A 14-year-old girl is a `sexually mature young woman,´ not a child, children´s aid society lawyer argues in sex abuse suit
(The Star Movies)

A 14- or 15-year-old girl is not a child, but rather a “sexually mature young woman,� according to a lawyer for a Northern Ontario children’s aid society. The statement by Toronto lawyer Gary McCallum is contained in a July 2018 affidavit in an ongoing civil court case, in which a woman is suing Kenora-Rainy River Districts Child and Family Services, claiming she was sexually abused as a child by her foster father in the 1980s while under the care of the agency’s predecessor organization. It was again referenced in a January 2019 ruling from the lengthy case, which is playing out in a Toronto court. The statement has been described to the Star by other lawyers and a professor of social work as “offensive,� “shocking,� and “appalling� — doubly so because it was made by the lawyer for the very agency charged with protecting the most vulnerable children. “This is outrageous,� said Melissa Redmond, assistant professor of social work at Carleton University. “You represent the organization that is responsible for protecting children in this community, protecting children from exactly the sorts of horrific circumstances that this child found herself in.�Redmond, whose research interests include child protection policy, said she can’t understand why there have not been consequences for the statement. “I don’t understand how this is in the public record and (Kenora CFS) have not been seen to distance themselves as quickly as possible and to talk about how they value the children in the community and the children they have served in the past.� Ontario’s Child and Family Services Act, which governs children’s aid societies, is also clear. “‘Child’ means a person under the age of eighteen years,� it reads.Kenora CFS refused to say when it became aware its lawyer had made the statement, but told the Star this week it disagrees ...