Custodial mother needs help

September 12, 2010 by Walter Schneider.

The names (except mine) shown in the following are not the real names of the parties, to protect the innocent and the guilty.

Hello Mary,

You raised a number of points that call into question Canadian rules and practices pertaining to child support due to someone like you, someone who appears to be a citizen or resident of Canada.

Firstly, I don’t know whether you are in fact residing in Quebec.  That makes it impossible for me to direct you to an organization that may be able to help you or to direct you to someone else who can do so.

If you wish to spare yourself the reading of all I stated, the most important aspect of your complaints is that you did not specify what you need help with.  The unmentioned solution to all of your problems is quite simple and obvious: apply in the court to have it grant fully shared custody to the father of your children.  In addition, you should perhaps objectively examine whether there was an equitable sharing of all of the marital assets in your case and determine whether some of the assets you received should not in all honesty be transferred to your ex.

You raised many concerns.  It will be easier for me to answer each of those by inserting my responses between the lines of your message — which I will now do.

On 11/09/2010 6:27 AM, Mary More wrote:

Subject: deadbeat dads.

The header of your e-mail messages identified the subject as being that you need my help, but, as your message shows, that is not truly what your message is all about.

I am writing to you for assistance in a matter that relates to my children.  I am a single mother of two teenage daughters that I am in custody of.   I have been separated form my husband for the past 5 years and am now divorced.  During this time I have not received any financial support from him in order to help provide for his two girls.

I am not able to direct you to a source of help because you did not tell me which Province you are located in.  I could look that up but would have no guarantee that I would be right.  You are in a better position to determine and identify that.

Why is Canada letting dead beat dads walk freely without having any consequences for their actions.

Perhaps the father of your children is a dead-beat dad, but I would leave the determining of that to the courts.  Even the worst judge would make at least a pretense of listening to both sides of a dispute before he decides where between the two sides the truth may is.  I have not heard anything from the other side in the argument.

The fact that you label your ex-husband a dead-beat dad does not look well.  Did he leave on his own volition, or did you kick him out?

That you allege that Canada has a policy of “letting dead beat dads walk freely without having any consequences for their actions” does not look good either.  The reality of that is that your accusation is not founded on facts.  The statistics on that do not support your accusation.  Moreover, my experiences as someone who has been active for decades in the field of child-support issues don’t support your accusation either.

The reality of those circumstances is that non-custodial fathers are more like than separated non-custodial mothers to pay child support, to pay much more child support and far less likely to default on such payments.  Furthermore, such fathers who default on child-support payments are far more likely than defaulting mothers to be prosecuted and to have to cope with and suffer from draconian enforcement measures.

Is it fair that one parent can walkout without taking any responsibilities providing for his kids?  Is it fair that all the burden of raising kids falls on one parent?

Court hearings ostensibly determine what is fair in such matters.  Unfortunately, such court hearings are seldom fair to fathers.  In the vast majority of divorces the courts grant women the kids, car, cash and castle and send the father packing, often with nothing more than a set of underwear, a toothbrush and a razor.

In the United States many deadbeat dads have their passport revoked, have their driver’s license suspended……. Why doesn’t Canada take drastic measures when it comes to deadbeat dads.

You correctly deem the common practice of depriving fathers who default on child support to be drastic, which of course it is.  How do you figure anyone is more likely to be able to make child-support payments when his constitutional right to free movement has been restricted?  Someone without a driver’s licence is not likely to be able to acquire any jobs that require a valid driver’s licence.  Moreover, he quite likely will be severely handicapped in travelling to a job for which he does not even require a driver’s licence but cannot travel to when no public transportation is available to help him get there.

Moreover, it is not only driver’s licences and passports of fathers defaulting with child support payments that are suspended,  All government-issued licences of defaulting fathers are suspended, which of course severely curtails their ability to earn a living.  Do you feel that those suspensions can possibly be any good for the affected children?

Jake Eke is in a new relationship with a divorced woman Liz Tryhard that has two kids, he is leading a normal life and supports her  kids and helps her renovate the house…..Doesn’t his own kids deserve a dad? Why can’t he help support his own kids? Doesn’t his kids have rights? Is it fair that he has neglected his own kids?

I assume, although you do not directly or indirectly state so, that Jake Eke is the father of the children you had with him.

You sure checked him out good, right?  Is it a criminal offence for him to have entered a relationship with a divorced woman who has children?

I wonder whether he thinks that he is living a normal life.  Is it normal for all men to form relationships with divorced women who have children by other men, after their ex-wives most likely kicked them out?

You told me that he can’t support his own kids because he is considered to be disabled.  If you feel that to be a false and fraudulent claim, telling me about it will not do you or anyone else much good.  Tell the judge in your case.  As they say, you will have to prove that in a court of law.

1) Mr. Eke has declared that he is sick and unable to provide.  If that is the case why isn’t he forced to fill up disability papers and get help from the government .

It is a little inconsistent on your part to call him first a dead beat dad and then to call him Mr.  Do you always do that so as to make sure that the recipients of your complaints about him are first put into the right frame of mind?

I do not know where Mr. Eke lives or whether it is possible for him to make false claims where he lives about disabilities that prevent him from earning a living.  If you are sure that he has engaged in an act of defrauding his government, you should perhaps consider pursuing criminal charges.

2) I am well aware that Mr. Eke is working in the renovation business and gets paid cash.  He keeps claiming that he is building his cliental slowly and that business is slow……….why isn’t he forced to get another job and provide for his kids?????

It amazes me to read how much you know about the man.  Yet you fail to consider the realities of the current state of the economy.  Canada is suffering under the same depression that has the US in its grips.  There is little money available for housing construction.  There is much competition for jobs in the construction trade, and money for home renovations is even harder to come by than is the case with money for new construction jobs.

Getting paid cash for work done is what many men do who have been driven into the underground economy to be able to eke out a living.

Did you not know any of those things before you decided to kick him out?

His daughter who is 17 of age has a job as a bus girl and makes minimum wage, why can’t he work?????

Nothing wrong with that.

What is wrong with this picture??????

I don’t know. You tell me.

I am a kindergarten teacher in a private school, my pay cheque is not enough so after I am done my job at 3 everyday I continue to my second job from 4-7 and than work on weekends, if I can be responsible why can’t he????????

Is being a kindergarten teacher a well-paying job?  If not, do you have a low-paying job because you chose to have it for convenience and not for economic considerations?  Were you forced into taking your job?

If you need a better-paying job, why don’t you get one?  If you expect that the father of your children be forced into getting another job to be able to pay for his kids, why does that not apply to you?

I have to do 3 jobs, get a line of credit, take a loan from the bank refinance my mortgage, seek help from my mom who is living on her pension and be the sole provider for those girls.

So, you indicate that you like to do low-paying jobs, live on credit, and have even your mother support you.  Has your mother not done enough for you yet?

Was being the sole provider for “those girls” your choice?

You have without a doubt some serious problems with matching your income to your expenses.  From what you explained, it appears that your debts are steadily and perhaps even quickly increasing.  The first and most important objective for successful debt management is to have a lot of income left at the end of the month, rather than having a lot of month left at the end of the money.

One way by which you can make a start with that is to cut back on a few things, such as those that you expect your ex-husband to cut back on.  Cancel your subscription to cable TV, cancel your cell phone and cut out all other things that are not absolutely necessary to survival, including the use of your car (sell it) and other such luxuries.

If that is not sufficient to bring your expenses into affordable limits, consider what capital assets you can sell.  If it is cheaper to rent an apartment than to make mortgage payments, you should go for the cheaper alternative.  You have a great advantage in that respect.  No one will expect you to live in a cardboard box under a bridge.  Our society does not expect that from women, while that expectation is at times the only one left for men who have all of their licences revoked.

I did not bring these children to the world by myself,

I hope not.  That would have been a miracle.

On the other hand, it is not difficult to become a father or a mother, while to be a father or a mother is a much more difficult task.  The burden of that is much lightened by sharing it.

It is about time that the government takes action and goes after those dead beat dads who are basically getting away with murder.

The government has done quite a bit to help out women already.  Women live on average six more years (in the US) and 7.2 more years (in Canada) than men do.  Now you want to have your ex prosecuted for murder yet?

I am frustrated at the legal system in the pursuit of this basic right for child support.   I have exhausted my financial capabilities in hiring lawyers to pursue him and have contacted the child support office in Montreal who have indicated that they have no recourse because of his lack of declared income.  So far my experience has been a series of “road blocks” and I am entirely exhausted.

Sorry, but that is pretty much the way it is.  If there is no income, then there is nothing to declare or to confiscate.

It will be up to you to prove in court that his claim to be disabled is fraudulent.  However, even if you should be able to prove that, what do you expect will happen?  Should he go to jail?  Do you think that will ensure that his child support payments can be made?

My ex-spouse is a home renovator and thus much of his work is paid in cash.  The amount of declared income is unknown

You already stated all of that.

since he has not filed an income tax return in the past few years.  I am puzzled at how the governmental system has neglected to look into this case to allow a citizen to neglect his legal obligations toward his family and government.  Why don’t we have any rights?

You told me that the government already looked into his case.  The problem is that you are not happy with what the government found.  However, if you want the father of your children to go to jail, and if you are absolutely sure of your allegations about doing work for cash under the table, then talk to the government and insist they they prosecute him for defrauding the government and for income-tax evasion.  Both are crimes that would warrant incarceration, but you have to prove them in court.  If you fail to prove your case, then you are potentially liable to be convicted of slander and libel.

However, the government has done a lot for women in that respect.  Women can commit the crimes of slander and libel with impunity.

Hoping to hear from you

Thank you for taking the time to read my letter, I will keep trying until my voice his heard and things will change.  It is so unfair.

Mary More

I will post your help request and my responses to Dads & Things. It is our policy to not show the real names of the warring parties in such a case.

Other than that, I tried to offer some advice where I deemed it possible and necessary to give advice.  Unfortunately, you did not actually ask for specific help, but you railed against your ex, you slandered him, you slandered the Government of the Province of Quebec, the Federal Government of Canada, all of Canadian non-custodial fathers, and you vented your frustration.

It seems that all the help you wanted was to have someone listen to you.  I have done that and hope it will make you feel better.

Regards,

Walter Schneider
Fathers for Life
Dads & Things

Posted in Judiciary, Civil Rights, Child Support, Maternal Rights, Violence by Proxy, Parental Alienation, Paternal Rights, Men and Women Work, Child-Custody Awards, Feminist Jurisprudence, Shared Parenting, Men's Issues, Divorce, Feminism | Print | No Comments »

Judge dismisses Lloyd EPO

September 3, 2010 by Walter Schneider.

Judge dismisses Lloyd emergency protective order (EPO), due to the ex-wife having made false allegations, but as of now no decision has been made as to which of the two parents will have custody of the child at the core of the dispute.  That, according to the judge in Fleming County District Court, is up to the circuit court to decide.

The Ledger Independent
2 September 2010

Judge dismisses Lloyd EPO
By Misty Maynard, Staff Writer Ledger Independent

FLEMINGSBURG - Questions concerning custody of a daughter linger, but an emergency protective order secured by Fleming County Hospital Chief Executive Officer Davie Lloyd against ex-husband Brett Lloyd was dismissed during a hearing Thursday in Fleming County District Court….

During the EPO hearing, Hill pressed the judge for a ruling as to whether Brett Lloyd could secure the child, citing an order from the Montana First Judicial District Court that amended the parenting plan established at the time of the couple’s divorce. However, Probst said the issue of custody should be addressed in circuit court.

“Where it goes, I don’t control,” he said.

The original parenting plan established in 2004 allowed Brett Lloyd visitation every other weekend and for two weeks in the summer, as well as on alternating holidays. The new parenting plan, based on the new Montana ruling, established that the child should reside with Brett Lloyd, “subject to Davie’s parenting time, which shall be supervised and in the state of Montana.”

The new plan requires Davie Lloyd to have supervision during visitation because she “deliberately and maliciously” interfered with her ex-husband’s parental rights.

“Further, Davie is considered a ‘flight risk,’ having moved the minor child from one state to another and refusing to inform Brett of her physical location,” according to the plan….(Full Story)

Posted in Judiciary, Maternal Rights, False Allegations, Paternal Rights, Shared Parenting, Child Abduction, Child-Custody Awards, Women's Violence | Print | No Comments »

Nearly 38 percent of fathers no access or visitation

February 6, 2009 by Walter Schneider.

Divorced father seeks equal protection
Custody challenge cites discriminatory decisions
Posted: January 28, 2009
10:09 pm Eastern

By Bob Unruh
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

A case is developing in a Tennessee divorce dispute that one attorney believes could impact custody decisions nationwide because it calls down the authority of the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause to help fathers who are good parents and want to remain involved in their children’s lives….(Full Story)

Posted in Civil Rights, Judiciary, Paternal Rights, Shared Parenting, Feminist Jurisprudence, Child-Custody Awards, Women's Violence | Print | 5 Comments »

Fathers rights organizations in Winnipeg, Manitoba

September 23, 2008 by Walter Schneider.

Amelia [not her real name] wrote:

Hi,

We are wondering if there is anyone in Winnipeg Manitoba to contact for some information or assistance in dealing with a nasty custody battle. The legal fees are huge and we are getting know where.

Amelia and Jim

Hello Amelia,

All custody battles are nasty, except for those people who like to engage themselves in them because those battles provide some gains or an income.

Legal fees are not truly ever huge, but lawyers fees most often are. That is because lawyers have and maintain a monopoly on the services they provide. Even though judges are lawyers, too, they seem to cost not so much to normal mortals, except when one begins to consider how much social engineering is being done by the judiciary, what the costs of that are and that all of those costs are being paid for through tax revenues that are being sucked out of our pockets.

It has been that for at least the 20 years I have been involved as an activists in issues such as those that threaten you now, that there never was any individual activist or fathers rights organization that anyone could be referred to in Manitoba.

Previously, a directory of Canadian equal parenting organizations never showed any listings for Manitoba. Still, Manitoba divorces, divorce courts and custody battles are just as devastating and destructive as are those in other provinces. However, as the identified directory shows, there is now one such organization in Manitoba, although I am not sure how or whether they can or will be of help to you.

If all else fails, consider that there is nothing preventing you from starting an effective and practical organization in Manitoba. Given the considerable number of inquiries about such (non-existent) organizations in Manitoba we received in Alberta over the years, the demand for services, advice and comradery offered by such an organization certainly appears to exist. It needs to be nothing more than the opportunity for parents in comparable circumstances to meet on a regular basis. It seems that a newspaper ad, run for about a week, would result in a good list of interested individuals.

Be careful about selecting a lawyer. We have often been asked for advice on that, so often that we posted some generic advice on how to select a lawyer, contained in the following articles.

• How to select a lawyer
• Request for help with excessive child support
• A case of paternity fraud

Hope that helps,

Walter Schneider
http://fathersforlife.org
http://blog.fathersforlife.org

Posted in Organizational News, Paternal Rights, Divorce, Men's Issues, Child-Custody Awards, Shared Parenting, Family | Print | 1 Comment »

Gay pride. by the numbers

September 11, 2008 by Walter Schneider.

A few comments (inserted between the lines of and after the article from Statistics Canada that is quoted in the following) are in order.

Gay pride. by the numbers

By Statistics Canada
http://www42.statcan.ca/smr08/smr08_118-eng.htm

Each summer, gay and lesbian pride festivities are celebrated in towns and cities across Canada.

The rainbow flag that symbolizes gay and lesbian pride is just as colourful as the individuals who make up the community. Like all people in Canada, gays and lesbians are of many ethnicities, cultures and backgrounds, and have various education levels and occupations.

That those “gay and lesbian pride festivities…in towns and cities across Canada” are being celebrated each summer is not entirely a voluntary circumstance.  The festivities and gay-pride parades are being imposed under influence of the full force of the federal government, whenever a mayor of  a city dares to refuse to declare a gay-pride week or -parade.  Costs of fines and legal fees incurred for failure to comply or for simply contesting the diktat by the federal government typically ranged from about $20,000 to about $65,000.

Mind you, the majority of Canadian mayors play along without urging by the State.  Statistic Canada fails to identify whether that is because a given mayor does so entirely voluntarily or on account of fear of punishment. Still, although some Canadian mayors (e. g.: London, Kelowna, and Edmonton) resisted the federal pressure, they eventually buckled and followed the federal mandate to declare gay-pride festivities.

Still, some private organizations, that at first glance and logically appear to be pro-heterosexual, most definitely and eagerly participate because their sympathies openly lean in that direction.  Take, for example, Fathers 4 Justice (Canada) with the rainbow-coloured background in their side-bar menu, who for three years in a row entered a float in the Vancouver Gay Pride parade.  Of course, that carries a price.  The popularity ranking for their website is a dismally low 12,466,650th place of all websites in the world (three-month average ranking as of 2008 09 10).

Rainbow colours are common.  They show up in every rainbow and are most definitely not a gay monopoly.  The presence of a rainbow as part of the display on a parade float is not necessarily a sign of support for gay pride, as shown in the photo of the float of the Bruderheim Moravian Church in the parade that was part of the Bruderheim Centennial celebrating the hundredth year of the incorporation of the village (now a town) of Bruderheim.

Here are some selected numbers on assorted topics related to gay life in Canada.

Same-sex couples across Canada

How many gay, lesbian and bisexual persons are there in Canada?

Statistics Canada does not have the definitive number of people whose sexual orientation is “gay” or “lesbian” or “bi”, but the agency does attempt to quantify some estimates in various surveys.

Nevertheless, a little farther down in their article, Statistic Canada do identify percentage figures for Canadians in the age range of 18 to 59 who declared themselves to be either gay or bi-sexual (1% and 0.7%, respectively).

Given that, a little farther down in its article, StatCan also identifies that of all Canadians 18 and older 1.5 percent identify themselves as being homosexual (gay or lesbian), it would seem that homosexual orientation is for a substantial portion of the gay population a matter of choice that is not necessarily fixed at birth but varies with age.

The Census, however, does count same-sex couples, both married and common-law.

Half of all same-sex couples in Canada lived in the three largest census metropolitan areas (CMA):

21.2% — The proportion of all same-sex couples who resided in Toronto in 2006.

18.4% — The proportion of all same-sex couples who resided in Montréal in 2006.

10.3% — The proportion of all same-sex couples who resided in Vancouver in 2006.

Source: “2006 Census: Families, marital status, households and dwelling characteristics”, The Daily, Wednesday, September 12, 2007.

That StatCan publication identifies that “In 2006, same-sex couples represented 0.6% of all couples in Canada. This is comparable to data from New Zealand (0.7%) and Australia (0.6%).”

Want to know how many same-sex couples (both married and common-law) are in your province, territory or CMA? Consult this 2006 Census Highlight table on Families and households:

Same-sex couples by type of union (married, common-law) and sex, 2006 Census - 20% sample data.

See also: “Table 3: Persons in same-sex unions by broad age groups and sex” in Families and Households Highlight Tables, 2006 Census.

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Same-sex spouses

45,300 — The number of same-sex couples in 2006. Of these, about 7,500 (16.5%) were married couples and 37,900 (83.5%) were common-law couples.

53.7% — The proportion of same-sex married spouses who were men.

46.3% — The proportion of same-sex married spouses who were women.

Source: 2006 Census, Family Portrait: Continuity and Change in Canadian Families and Households in 2006.

See also: 2006 Census information on same-sex common-law and married couples; 2006 Census, Marital status.

774 — The approximate number of same-sex marriages in British Columbia in 2003, representing 3.5% of all marriages in the province that year. Nearly 55% were female couples and roughly 46% were male couples.

Source: Spotlight on Same-sex marriages in the Media Room.

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A Canadian first

The Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS), Cycle 2.1, was the first Statistics Canada survey to include a question on sexual orientation.

1.0% — The percentage of Canadians aged 18 to 59 who reported that they consider themselves to be homosexual (gay or lesbian).

0.7% — The percentage of Canadians aged 18 to 59 who reported that they consider themselves to be bisexual.

Several concepts can be used to measure sexual orientation. These include behaviour, that is, whether a person’s partner or partners are of the same or the opposite sex, and identity, that is, whether a person considers himself or herself to be heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual.

The CCHS uses the concept of identity. Data from other countries suggest that the number of people who consider themselves to be homosexual is much smaller than the number who report having had sexual relations with someone of the same sex. However, people are more willing to answer questions about identity than about behaviour.

Source: “Canadian Community Health Survey”, The Daily, Tuesday June 15, 2004.

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Sexual orientation and victimization

According to the 2004 General Social Survey (GSS), gays, lesbians and bisexuals reported experiencing higher rates of violent victimization including sexual assault, robbery and physical assault, than did their heterosexual counterparts.

The number of gays, lesbians and bisexuals who felt they had experienced discrimination was about 3 times higher than that of heterosexuals. Furthermore, 78% of gays and lesbians who experienced discrimination believed it was because of their sexual orientation compared to 29% of bisexuals and 2% of heterosexuals.

1.5% — The proportion of Canadians aged 18 years and over who identified themselves in the GSS as being homosexual (gay or lesbian).

94% — The proportion of Canadians aged 18 years and over who identified themselves in the GSS as being heterosexual.

5% — The percentage of respondents to the GSS who did not state their sexual orientation.

Source: Sexual orientation and victimization, 2004.

1 in 10 — The proportion of hate crimes that were motivated by sexual orientation.

56% — The proportion of all hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation that are marked by violence. This percentage was higher than the proportion of incidents motivated by race/ethnicity (38%) or religion (26%). Common assault was the most frequent type of violent offence.

As a result, incidents motivated by sexual orientation were more likely than other types of hate crime incidents to result in physical injury to victims.

Source: “Study: Hate-motivated crime”, The Daily, Monday, June 9, 2008.

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Health

More likely — The probability that gay men, when compared with heterosexual men, would have consulted a medical specialist or mental health service provider.

Less likely — The probability that lesbians, when compared with heterosexual women, would see a family doctor or undergo a Pap test.

Source: “Study: Health care use among gay, lesbian and bisexual Canadians”, The Daily, Wednesday, March 19, 2008.

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Physically active

31.4% — The proportion of homosexuals and bisexuals who reported that they were physically active in 2003, compared with 25.4% of heterosexuals.

According to the Canadian Community Health Survey, homosexuals and bisexuals are more likely than heterosexuals to find life stressful.

Source: “Canadian Community Health Survey”, The Daily, Tuesday, June 15, 2004.

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Gay parents

3% — The percentage of all male same-sex couples who had children aged 24 and under living in the home in 2006.

16% —The percentage of all female same-sex couples who had children aged 24 and under living in the home in 2006.

Same-sex couples represented less than 1% of all couples (married and common-law) in Canada.

Source: “2006 Census: Families, marital status, households and dwelling characteristics”, The Daily, Wednesday, September 12, 2007.

Less “than 1% of all couples (married and common-law) in Canada” is a bit of an overstatement.  StatCan could easily have been more precise, as its figures presented in their article and related documentation quite clearly permit to calculate that, given that there were 7,059,830 couple families, 45,300 same-sex families comprise 0.64% or two-thirds of one percent of all couple families.  It would have been more appropriate for StatCan to mention that same-sex couples represented the far more precise two-thirds of one percent than the imprecise “less than 1% of all couples (married and common-law) in Canada.”

9% — The percentage of married same-sex male couples who had children in the home in 2006. Less than 2% of men in same-sex common-law unions had children.

24.5% — The percentage of married same-sex female couples who had children in the home in 2006. Less than 15% of women in same-sex common-law unions had children.

Source: 2006 Census, Family portrait: Continuity and change in Canadian families and households in 2006: National portrait: Census families.

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You want to know what?!?

Times change… and so do the questions asked by Canada’s national statistical agency.

• The 2001 Census was the first census in Canada to provide data on same-sex partnerships.
• The 2003 Vital Statistics - Marriage Database was the first source of data on same-sex married couples in Canada.
• The 2003 Canadian Community Health Survey (Cycle 2.1) was the first Statistics Canada survey to include a question on sexual orientation.
• The 2006 Census also included a question on same-sex common-law partnerships.
• Consultations are under way for the content of the 2011 Census, including the questions on same-sex married couples.

Statistics Canada goes to great lengths in assuring its questions—including those questions related to sexual orientation—are relevant and feasible.

In testing questions targeted to specialized populations, Statistics Canada found that the positive rapport between the agency and with various groups and individuals, coupled with assurances of anonymity, contribute to respondents feeling very comfortable with the interviewing arrangements.

This trust has led to a situation where respondents are willing to reveal personal details about their lives, and to answer questions honestly.

The consultations on questions with specialized populations also provided many useful insights into the issues being investigated.

Source: Experiences in testing questionnaires with specialized populations.

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For information on this page or more data, contact Media Relations.

At any rate, it appears that, all official claims, assertions and expectations to the contrary, concerns about Canada becoming more and more a homosexual nation or that homosexuals represent an important, very influential and rapidly growing sector of the electorate are vastly overrated.  It is recommended to read the document identified by the second-last link in the StatCan article, Experiences in testing questionnaires with specialized populations.

It is difficult and even impossible to understand why Canada’s gays should require “Innovative Methods for Surveying Difficult-to-reach Populations“.  Given that census forms and Gay-Pride parades have become ubiquitous in Canada, the assumption that Canada’s gays are difficult to reach is incredulous and appears to be a figment of StatCan’s imagination. Canadian Gays are no more difficult to reach than are any other Canadians.  In fact, it seems that they are somewhat easier to reach than other Canadians.

The methods described for sample selection as per Innovative Methods for Surveying Difficult-to-reach Populations raise concern that a selected population sample is not representative of the general population of Canadian gays.  Even though any survey results will reflect attributes of the selected survey sample, the rules of the mathematics of statistics do not permit to draw from them any conclusions about the population from which the sample was selected.  The fact that such a sample is not randomly selected does not permit the projection of any survey results found in the sample to the population from which the sample was selected.

Posted in Paternal Rights, Shared Parenting, Gay issues, Family | Print | 4 Comments »

Maurice Vellacott (MP) on F4J Crusade for Equal Parenting

August 23, 2008 by Walter Schneider.

HOUSE OF COMMONS

CANADA

Maurice Vellacott, MP
Saskatoon-Wanuskewin

Cross Canada campaign to support Equal Parenting and Vellacott’s Motion M-483 arrives in Saskatoon

For Immediate Release                                                             August 22, 2008

SASKATOON – Maurice Vellacott, M.P Saskatoon-Wanuskewin has tabled a Private Members Motion (PMM-483)  which  proposes changes to the Federal Divorce Act to enshrine the principle of Equal Parenting during and after divorce.

Fathers 4 Justice Canada (F4J Canada) has supported such legislative changes since 2003 and believes that such change is long over-due. To educate and gather popular support from fellow Canadians for this important legislative action, F4J Canada has launched a cross-country tour with the support and assistance from local groups and company sponsors.

F4J’s cross Canada campaign arrives in Saskatoon this Friday, August 22, before moving on to Regina on Saturday. The F4J Superheroes will be stopping at Diefenbaker Park at the WAM (We Are Many) arts and environmental festival that opens Friday at noon and will have many big name entertainers there. After the festival opening ceremonies, the F4J Superheroes at 12:30pm will be meeting up with Saskatoon-Wanuskewin MP, Maurice Vellacott at the Diefenbaker Park at the south-east corner of Ruth Street and St. Henry Avenue.

Mr. Vellacott welcomes all his constituents, Saskatoon residents and visitors to stop by and visit with him and the F4J Superheroes, at Diefenbaker Park, at the south-east corner of Ruth Street and St. Henry Avenue, during the WAM festival this Friday, August 22, from 12:30pm through the early afternoon.

Children and adults will receive bracelets promoting truth, justice and equality, temporary tattoos with a message about M-483 and the opportunity to have their picture taken with some of our now famous Everyday Superheroes and the F4J Barney Mobile. Pre-addressed/postage paid postcards will be available for all who want to support M-483 and equal parenting.

“We invite all concerned Canadians to join with us and make their support known and visible in spreading the message that the time has come to act,” said Vellacott.

M-483 is currently scheduled for its first hour of debate in the House of Commons on Wednesday, October 8.

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For further comment, call (613) 992-1966 or 297-2249

Posted in Divorce, Organizational News, Paternal Rights, Men's Issues, Shared Parenting, Family, Child-Custody Awards, Feminist Jurisprudence | Print | No Comments »

Cross Canada “Equal Parenting after Divorce” Crusade

August 18, 2008 by Walter Schneider.

Press Release:

FATHERS-4-JUSTICE (CANADA)

202-812 12th Street, New Westminster, BC V3M 4K1

National Coordinator: Kris Titus
T (888) F4J-CANADA or (888) 345-2262
E officefathers4justicecanada@gmail.com
W www.fathers-4-justice-canada.ca

Cross Canada Crusade to Support “Equal Parenting after Divorce”

Maurice Vellacott, M.P Saskatoon-Wanuskewin has tabled a Private Members Motion (PMM-483) which proposes changes to the Federal Divorce Act to enshrine “the principle of Equal Parenting After Divorce”.

Fathers 4 Justice Canada (F4J Canada) has supported such legislative changes since 1998 and believes that such change is long over-due. To educate and gather popular support from fellow Canadians for this important legislative action, F4J Canada will be launching a cross-country tour with the support and assistance from local groups. We invite all concerned Canadians to join with us and make their support known and visible in spreading the message that “the time has come to act”.

F4J Canada’s Everyday Superheroes Teamwill begin their crusade in Vancouver, BC on August 18, with a kick-off planned for August 17. The heroes plan on visiting major cities across the nation - from British Columbia to Newfoundland - during August and September. Their final destination is our Nation’s Capital. They plan on arriving in Ottawa ON on or before October 7, to coincide with the earliest date that the Honorable Maurice Vellacott M.P may present PMM-483 in the House of Commons.

Final plans are still being made, but at this stage we would like to ask your organization to help us in spreading the word about the F4J Canada Everyday Superheroes Team arrival in your town/city. Please see attached our CURRENT TENTATIVE Schedule with local contacts. Each local group may have additional event plans.

Of course all donations towards this momentous event are gratefully accepted!

Sincerely,

Board of Directors

F4J Fathers 4 Justice Canada

http://www.fathers-4-justice-canada.ca
http://www.mauricevellacott.ca

____________________

Itinerary for Edmonton: 

Time and Date: Noon, Aug 21, 2008 (Thursday)
Location: Edmonton, Alberta – City Hall
Contact: Melanie Greenfield - 780-710-1540

Edmonton Contact:

Melanie Greenfield – Director of Public Relations
ECMAS (Equal Child Maintenance & Access Society) Alberta
T(780)710-1540 E melanie.greenfield@gmail.com
W www.ecmas.org

Please be there.

Posted in Organizational News, Paternal Rights, Social-Destruction Enterprise, Shared Parenting, Family, Child-Custody Awards, Feminist Jurisprudence | Print | No Comments »

Fatherlessness and same-sex parenting

July 21, 2008 by Walter Schneider.

OneNews.com

2008 06 17

Marcia Segelstein - OneNewsNow Columnist - 6/17/2008

Reluctant Rebel logoIt’s been many years since the late Senator Patrick Moynihan tried to sound the alarm about the problem of fatherlessness in the black community and its long-term implications.  Not only did his words fall largely on deaf ears, he was harshly criticized for speaking up about it.

Sadly, what Moynihan saw happening in the black community has now happened in American society as a whole.  With celebrities leading the way, it is now no big deal for women to have babies out of wedlock.  The very phrase “out of wedlock” sounds positively old-fashioned.  Accidental pregnancies can be aborted — or not — take your pick.  And these days, eyebrows are barely raised over intentional pregnancies by single women.  The New York Times Magazine ran a cover story called “Looking for Mr. Good Sperm” a while back on the trend among single women, tired of waiting for Mr. Right, to seek out instead the right sperm donor.  The author writes, “As recently as the early 60’s, a ‘respectable’ woman needed to be married just to have sex, not to speak of children.”  Imagine!  What a ridiculous notion that sex was anything more than mere recreation.   And as for procreation, who needs it?!  The sex part that is.  Technology’s come a long way, baby.   So guess who’s become obsolete in an ever-growing number of households headed by single women or lesbian couples?  You got it: fathers.  But is that bad?….(Full Story)

Posted in Divorce, Paternal Rights, Health, Men's Issues, Shared Parenting, Family | Print | No Comments »

Dictionary for dads

June 18, 2008 by Walter Schneider.

Dictionary For Dads, Father’s Family Parenting Guide, by Kevin Beirne, MS, CSW, is a common-sense website for dads. It is one of the most practical and useful dad-websites I ever came across, with tips and advice for dads in a large variety of family situations.

It is a must that you visit Dictionary For Dads, and do not neglect to bookmark it. If you are a dad, whether married, common-law or single, you will need ready access to Dictionary For Dads.

Posted in Shared Parenting, Family | Print | No Comments »

Training program for non-residential fathers

June 14, 2008 by Walter Schneider.

James (not his real name) wrote:

I just stumbled upon your website and I was wondering if your organization sponsored programs for fathers. I am currently taking a class at [an American University] entitled Teaching Family Life Education. We have to design a parenting class and find a funder for our program. I was wondering if our program was one you would fund?

We are doing a Parenting Class for non-residential fathers on topics such as routine, social, educational and recreational ways a father can become more involved in their children’s lives. The program is 4 hours long and we are thinking a smaller group of fathers to ensure they feel comfortable to brainstorm and share their ideas. This program would be a one-time thing unless it was successful and people requested it to be held again.

One of my jobs is to find a potential funder for our project. I am not asking for money, nor will I ever ask for any money for this program. I am just trying to find a donor for our program. This is a program that we would be available for anyone to adapt and teach

Please let me know your thoughts so I can see if I’m on the right track.

Thank You,

James

Dear James,

Thanks for asking, but we cannot fund programs like the one you have in mind. We cannot fund any programs, as there is for us in essence absolutely no source of funding from any outside sources. Our small retirement incomes are the sole source of the funding that enables us to run Fathers for Life. That leaves no discretionary income of any sort to permit funding of anything else at all.

You request was for sponsorship, funding and potential funding, and for a donor. All those terms are quite logically and firmly connected with providing money for causes. Sometimes such terms relate to the providing of material goods other than money, but they may then also and still create legally binding obligations and responsibilities.

You explicitly stated in your request that you are not asking for money, and that you will never be asking for money for the program. Please be more specific about what you mean by using the terms funding, donating and sponsoring.

Let me now ask a couple of questions in return. Why do you feel it is necessary to teach non-residential fathers about the circumstances of their fatherhood (which is largely and predominantly fatherhood in absentia)? Why do you feel that fathers do, and that mothers do not, need the sort of training that you envision?

You appear to work in the context of a few misunderstandings in regard to fathers. Given that mothers - especially single mothers - are a much greater danger than fathers are to children in families, your training program targets the wrong audience. You should investigate sources of information that seem to have been deliberately excluded from the study material for your class, such as:

1. Divorced Dads: Shattering the Myths : The Surprising Truth About Fathers, Children, and Divorce, by Sanford Braver, Ph.D. (Hardcover - 288 pages (October 1998) J P Tarcher; ISBN: 087477862X ) Review
2. Experiments in Living: The Fatherless Family, by Rebecca O’Neill; Sept. 2002, CIVITAS

It’s Official: The Experiment Has Failed

For the best part of thirty years we have been conducting a vast experiment with the family, and now the results are in : the decline of the two-parent, married-couple family has resulted in poverty, ill-health, educational failure, unhappiness, anti-social behaviour, isolation and social exclusion for thousands of women, men and children. — Rebecca O’Neill

There is a large body of evidence in support of the good that the presence of fathers in the lives of their children will have on the outcomes for those children. However, the inferior outcomes in children who suffer from fatherlessness are rarely caused by the willful absence of the children’s fathers. Father absence is instead in the vast majority of cases caused by single mothers acting as gate keepers who, with the active support of our legislators, social services agencies and family courts, do their utmost best to keep fathers out and away from their children’s lives.

How would the training program you envision overcome that very great obstacle for non-residential fathers? Sanford Braver’s book contains a set of recommendations to governments that would greatly help in overcoming the aim of keeping fathers at bay. Moreover, Sanford Braver identifies, along with irrefutable facts, that non-residential fathers, if given a chance to have frequent and liberal access to their children, will voluntarily provide all of the participation in their children’s upbringing that your training program appears to envision but is hardly able or suitable to bring about.

It seems to me that, as far as improving the outcomes in children of non-residential fathers goes, you would achieve far better results if you were to design a training program for mothers that endeavors to have single mothers tear down rather than erect and maintain barriers to the presence of their children’s fathers.

Sincerely,

Walter Schneider
http://fathersforlife.org

Posted in Divorce, Education, Men's Issues, Shared Parenting, Child-Custody Awards, Women's Violence | Print | No Comments »