In loving memory of
Marvin Davids
May he rest In peace
Marvin Davids committed suicide on February 1, 2001. Mr. Davids was not a member of F.A.C.T., but he was a dispossessed and harassed non-custodial parent who had support orders issued against him that appear outrageous. There are those who read what has happened and feel that this is the typical punishment of judges such as Justice Shaughnessy, Justice Labrosse, Justice Doherty and Justice O'Connor impose on the parents who dare to represent themselves in court.
Was Mr. Davids a good man? We don't know him and we cannot tell. Just about everyone has some good and some bad to him.That is irrelevant. Deliquent dads do not commit a crime punishable by death. He did not deserve to die.
Did Mr. Davids's decision to commit suicide directly result from the unjust and punative judiciary, the power of greedy lawyers, the stomp of a dictorial and uncaring government and the destruction of life and hope from the subscription-hungry Toronto Star? It seems if you follow the money, you know who had the interest, and responsibility, in Mr. Davids's death.
Mr. Davids was unusual due to the undue pressure put on him by a wife who claims to have spent $250,000 persuing a man for a total of, at most, $130,000, by the threats of the FRO, by a front page article from the irresponsible Toronto Star on February 5, 2000 and March 30, 2000, and by groups who specialise in criminal harassment such as "Families Against Deadbeats" and http://www.wantedposters.com supported by the Toronto Star and sanctioned and allowed to run unhindered by the authorities. You can read the Toronto Star series in the newsarticles from January 2000, February 2000 and March 2000. The March 2000 news articles also includes an excellent series by the National Post that deals with the realities and injustice of the "system".
We support the calls for a coroner's inquest into Mr. Davids death. A sample letter is available. This letter has been submitted already but you can use it as a starting point for your own letter. The more letters that are received by the Coroner's office, the better the chance of having an inquest. I would note that the Solicitor-General is responsible for the Chief Coroner's Office, and the Attorney-General is responsible for the irresponsible Family Responsibility Office.
A short response has been recieved from the Chief Coroner's office -- a "maybe later" letter. You can read it here in PDF format or GIF format. You need to write to make the Coroner realise that these suicides ARE an issue of public interest and public importance. Please add your voice.
As more material become available we will post it hear. Currently we have the following items so that you can see what happened to Mr. Davids.
After reading the material directly related to Mr. Davids, David Osterman made a number of insightful comments that cut to the heart of the problems with the judgement.
In an attempt to get the Coroner's Office of Ontario to live up to its mandate of protecting the living, FACT held a memorial meeting outside of the Ontario's Coroners Courts on September 24, 2001 to remember all the parents who have died as result of a corrupt family law system in Canada. Despite the rain and cold, a group of dedicated men and women attended. You should have been there. We were. For how long longer will the government of Ontario and Canada kill parents this way?
Some of us even got in the picture.
