing abuse allegations against D.S. in 2019, filed its application to have the man placed on the child abuse registry in 2022 after the acquittal in criminal court.

Berthaudin said the organization pursued its child abuse registry application on meagre evidence.

“The case was pursued on very weak facts, facts known from the transcript of proceedings for the criminal case … that was available and filed before the (child abuse registry) hearing even began,” wrote Berthaudin.

“The vast majority of the central components of the evidence relied upon by ANCR included witness accounts that were internally inconsistent, or were contradicted by other witness accounts and were not corroborated by other evidence — facts which were already known from the earlier criminal proceeding.”

Berthaudin said the child-welfare agency prolonged and complicated the child abuse registry hearing by attempting to question D.S.’s credibility regarding a polygraph test, necessitating additional witnesses be called.

In dismissing the motion to seek time to appeal the order of costs, Berthaudin said there would be “little to no practical utility to an appeal” in the case.

“This proceeding is at its end, as D.S. has the court’s decision affirming his position on the substantive issue that he did not abuse his child. The appeal would not serve to delay D.S.’s application to oppose entry of his name on the (child abuse registry). It would, of course, prolong his involuntary, unwanted involvement in this litigation, which began six years ago,” wrote Berthaudin.

“He deserves to see an end to this lengthy process.”

The October decision is not the first time the Child and Family All Nations Coordinated Response Network has been criticized by a King’s Bench judge for its attempts to have an individual placed on the child abuse registry in recent months.

In a June 25 decision, another family division justice criticized the agency, as well as police and provincial child abuse investigators, over an investigation into a social worker who had been accused of abuse.

Criminal charges against the man were stayed in that case prior to the agency seeking to have his name placed on the child abuse registry.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca