We moved into a new neighborhood. My children are being intimidated…

Hello:As far as the child throwing stones, you can go to the police and insist on making a written statement. The police can arrest and charge these youths with mischief, or other offences such as assault,, and do not have to catch them in the act to do so. They can base a charge on your evidence and statement, as long as you are able to give first hand information as to seeing the offence, and identifying the person(s) who did it. It will remain up to the police to decide to lay a charge or not. You cannot force them to do so, and if they think the evidence is lacking, then they will not proceed. If you are continuing to call police as soon as an incident happens is appropriate and best. If you are able to provide the police with any further evidence, this will help them to lay a charge. Or even just convince them to go and give a warning to these youths if they think they know who did it but may still not have enough proof to lay a charge. Proof you could get might be from a video camera, if you are able to set up a camera pointing towards your door or the street. You can also speak to the police about a peace bond. This is a criminal code restraining order that is available anytime someone has a reasonable fear that someone else may harm them or their property. There does not need to be proof of a criminal offence. The standard to prove this is therefore lower than the standard for a criminal conviction of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. If the police proceed and these youths are required to enter into such a peace bond, they could be restrained from having contact with you or attending at your residence (or say, within 100 metres of your residence) for up to one year. Violation of this term is a criminal offence. Having as much proof as possible will also help convince police to proceed with a peace bond, if not lay a criminal charge, so video surveillance can again be useful. Even if this is not footage from a fixed surveillance camera, but you manage to get a photo or video of any type, such as using a cell phone if you can catch these kids in the act, this will be useful evidence to the police. Useful both to identifying the boys (if you are not yet certain who is doing this) and in trying to convict them. You can also send a letter to the mother threatening a civil lawsuit against them if this behaviour continues, seeking damages for harassment, and interference with your property rights, as well as a restraining order that they not contact you or come within a certain distance of your property. Such a letter does not have to come from a lawyer, but may have more force if it does. You can actually proceed with such a civil lawsuit if you wish, if the threat of such does not itself end the conduct. You can also then show a copy of that letter to the court, and the judge can consider that in deciding the issue of court or legal costs, as this is an indication that one side tried to settle this without the necessity of court proceedings but that was ignored by the other side. But note that to suceed, you will need to show more than the young children are calling your children names, or refusing to play with your children. Those are real problems, but not the type that t any lawyer or lawsuit can help to correct. All I can suggest for those types of Problems are to try and speak with the mother and children about the problem. The law cannot help make children be nice to your children. The test to succeed on such a lawsuit is again lower than the criminal standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, but the more information and evidence you have, the better, and video surveillance would be admissible in such a lawsuit. A lawyer would not be mandatory in such a lawsuit. We cannot give you names of lawyers as referrals through this site (site rules), but you can contact the Law Society of Upper Canada lawyer referral program at 1(NNN) NNN-NNNNor(NNN) NNN-NNNNin the GTA and ask for names of lawyers familiar with civil litigation. Any lawyers referred through this program are to give you an initial consultation for no cost. You have no obligation to hire any of these lawyers unless you wish to do so.