The Discipline Committee hears matters regarding allegations of professional misconduct and/or incompetence which have been referred by the Complaints Committee following investigation.
The College is mandated to publish a summary of its disciplinary decisions and reasons when the Discipline Committee makes a finding of guilt. These disciplinary decisions are then published on the College’s website, on our blog and on CanLII, the Canadian Legal Information Institute’s website.
Rosie Jameak Black, RECE #70566
Facts: The Member pled guilty to professional misconduct. Following an uncontested hearing, the Discipline Committee accepted the following admissions as facts. The Member approached a child who was lying on the floor, forcefully grabbed the child by one arm, and abruptly lifted the child off the floor, causing the child to rotate mid-air. The child appeared dazed and laid back down onto the floor immediately after the Member moved away from him.
A few moments later, the Member approached the child again, grabbed the child’s arm, dragged the child a short distance, lifted the child up, and placed the child onto a chair, causing the child to immediately begin crying.
Finding: In its decision, the panel found that the evidence supported findings of professional misconduct.
The Member was found guilty of several acts of professional misconduct (Ontario Regulation 223/08), including physically abusing a child who was under her professional supervision; psychologically and/or emotionally abusing a child who was under her professional supervision; failing to maintain the standards of the profession; acting or failing to act in a manner that, having regard to the circumstances, would reasonably be regarded by members as disgraceful, dishonourable or unprofessional; and conducting herself in a manner that is unbecoming a member.
The Panel acknowledged that this was a single incident, but even a single incident can constitute physical and emotional abuse of a child, as well as a breach of numerous standards of practice.
Penalty: The Committee directed the Registrar to suspend the Member’s certificate of registration for at least six months and to impose terms, conditions and limitations on the Member’s certificate of registration, including coursework and mentoring. The Committee also required the Member to appear before it to be reprimanded and ordered the Member to pay $1,000 to reimburse the College for a portion of the prosecution and hearing costs.
The full decision can be found here, linked under the heading “Special Notices”.