Legally, any person who supervises, has custody of, or educates minor children can be held liable for damages these minors cause.

School teachers and playground monitors come to mind first, but many other people educate, or have custody or supervision of minor children, such as coaches, dance instructors, music teachers, daycare workers, summer camp monitors, adults hosting a birthday party, and de facto spouses temporarily supervising the child.

Yes. As a teacher, you are given temporary custody of minor children and you must supervise and educate them. You have been temporarily delegated the right of control and supervision over these children by their parents (in law, this is called “delegation of parental authority”). Because you are in charge, and the children are under your control, the law states that you may be held responsible for damages caused by one of them.

If a child in your custody is at fault and damages property or causes harm to another person, the law assumes that you are at fault. It assumes that the damages would not have occurred if you had provided adequate custody, supervision, or education.

If sued, it would be up to you to prove that you committed no fault in the custody, supervision, or education of the child. For example, you could argue that you had finished your duty to supervise the child when he acted to cause the harm. It may be that your supervision was adequate but you were unable to stop him from doing what he did anyway. Perhaps the child’s actions were totally unpredictable.

Here is an example: Mrs Lachance is a high school drama teacher. She asks her 14-year old students to make up a play that will be presented to the class. One of the scripts that she gets back involves a scene where a book is thrown from the top of a staircase. Mrs Lachance tells the students that they can do the scene as long as they use loose leaf instead of the book. She also goes over safety rules with them and warns them not to forget that the play isn’t real. Unfortunately, when the students present their play, they throw down a book which injures one of them. Mrs Lachance gets sued. She argues before the judge that the use of the book was totally unpredictable. The judge agrees and does not hold her responsible.

As a general rule, your liability is limited to any damages a minor child causes to another person or property while under your supervision.

In some cases, your liability may extend beyond your classroom. If it can be proven that the unsupervised acts stemmed from poor education you provided the child, you can be held liable for the damages caused.

To free yourself from liability, the law requires you to show proof that your conduct was compatible with that of a normally prudent and responsible custodian, supervisor, or educator.

Some elements may support your argument. Here are the most common:

• The child acted when he was no longer under your supervision- unless it can be proven that the act resulted from poor education you gave to the child (see question above about the karate teacher).
  
  
• You adequately supervised the child: you can free yourself from responsibility by proving that you were not at fault in your supervision of the child. You can also show that your supervision complied with the supervision policy of your establishment.
  
  
• The child’s act was unpredictable: even though you took reasonable precautions, you could not have known the child’s intentions (e.g. a model student firing a slingshot at another teacher).
  
  
• The child’s act falls within the risks involved in an activity or sport: you must show that the children under your supervision were not taking unnecessary risks and were involved in activities that were appropriate considering their ages and their skills. You must also show that you properly instructed the children on how to play and you took the necessary safety precautions (e.g. had them wear protective equipment).

Yes. Whether it is during a physical education class, an extracurricular activity, or recess, children play sports and have a greater risk of injury.

As a teacher, you are responsible for choosing sports that are suitable to the children’s age and skill level. You should:

• Instruct the students on how to play the game safely.
  
• Supervise the students by enforcing the rules of the game and advising caution.
  
• Make sure that the students are wearing protective gear when necessary and ensure that the sport’s material being used and the location where the activity is being held are suitable and safe.

If all of these precautions are taken, a teacher will minimize his chances of being sued and held responsible for damages caused by a student under his supervision.

For more information, consult our Infosheet Sports, Leisure Activities and Civil Responsibility .

No, not at all. A schoolyard is not an army reserve. The law asks that you not tolerate any dangerous conduct from a child under your supervision. If one warning is not enough, issue a second, or stop the child from doing whatever it is that he is doing (for example, by confiscating the dangerous object that he is playing with). Do what is necessary to ensure that the child respects the limits you have set.

The law provides different rules for people who supervise children gratuitously or for a small amount of money that cannot be considered a salary.

These people will not be held liable unless it can be proven that they did something wrong in their care, supervision or education of the child which caused the child to harm another person or to damage property. This is different from paid caretakers, supervisors, or educators who are automatically assumed to be at fault if a child in their custody is at fault and damages property or causes harm to another person.

Yes. You must call the police as soon as you have reasons to believe that a student will bring a gun to school. The question that you must ask yourself is “Is this person behaving in such a way as to compromise his safety or the safety of others by using a firearm”? If the answer is yes, you must call the police. Teachers and any professional in a management position at a school, college, university, childcare centre, or nursery have the same duty. As well, any teacher, professional, or other person working at a school, college, university, childcare centre, or nursery must immediately inform the police if they have reasonable grounds to believe that a firearm is on the premises. You can be accused of an offence for failing to inform the police. If found guilty, you are liable for a fine of $500 to $5,000.

You cannot be sued for reporting the situation to the police if you acted in “good faith”. “Good faith” in this context means that you believed what you reported, you acted reasonably and you didn’t inform the police just to get the student into trouble.