On Monday November 10, 2008, Ontario citizen, John Dunn received a letter in the mail from the Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies (OACAS) who retained the services of Swadron Associates Barristers & Solicitors of Toronto, Ontario ( http://www.swadron.com ) for the purpose of requesting that Dunn "cease and desist from using the name Ontario Association of Children's Aid Society Members" for his online support and discussion group which he created to unite all citizens of Ontario who are, or who wish to become, or who would like to learn more about becoming a member of a Children's Aid Society in Ontario.
The reason given within the November 06th, 2008 cease and desist letter (Swadron Associates File Number: 89-1161) was that the Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies (OACAS), an Association which represents, and advocates on behalf of Ontario's Children's Aid Societies advised their solicitors that the name of the support and discussion group is "deceiving" in relation to the OACAS, and is "likely to cause confusion in the minds of members of the public". The letter was signed by Swadron Associates' Solicitor Barry B. Swadron, Q.C.
Late that same evening, in response to the Swadron's cease and desist letter, Dunn wrote the following letter, and has since reported that he is looking forward to resolving this matter as soon as possible.
--RESPONSE LETTER TO OACAS COUNSEL--
November 11, 2008
Jeanette Lewis, Executive Director
Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies
care of;
Swadron Associates Barristers & Solicitors
115 Berkeley Street
Toronto, Ontario
M5A 2W8
Barry B. Swadron, Q.C.,
NOTE: Let it be known that all communication between myself and any person in relation to this matter will be made public and distributed to various individuals at the Legislative Assembly of Ontario and several committees thereof, the Office of the Ontario Ombudsman, the Auditor General's Office, the Provincial Child and Youth Advocates Office, the Ministry of Children and Youth Services, the Cabinet of the Ontario Government, select members of the media and via various internet based news wires and resources. This is done strictly as a measure of accountability in relation to the expenditure of public funds.
Cease and Desist Letter:
As of the evening of Monday, November 10, 2008, I am in receipt of your cease and desist letter dated November 06, 2008 (Swadron Associates Barristers & Solicitors File Number 89-1161) requesting that I cease and desist from using the name "Ontario Association of Children's Aid Society Members" as the name of the support and discussion group which was created for people who have, or who wish to become members of a Children's Aid Society in Ontario.
Purpose of Group:
The purpose of the support and discussion group is to enable those who join it to communicate with other like-minded individuals regarding matters related to Children's Aid Society memberships, including, but not limited to, what they can do with a Children's Aid Society membership, and what to do should their application for a membership to a Children's Aid Society in Ontario be denied for any reason.
OACAS Sources of Funding:
It is my understanding from reading the "About OACAS" ( http://www.oacas.org/about/index.htm ) page of the OACAS's website, and from reading the Income Statement dated March 31, 2007 located within the OACAS's 2007-08 Annual Report ( http://www.oacas.org/pubs/oacas/annual/08annual_web.pdf ) that Children's Aid Societies in Ontario and/or their representatives paid over 2.4 million dollars in annual membership fees to the OACAS in 2008, and that the Government of Ontario transfered over 6.4 million dollars to the OACAS in 2008.
Therefore, my calculations lead me to understand that in 2008 alone the Ontario Government has paid a total of at least 6.6 million dollars of Ontario tax-payer's hard-earned dollars to the OACAS directly through Ministry allocated transfer-payments, and indirectly through the membership fees which have been paid to the OACAS by Ministry funded OACAS member Children's Aid Societies.
OACAS use of Charitable Donations and Government Funds:
The OACAS, with what I assume to be approval from members of their Board of Directors, has apparently chosen to divert important charitable funds which have been entrusted to the OACAS for the delivery of charitable purposes on expensive, unnecessary, legal services which have resulted in legal action being threatened against me, without the OACAS even attempting to first contact me in any attempt to discuss the matter decently and to reach a mutually satisfactory resolution.
OACAS's Abuse of Power
Unfortunately, now that the OACAS has made the choice to lead this matter in a legally threatening manner, a manner in which I believe would be seen by any other reasonable person as being an unnecessary, and aggressive abuse of power and resources over a person who is greatly disadvantaged, I therefore feel compelled to respond in a way which I believe will afford me some legal protection while simultaneously working co-operatively with the OACAS, through their legal counsel, to reach a mutually satisfactory resolution to this matter.
Mutually Satisfactory Resolution
I am now undertaking to attempt in good faith to resolve this matter to our mutual satisfaction by first asking you to provide me with the relevant Statutes, Regulations and provisions thereof that you are relying on in your threat of legal action against me so that we can discuss them and my obligations under them so that I may base my decision on how to proceed in this matter on our discussions and on the law.
I am looking forward to your immediate response so that we can hopefully resolve this matter to our mutual satisfaction.
Sincerely,
John Dunn
===
November 13, 2009
1st Response to OACAS legal threat letter
From: John Dunn (afterfostercare@hotmail.com)
Sent: November 13, 2008 8:01:12 PM
To: info@oacas.org; jlewis@oacas.org
Jeanette Lewis,It appears that you have authorized a law firm to make a legal threat against me regarding the name of a support group I created on the internet and I just wanted to keep you informed of the response I gave to your Counsell, Barry B. Swadron by forwarding a copy of my response to you.If you do not wish to be kept informed of our communications please just let me know
Sincerely
John Dunn
===
Monday December 08, 2008
RE: Swadron File Number: 89-1161
I am awaiting a response from Barry Swadron in connection with my November 13th letter which was emailed to email@swadron.com
If I do not hear from Barry, or anyone else in connection with his client the OACAS, by the end of today, I will understand from the lack of response that the issue is moot and that I have permission to carry on using the name "Ontario Association of Children's Aid Society Members" for our non-profit support / advocacy group.
Sincerely,
John Dunn
===========
From: Barry Swadron (bbs@swadron.com)
Sent: December 8, 2008 2:21:04 PM
To: afterfostercare@hotmail.com
John Dunn,
Your e-mail dated December 8, 2008, although incorrectly addressed, has been brought to my attention. In the future, kindly note that my e-mail address is bbs@swadron.com.
Not only do your not have permission to use the name “Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Society Members”, you are prohibited from using that name.
Govern yourself accordingly.
Barry B. Swadron, Q.C.
Swadron Associates
Barristers & Solicitors
115 Berkeley Street
Toronto, Ontario
M5A 2W8
Tel: (416) 362-1234
Fax: (416) 362-1232
Email: bbs@swadron.com
Website: www.swadron.com
===
RE: OACAS
From: John Dunn (afterfostercare@hotmail.com)
Sent: December 8, 2008 5:42:34 PM
To: bbs@swadron.com
Can you let me know when you first became aware of my correspondence and when you think you will be formulating a written response to it so we can proceed to discuss the matter and come to a resolution.
Sincerely
John Dunn
Executive Director
The Foster Care Council of Canada
http://www.afterfostercare.ca
--OACAS STEALTH VISIT--
After receiving this email, on the 14th of November someone from the OACAS attempted to visit our site while using a "Proxy Server" which is used to attempt to hide who you are when you visit a website so that the person you visit can not track you.
Our logs showed the "Proxy Server" used was called "hidemyass.com". (Click on the image below to get a larger version" for closer examination.
In order to check that source of the visit was actually from the OACAS, an IP Resolution service located at Arin.net confirmed that the IP number of the computer operator who visited us using the "Proxy Server" was definitely from the OACAS as shown below.
Cogeco Data Services Inc. CDSI (NET-66-241-128-0-1)
66.241.128.0 - 66.241.143.255
Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies THTI-OACAS (NET-66-241-132-224-1)
66.241.132.224 - 66.241.132.255
# ARIN WHOIS database, last updated 2008-11-13 19:10
# Enter ? for additional hints on searching ARIN's WHOIS database.
===
From: John Dunn [mailto:afterfostercare@hotmail.com]
Sent: Monday, December 29, 2008 5:46 PM
To: Barry Swadron; info@oacas.org; Jeanette Lewisoacas
Subject: RE: Website Names
Barry Swadron, Jeanette Lewis, et al,
I have informed the Foster Care Council of Canada to change the link on their web site so that it now clarifies that the Support Group (OACASM) is not the OACAS and instead gives a link to the OACAS website in addition to the support group site to avoid any confusion. You can see the links at http://www.afterfostercare.ca
I have taken this action voluntarily to attempt to resolve this issue since it appears you are not willing to discuss it any further from the latest correspondence I have received from you (enclosed)
It is my sincere hope that this resolves the issue with the OACAS, the client you represent. If I do not hear from anyone regarding this, and if I do not hear any attempt to discuss it with me I will understand that we have resolved this issue with my latest effort to alleviate any confusion in the names.
Sincerely
John Dunn
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: RE: Website Names
Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2008 10:40:50 -0500
From: bbs@swadron.comTo: afterfostercare@hotmail.com
Dear Mr. Dunn,
Your e-mail of December 29, 2008 has been received.
I will obtain instructions from my client and will, after I have them, write to you again.
Barry B. Swadron, Q.C.
Swadron Associates
Barristers & Solicitors
115 Berkeley Street
Toronto, Ontario
M5A 2W8
Tel: (416) 362-1234
Fax: (416) 362-1232
Email: bbs@swadron.com
Website: www.swadron.com
===
From: afterfostercare@hotmail.com
To: bbs@swadron.com
Subject: RE: Website Names
Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2008 12:32:25 -0500
Thank-you I look forward to your response.
Sincerely
John Dunn
Executive Director
The Foster Care Council of Canada
http://www.afterfostercare.ca
===
From: John Dunn [mailto:afterfostercare@hotmail.com]
Sent: Friday, January 16, 2009 8:01 AM
To: Barry Swadron
Cc: Jeanette Lewisoacas
Subject: RE: Website Names
Barry,
I wanted to know if you have obtained instructions from your client (OACAS) in relation to the updated disclaimer on the http://www.afterfostercare.ca web site which clarifies the alleged possible confusion between the name of the on-line support group for people who wish to learn more about Children's Aid Society memberships and that of the multi-million dollar funded Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies.
Sincerely
John Dunn
Executive Director
The Foster Care Council of Canada
http://www.afterfostercare.ca
===
Subject: Website Names
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2009 10:01:55 -0500
From: bbs@swadron.com
To: afterfostercare@hotmail.com
CC: jlewis@oacas.org
Dear Mr. Dunn,
Unfortunately, I have been extremely busy and unable to obtain instructions. Hopefully I will get them soon. I should tell you I will be out of the country and not be available until late this month.
Barry B. Swadron, Q.C.
Swadron Associates
Barristers & Solicitors
115 Berkeley Street
Toronto, Ontario
M5A 2W8
Tel: (416) 362-1234
Fax: (416) 362-1232
Website: www.swadron.com
===
RE: Website Names
From: John Dunn (afterfostercare@hotmail.com)
Sent: January 16, 2009 10:41:28 AM
To: Barry Swadron (bbs@swadron.com)
Cc: Jeanette Lewisoacas (jlewis@oacas.org)
Barry et al,
Thank-you for this update, until you return I will continue to leave the information as posted.
Have a safe journey and hopefully it is somewhere warm! SincerelyJohn Dunn Executive DirectorThe Foster Care Council of Canada http://www.afterfostercare.ca
===
Website names
From: Barry Swadron (bbs@swadron.com)
Sent: January 16, 2009 4:39:29 PM
To: 'John Dunn' (afterfostercare@hotmail.com)
Dear Mr. Dunn,
I now have instructions from my client.
While it is recognized that you have taken a step in an attempt to clarify the situation, unfortunately the concern and confusion remain.
The Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies is an organization that has existed for many years. It is composed of “member” agencies. The use of the term Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Society Members will, in the eyes of the public, be equated or at least confused with my client, the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies.
It seems to me that you could easily rename the organization that you represent to avoid any mixup. While it would be presumptuous of me to suggest a substitute name, now that you are aware of my client’s concern, I urge you to take the appropriate action.
Barry B. Swadron, Q.C.
Swadron Associates
Barristers & Solicitors
115 Berkeley Street
Toronto, OntarioM5A 2W8
Tel: (416) 362-1234
Fax: (416) 362-1232
Website: www.swadron.com
Posts
2 comments:
Abuse of power and a waste of money. Shame on them.
Good Luck John
Good Luck John! Behind you 100%
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