"Nova Scotia's deputy minister of Community Services says fewer
than a dozen people have come forward to the province with concerns
about hair-based drug tests conducted by the now discredited Motherisk
lab in Toronto. A CBC News investigation found as many as 380 Nova Scotians between 1997 and 2015 had at least one positive test for drugs or alcohol from the lab, which was found to be using unreliable methods. Many of the test results were used in child protection cases. Ontario
is currently reviewing cases dating back to 1990 to determine if the
courts placed too much weight on the results. Nova Scotia has decided to only conduct a review of individual cases if requested. "It's been less than a dozen people who have come forward and only
one person who has asked for a really formal review and there was no
change in that disposition," deputy minister Lynn Hartwell told
reporters Tuesday after appearing in front of a legislative committee
where she faced questions about the test results.........The hair-testing lab at Motherisk, which is affiliated with The
Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, shut down last year and the
Ontario government placed a moratorium on all hair testing in child
protection cases "out of an abundance of caution." This month the New Brunswick government followed suit. Hartwell said Nova Scotia is still considering whether to ban hair
testing here. She said in current cases where judges have ordered hair
testing, the province will also rely on other testing methods."
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/motherisk-nova-scotia-1.3483334