How a financial scandal rocked an Ontario agency for vulnerable children

A former Peel CAS finance director, who was arrested and had charges later withdrawn, is speaking out about an agency rocked by allegations of financial mismanagement.

After years of turmoil — ranging from allegations of a toxic work culture to financial mismanagement and even arrests — at a children’s agency in Peel Region, a figure at the centre of the scandal is speaking out.

“It’s been a long two years, let’s just say, for family, for myself,” Marino Cader, the former head of finance for Peel Children’s Aid Society (CAS), told Global News.

Cader was arrested by police in November 2022, along with another employee, and charged with an alleged scheme to defraud Peel Children’s Aid Society. The publicly funded organization helps children and families at their most vulnerable in Brampton, Caledon and Mississauga.

Charges against Cader were withdrawn on May 3 by Crown prosecutors in a case both the defence and prosecution agreed was marked by police disclosure issues.

In withdrawing the charges, the Crown said there “remains a public interest in proceeding” but that there was no “reasonable chance of conviction” in a case that had dragged on close to the 18-month limit established as reasonable in Canada.

The former finance director said he’s struggled to “drown out that stigma” that comes with articles about his arrest every time a potential employer searches his name and is now pursuing a civil case against Peel CAS. The agency is also seeking damages from him in its own claim.

“My kids have gone through a lot, obviously the stuff that’s come out in the media,” Marino Cader told Global News in an exclusive interview. “I was not able to speak out at the advice of legal counsel at the time. As much as I wanted to say stuff, I couldn’t.”

A Global News investigation based on leaked documents, interviews with current and former Peel CAS employees, court filings and freedom of information requests reveals how an agency tasked with helping vulnerable youth became embroiled in a financial scandal, criminal arrests and questions about an alleged scheme around gift cards.