Fathers Are Capable Too was one of the largest non-custodial parents' and children's rights organisations in Canada dealing with custody and access. F.A.C.T. is an organisation of both men and women working to support our children's right to have a relationship with both parents. We are a not-for-profit non-custodial parents' and fathers' support and advocacy group.

FACT's meetings have been suspended for the indefinite future. We continue to function but on a different level for the time being.

What is FACT all about? We advocate for a better solution when there is family breakdown: Equal Shared Parenting.

One of our directors has written an excellent paper on Equal Shared Parenting, one which I would highly recommend. We also have a summary that was presented to the federal Department of Justice previously stored here.

In addition, we have, in response to a number of queries about getting Legal Aid prepared a little summary of what we have heard from our members.

We are updating our links page and have included Warren Farrell's site. He has authored several execellent books on the male perspective and is very much in support of shared parent time.

For those who are interested in doing something. Health Canada's National Clearinghouse on Family Violence used to link a number of the groups across Canada, including FACT, as resources for victims of domestic violence. Most of those have been erased from their links in favour of the "violent men" groups, many run via the women's shelters. Interestingly, we are now listed, without contact or description, in their 2004 version of Directory of Services and Programs for Abused Men in Canada (although we are not strictly male oriented). Links to this document are in the Domestic Violence section of this site.

Groups like FACT do have international recognition of various forms. One of the interesting sources where out material has been used is the European Union study at http://europa.eu.int/comm/health/ph_projects/2001/injury/fp_injury_2001_frep_05_en.pdf(see page 14 for the credits).

Certainly, we would encourage you to write to these people and recommend that FACT, and the other groups supporting victims, be put on the link list again. You can email the Health Canada people at ncfv-cnivf@hc-sc.gc.ca.

On May 4, 2004 Statistics Canada released the incredible statistic that, for the first time in history, that less than 50% of the children of divorce in 2001-2002 were subjected to sole maternal custody. Of course, that really is not true story -- the true story is the hiding of the real situation under the purposefully misleading language of the courts. You can read our news release about this here (PDF format).

On March 31, 2004 the Office of the Coroner of Ontairo released an excuse for a report that came out of the recommendations of the Hadley inquest (FACT was there). It is a poor excuse for a tracking of the deaths created by public policies in this province. You can read this report (PDF format) at http://www.mpss.jus.gov.on.ca/english/publications/comm_safety/DVDRC_Report_2003.pdf. FACT has released a press release on this report which you can read here (in PDF format).

With the questionable "crackdown" on poor, support paying parents announced by the Ontario government (see their announcement), F.A.C.T. has released the following press release (in PDF format). If you think that this is as cowardly and damaging as we do, give Mr. McGuinty a call at 416-325-1941 and tell him (or his staff).

Even more good news, Trociuk v. British Columbia (Attorney General) is another sensible and well-written decision. This one actually recognises fathers as people with some rights -- a new concept for the courts in Canada -- and the various Ministries of Justice.

It is always good to get good news. This time, the good news if from a totally unexpected source. The Supreme Court of Canada on April 17, 2003 delivered their decision in the case of Miglin v. Miglin, the case that Ontario sent forward with the message that divorce was never over (in the spousal support issue). Well, the decision was a good one based on honesty, compassion and, surprisingly, the legislation and the law. Our problems with the decision are not major, and we salute the Supreme Court of Canada for is work. You too can read this decision from the Supreme Court site in HTML format, text format, or WordPerfect 6.1 format. The decisions are available in French as well.

This case indicates just how far off the Ontario Court of Appeal, and the Ontario family law courts, have deviated from reality of the law in their "family law" decisions. Hopefully, these types of decisions will corral those judges in -- and tell the federal and provincial Departments of Justice some important truths.

In her final arguments charge to the jury in the Clara Harris trial in Texas (she killed her philandering husband by running him over numerous times with her Mercedes while her stepdaughter was in the front seat witnessing this) prosecutor Mia Magness, a young female assistant district attorney, told jurors: ...the solution was to get divorced. She should do like every other woman in [the western world] and take him to the cleaners. Get his house, car, kids -- make him wish he was dead.

With the social context training and the legislated no choices, judges are being reduced to be the ceramic doll heads at the front of the court to pass judgements with nothing between the ears, but an ego to fill the courthouse. Of course, their defense is "they made me do it." Well, it is important to give judges their due, so here it is our collection of judge jokes. Submit some of your own (PG) jokes so the judges will know we are thinking of them.

Yes, there is something else you can do, and this holds particularly for those involved in family law and those parents and relatives who have seen Parental Alienation Syndrome. The update to the DSM is beginning and you can contribute to ensuring that PAS is included in the manual. For more information see here.

Another excellent study, from a UK group that produces very good material -- Civitas -- is now available on-line from them. This study entitled Experiments in Living: The Fatherless Family details the failure of the "experiment" of fatherless homes through summaries of the multitude of studies that show the damage done to children and society from this "new society. The study is available from Civitas's website at http://www.civitas.org.uk/, or you can get it from our website's Fathering section. This is great piece of work -- and tell the Civitas people that too!

An excellent study, Gender as a Factor in the Treatment of Domestic Partner Abuse by Police and Prosecutors: A Pilot Project Study by Dr. Grant Brown, an Edmonton lawyer and university professor, has been released to the public. This study looks at the treatment of men and women by the Edmonton police and court system in detail. To that end, it expands upon the indications in the Statistics Canada 2000 Family Violence study that the police and courts systematically treat men, whether alleged victims or perpetrators, harshly in domestic violence issues while doing little with abusive women to deter their violence or to protect their victims. The full version of this study is not yet publicly available over the Internet. Copies of the press release version of the report are available from FACT on request, and copies of the full report will be available soon from the author. This is an excellent study and any government should read this report, and be able, with the possible exception of governments in Canada, recognise just how much damage their domestic violence programs cause -- and perhaps accept responsibility for their violence in doing so.

On June 13, 2002 a father under considerable personal pressure performed a citizen's arrest pursuant to s. 494 of the Criminal Code against a judge in Milton for "Crimes Against Humanity" -- a Criminal Code offense under s. 183 which references back to the new Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act. FACT was not involved in the arrest of the judge, and we do not support, and strongly discourage, any one arresting judges. However, having done some lay research, it does appear that under the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, certain procedures used by the Family Law courts might be classed as Crimes Against Humanity under the Act. To that end, FACT has released a News Release (available here in PDF format) concerning this matter and encouraging investigation of the issues. We would encourage you to speak to your MP and your member of your provincial legislature about this matter -- please do not arrest any one. Support for this father comes from many sources: see http://laughing_lawyer.tripod.com/archives/skeptical_father.htm, for example.

With the McLachlin insanity quoted below, we really wondered just how biased the material given to judges was -- there people make a lot of their decisions from their "training", not by thinking. It is terrible. Here is a letter from former Chief Justice Antonio Lamer admitting that the material used is training judges on handling domestic violence was indeed biased, one-sided, feminist and out-of-date. You think that the National Judicial Institute has made any effort to make this material relevant or correct? Well, you will have to be a judge to see (http://www.nji.ca/)-- community input on community standards is not welcome. However, we doubt that a word has been changed to deal with the problems.

As the time has gone forward, many Canadians realise just how much the judiciary has become a dictatorial branch of government with no accountability to the people of Canada. However, not many understand just how bad this has become. The Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada publicly spoke of the family law policies that they will be imposing on Canadians, bypassing all democratic institutions, to the Ontario Bar Association's Family Law Section on January 24, 2002. A copy of her speech is here in HTML format and in PDF format. It is interesting to read this speech, based on decades old and unreliable statistics, on structures and presumption diametrically opposed to the legislation passed by the Parliament of Canada proposes to implement a set of pre-ordained laws by Supreme Court. It is an indication of just how much the Supreme Court justices honour the concept of a "free and democratic society" as required in the Charter. It is time that the judiciary of Canada, with this tremendous power, becomes accountable for their actions. The judicial branch of government, as often seen in family law, is rapidly losing any pretense of a defender of citizen and ideals and simply becoming implementors of partisan policy under the banner of "pro-action". This is not right. Most Canadians think that elections for judges are the answer. Accountability of these appointed civil servants is required -- their "independence" does not exist.

If you think that this does not happen, do recall that all of the elected and accountable representatives and the drafters of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms did, on numerous occasions reject the inclusion of sexual orientation in the Charter. The specific will of those who were accountable was derided and ignored by the Supreme Court. Not debating who was right in context here, but do understand that the Supreme Court routinely over-rides the wishes of Canadians and Canada's elected representatives to impose their own biases on the country. This is not right.

Did you ever wonder about how judges ignore the truth in Family Law Courts? Ever wonder about why things are not checked, and why perjury -- especially by lawyers -- is ignored, or what type of a court could possibly condone such things. You will be told many times that it isn't. However, one man in Saint John, New Brunswick has just been charged with criminal libel for revealing simply what went on in court. We were not there to listen to Mr. Justice Guerette, but we had received a copy of the page of transcript from this case. What do you think of this means? If a "little lie" is the lynch pin of the judgement -- based on something "minor" and unimportant things like falsely alleged kidnapping or threatening -- are the children's best interests in stable relationships with both parents being protected? This should be a matter of concern to all Canadians.

Perhaps late, but when looking for some other material, we came across some MP3 files on the Internet by a group known as the Displaced Dads from Australia. They have a CD of original songs written by and for non-custodial fathers. Many are available on the net, and links are provided. Ordering information for the CDs in North America is also given. For more details, visit our brand new Music section.

It is with deep sorrow, that we must announce that we have become aware of the passing of another non-custodial father of divorce. Did his destruction by the courts and the harassment by the authorities and the media -- in particular the Toronto Star who will not even announce his death -- contribute to his death. We have established a memorial section for Mr. Davids so you can read about this tragic loss of the father of his children and another non-custodial parent. We encourage you to contact the Chief Coroner and your MPPs to demand that a coroner's inquest be held to investigate the factors contributing to Mr. Davids's suicide and the hundred's of other non-custodial parents lost in Ontario each year.

A great article by lawyer Karen Selick, entitled "The Guidelines, Myth and F.A.C.T.", that references the F.A.C.T. Child Support Study has been published in the Canadian Lawyer. Karen has this article on the Web at http://www.karenselick.com/CL0101.html. The Report material is here! Make the country aware of what has been done!

We have also received notice of two U.S. cases from Florida, specifically dealing with Parental Alienation Syndrome. One is extremely important, accepting PAS as having met the test for scientific acceptability before the courts (the Frye test) making it (maybe) legally recognised by the courts. For those who are interested, you can read the information we currently have by clicking here.

F.A.C.T. has released its updated report on the status of the federal Child Support Guidelines as part of the Department of Justice's required review. This report looks at the Guidelines and sees that it will throw non-custodial parents into poverty (as defined by most of the social service agencies), while vastly improving the life of custodial parents, by making large and inappropriate transfer of income (and wealth) from the non-custodial parent. Two years after the implementation of the Guidelines, the model used was finally released and the arbitrariness and unfairness in the Guidelines can be distinctly seen. Print out copies of the report and mail them to your local MP, MPP (yes, common-law application is a provincial issue) and local papers. Make the country aware of what has been done! The Report material is here!

Please note: if you are from the media and wish to receive copies of F.A.C.T.'s press releases, please let us know your email, fax or mailing address so we can get the material out to you. For long items like this one, I suspect we will send you a cover summary with links to the F.A.C.T. website for the more detailed information. Please email us by clicking here.

NEW on the Site: the F.A.C.T. Search section.
The site is getting big. The volume of news articles is such that it was getting difficult to find things. However, we know that they present a record, albeit scanty, for researchers and students on events as they are and have been recently. Here is a simple search engine for most of the material physically on the site in HTML files. This is the free version of the engine, I gather that the commercial engine will also index the volume of PDF files we also have on site, but our budget is too thin for that at this time.

Look at the Compas Poll (or the PDF capture of the original screens) where it is identified that 80% of Canadians feel that it is "very important" that BOTH parents be involved in their children's lives, and that another 17% feel that it is "important". 97% of Canadians know that this is an important issue! Of the under-30 class, those that are have been by divorce, 86% feel that the issue is "very important". Let the government know where you stand!

Man Harassed by Family Responsibility Office Commits Suicide

Andrew Renouf killed himself because he was harassed by the Ontario Government's Family Responsibility Office for child support. He had 100% of his wages taken. Andrew was also very distraught because he had not seen his daughter in 4 years.
Read the complete story, his suicide note, and the story about his memorial service.

Please note: if you are need some advice or assistance about your particular situation, you would be best to come to a regular meeting and talk to one of more experienced members. If you cannot attend, and want to outline your situation, generally, it would be best to post this on the general FACT email discussion list. please be sure to include:

• your location,
• your marital status now and "then" - married, common-law, separated, divorced, etc., and
• the ages and gender of your children.

For others, interested in addressing the problems in the current divorce "system", you can join our action-oriented email group for discussion, information and suggestions.

You can join our discussion lists from this site.

Send us an email on a FACT business matter at:

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