St. Mike's duty to report alleged abuse falls in a 'grey area'

The high school principal of St. Michael's College School in Toronto may have had no duty to report the sexual assaultallegations to police, but it's a legalgrey area whetherhe should have immediatelycontacted the Children's Aid Society.

However, some lawyers say thatat the very least, the principalhad an ethical responsibility to immediately report the alleged crime and not delay, despite the wishes of the victim.

JohnSchuman, a Toronto-based lawyer who specializes in children's rights and education law, said aprincipal doesn't necessarily have the expertise to decide whetherthey should delay calling authorities or to determine how well a victim is coping.

"He may be very, very good at educating and running a school. But this is talking about the emotional welfare and physical welfare of a kid who's been sexually abused,"Schumansaid.

"I don't think he's a psychologist, so I don't think he is in a position to really do that sort of evaluation."

Police are investigatingsix allegations involving students at the all-boy private school after an alleged gang sexual assault was captured on camera and shared on social media.

The school's principal, Greg Reeves, did not report thatalleged sexual assault to police until officers, contacted by the media, showed up at the school 48 hours after the administration received a video of the incident.

Toronto policeInsp. DominicSinopolihas said the school should have reported the incident immediately but Reeves has said he held off contacting authorities because the alleged victim hadn't told his family about the incident.

On Tuesday night, in a meeting with school alumni, Reeves defended his actions, saying if he had to do it over, he would respond the same way.

In Ontario, the Ministry of Eduction requires public school boards to develop protocols with the police, that include incidents in which school principalshave a mandatory obligationto contact police. Suspected sexual assault is among those incidents.

However, many of the standards that govern public schools do not apply to private schools, including the duty to report suspected sexual assault to police, said Schuman. This means, in the case at St. Michael's, Reeves would not have been obligated to report the alleged abuse to the police, he said.

"Privateschools wereexemptedfrom almost everything under the Education Act," Schuman said.

Yet it's a little less clear what responsibilitiesReeves may have had under the province's Child, Youth and Family Services Act (CYFSA).Section 125 of that actstates that a person who performs professional or official duties with respect to children, and has reasonable grounds to suspect abuse must immediately report that abuse to a Children's Aid Society.

Reeves has acknowledgedthe legal obligations the school abides by in reporting such incidents fall under that act.He has also said he is not aware of Children's Aid Services being notified about any incident.

But Schumansaidprivate schools have interpreted Section 125 of CYFSAto mean thatprincipals are only required to immediately contact Children's Aid Societies in cases of suspected abuse at the hands of a parent or guardian.

And because the video does not showaparent or guardianabusing a child, private schools might concludethey don't have to report it to Children's Aid.

"I think that there are arguments to be made on both sides of how that section is worded," saidErin Ellis, a Toronto-basedlawyer who specializes in civil cases involving sexual abuse. "It is a grey area there because the abuse was student-on-student versus a teacher on student or somebody else who had charge of the child."

Schumansaid Reeves couldalso argue thatthat hedidn't have a duty to report immediately because there was no time necessity, as the child was out of immediate danger.

However, Schumanbelieves that Reeves and private schools legally and ethicallydo have an obligation to report immediately to Children's Aid.

"I think that teachers are persons with charge of a child and if children are abused under their watch it needs to be a reported tothe Children's Aid Society," he said.

"If a school is taking the view that they don't have to report stuff or that they are only going toreport the stuff that is absolutely clear that cuts off a lot of information the Children's Aid Society receives."

Ellis said, even if Reeves, under theCFYSA,was not legally obligated to immediatelyinform Children's Aid, she believes hehad an ethical obligation to do so.

"TheCYFSAis worded in that it has to be immediate.They drafted that for a reason and they drafted that even though the victim may not want it reported to the Children's Aidor to the police."

As for legal ramifications for not reporting such abuse, a person convicted under Section 125 of the CYFSAfaces fines of up to $5,000.

Schumansaid a Crown counsel could try to prosecute Reeves, butit's rare thatpeopleare charged with this offence

"There hasn't been a lot of interest in prosecuting these things.But if yougot a Crown who was thinking, 'Yeah, this needs to be sorted out' or 'I'm really angry that he didn't [report]in this circumstances,' than absolutelya Crowncould try to prosecute him."

With files from The Canadian Press