Jessica Gagné is a family and child protection lawyer based in downtown Toronto. She acts for:

• individuals who are cohabiting with, planning to marry, or separating from a partner; and
• parents or caregivers who are involved in litigation against a Children’s Aid Society.

She has been practicing exclusively family and child protection law since 2014.

With respect to separation and divorce, Jessica believes only rare situations justify litigation, and prides herself on helping individuals resolve their separation and divorce issues outside of court whenever possible.

Jessica’s child protection practice is the opposite — while she does do some purely advisory work, the vast majority of her work in this area involves litigating against the Children’s Aid Society. Some of the career milestones that she has achieved in her child protection practice thus far include:

• bringing the first known successful appeal of a Crown wardship no access decision in Ontario where, on appeal, the child was found to not be in need of protection from his mother and was returned to her on a final basis, and obtaining a significant costs order against the Children’s Aid Society in the process: N.V.C v Catholic Children’s Aid Society of Toronto, 2017 ONSC 796;
• bringing the first successful reported motion for constitutional funding of a child protection appeal in the province of Ontario,  obtaining a costs order against the Children’s Aid Society in the process, successfully defending that costs order on appeal and obtaining a further costs award against the Society: Children’s Aid Society of the Region of Peel v. L.M., 2022 ONCA 379, 2022 ONCA 848;
• bringing an appeal to the Ontario Court of Appeal on behalf of an indigent mother of three children, which resulted in clarification of the law of judicial notice in child protection proceedings and an access order in the mother’s favor,  and obtaining a significant costs order against the Children’s Aid Society in the process: L.M. v. Peel Children’s Aid Society, 2019 ONCA 841;
• Successfully appealing a Children’s Aid Society’s motion to strike the CLRA application of customary caregivers, in a decision that confirms the importance of judicial oversight over Children’s Aid Societies with respect to all children, and obtaining a significant costs order against the Children’s Aid Society in the process: M.L. v. B.T., 2022 ONCA 240

All of Jessica’s reported decisions are listed here.

Jessica grew up in the prairie town of St. Paul, Alberta (pop. 5000). Both of her parents were small business owners. She was co-valedictorian of her graduating class, and went on to obtain a Bachelor of Commerce degree, with distinction, from the University of Alberta School of Business. She then obtained a Juris Doctor from the University of Victoria Faculty of Law, graduating at the top of her class. While in law school she received numerous prizes and awards for outstanding academic achievement.

Upon graduating from law school, Jessica obtained a prestigious clerkship at the Supreme Court of Canada where she clerked for the Honorable Justice Michael J. Moldaver.

After clerking, Jessica practiced at a leading child and family law boutique firm in downtown Toronto before starting her own practice in 2015. Since then, she has helped over 300 clients resolve their family law and child protection law issues.

Jessica was previously a sessional instructor at both the University of Toronto Faculty of Law (the Trial Advocacy course) and Seneca College (teaching Introduction to Legal Ethics). From time to time she delivers presentations at continuing professional development programs. She has previously sat on the executive boards of the Ontario Bar Association’s Child and Youth Law Section and Family Law Section. She also previously sat on the board  of the Family Lawyers’ Association.

Between 2015 and 2020, Jessica provided pro bono services to youth and teens through the Teen Legal Helpline. She is a past volunteer with the Law and Youth Workshop Pathways to Education, and Pro Bono Law Ontario’s Education Law Project.

In addition to creating FamilyWatch, a case law newsletter which she published between 2016 and 2017, she has contributed to CanLII Connects, and edited Wilson on Children and the Law and the Ontario Family Law Reporter. She also co-authored The Legal Representation of Children In Canada.