Here’s a 45-minute video of equal parenting supporter and journalist Barbara Kay giving a speech to the Canadian Association for Equality in Toronto. It’s worth watching for the reasons that Kay’s columns are worth reading. She knows her facts and has the largeness of spirit necessary to see past the anti-father bias that’s so common in public discourse, popular culture, the news media and of course, family courts. Kay sees the suffering of fathers and children clearly and fearlessly calls the courts on this abuse.
We do know that, in Canada, effectively 90% of child custody goes solely to mothers. There has been little or no change for decades despite all the social science showing it to be harmful to kids. In 1997, a special joint Senate-Commons committee was created to advise the government on the issue of child welfare post-divorce or separation. Barbara Kay cites the report, entitled “For the Sake of the Children,” key finding: “the sole custody adversarial system as it pertains to the majority of custody and access disputes denies children and non-custodial parents basic human rights, putting children’s emotional and psychological health at risk.” The report went on to recommend establishing in law a presumption of equal parenting, where no issues of safety were demonstrated, as best for children.
Kay mentioned that poll after poll show that Canadians overwhelmingly support equal parenting.
But successive governments, both Liberal and Conservative, have refused to act on these recommendations or on the interests of children and parents. As we all know, continuing efforts to make a presumption of equal parenting the law of the land have been blocked by vested interests. Equal parenting and divorce law reform are two of the promises for change in the policy of the Conservative Party.
Despite social science, despite the recommendations of the Joint committee, Canadian family courts continue their destructive anti-father and sole custody bias, handing custody to mothers and cutting fathers out of their children’s lives, to the detriment of all. And in every case it’s done while piously and hypocritically hiding under the excuse of “the best interests of the child.”
The institutional disgrace that are the family courts of Canada continues in spite of evidence, public support for change, and basic humanity. Barbara Kay covers a lot more ground than just family law reforms, but this video comes highly recommended. Thanks to CAFE for organizing this event and thanks the Barbara Kay for such a good speech.
(adapted with permission from Robert Franklin, Fathers and Families)
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