“To avoid compelling children to give evidence in family law trials, hearsay evidence of the children is admissible as a principled exception to the hearsay rule if the evidence is necessary and if it is reliable.
Necessity is satisfied if the circumstances are such that it would be inappropriate to call the child as a witness to give evidence.
Reliability will be met if the evidence is not objected to, if the child has repeated the same statement to more than one person, or where the statement has been made to a person who has a demonstrated skill in interviewing children. If admitted, the weight to be given to the hearsay statement of a child will depend on the age of the child, both mental and physical, the circumstances surrounding the taking of the statement, the risk the child was influenced or manipulated when giving the statement or that the statement itself was edited or manipulated, and the desire of the child to please or appease the parent taking or requesting the statement: Wilson v. Wickham, 2018 ONSC 2574, at paras. 30 and 31. This is not a strict list of considerations for reliability as the factors to be taken into account will vary with each child and with the circumstances affecting or influencing that child: Children’s Aid Society of Toronto v. G.S., 2018 ONCJ 124, at para.11.”