Publication Ban and Non-Profits

[afterfostercare]

The Foster Care Council of Canada is an unregistered non-profit organization. Its Board of Directors is made up of people who have lived in foster care, as well as people who have children in foster care. The issue I am faced with is basically explained by the following provision of a provincial Act listed below;

According to Sub-Section 45(8) of the Child and Family Services Act (Ontario);

(8) No person shall publish or make public information that has the effect of identifying a child who is a witness at or a participant in a hearing or the subject of a proceeding, or the child’s parent or foster parent or a member of the child’s family.

My question is this. Is a registered non-profit corporation required to make the names of the Board of Directors publicly available? If so, this would be in Direct violation of the ss. 45(8) of the Child and Family Services Act. How does one deal with this?

[Riverwind]

My question is this. Is a registered non-profit corporation required to make the names of the Board of Directors publicly available? If so, this would be in Direct violation of the ss. 45(8) of the Child and Family Services Act. How does one deal with this?

Is there a requirement that members of the board be foster parents or have been in foster care? If so you could remove this requirement - that would mean that no one could assume that someone serving on the board is also a foster parent. It is true that people may guess that the board members were foster care parents or children but no one would no for certain which means that you may comply with the law.

That said, you need to consult a lawyer.

[afterfostercare]

I appreciate your quick response. Actually those who are members of the Board are parents (natural or birth) of children in care. This is the nature of the organization. So I understand what you are saying there, to make it so that the Board of Directors is not made up of people who are any of those covered in ss. 45(8) CFSA, but that I am afraid would defeat the entire purpose of the organization. I guess it is more a matter of which legislation has priority. The legislation which would make it mandatory for names to be made public, or the CFSA. It would make an interesting case law any how.

Once again, thank-you for your quick response.

PS: Former foster children are not banned from publication under that section of the Act. But I know what you were getting at. Basically try to avoid it.

[Riverwind]

So I understand what you are saying there, to make it so that the Board of Directors is not made up of people who are any of those covered in ss. 45(8) CFSA, but that I am afraid would defeat the entire purpose of the organization.

That is not what I am saying. I am saying that since some board members are not foster parents then publishing the names of all board members should not violate the law since no one could know from that list which members are foster parents and which are not. Knowing that someone might be a foster parent is different than knowing for sure. The difference is subtle but may be enough to avoid violating the law. A lawyer would know better than I.

[afterfostercare]

Ok, I get you now. I simply can leave the Board members Bio's blank and just provide their names and numbers without implying in any way that they are or are not parents, foster parents, or children in care. Is that right?

(this part added later)

I can as you said, remove the requirement that members of the Board be any of those listed in the publication ban provision of the Act and leave it up to the decision of the Board and the corporations members to vote on whether they be elected as Board members. It could be an unwritten rule or something like that.

Yes, consulting a lawyer would be helpful

[Charles Anthony]

You never really answered this question directly:

Is there a requirement that members of the board be foster parents or have been in foster care?

Who requires that the Foster Care Council of Canada organization publish the names of its board of directors?

Playing the devil's advocate, what is this Foster Care Council of Canada organization doing?

If the organization members participate in a Child and Family Services Act hearing or proceeding, why should they NOT respect the same law that you quoted?