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ALERT BULLETIN Attention
All Women! |
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Important Links (added June 7, 2001) "Brief to
the Federal, Provincial, Territorial Family Law Committee on Custody,
Access and Child Support" - Ontario Women's Network on Custody
& Access - an extensive analysis of the consultation process,
critical assessment of the proposed models, and list of 40 recommendations
(French to come) "Feedback
Booklet for the Consultation on Custody, Access and Child Support"
- Vancouver Custody & Access Support & Advocacy Association and
Battered Women's Support Services - point-by-point critique of the feedback
booklet by BC women's groups "Analysis
of Part 1 of the Consultation Document" by Pamela Cross, April
30, 2001 Analyse du document
« L’intérêt de l’enfant d’abord
– Partie 1 » par Pamela Cross, 30 April Women's Organizations
Boycott Custody Consultations - Media Release, Ottawa, June 6th Les organismes
de femmes dénoncent les consultations sur la garde légale
- communiqué de presse, Ottawa, 6 juin 2001 Changes to Canada's
Divorse Act Underway: Round of provincial consultations begin in Vancouver
- Press Release, June 6 |
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Get Informed, Get Involved! In December 1998, the report of the Special Joint Committee of the House of Commons and the Senate on Custody and Access was released, after months of public consultation. This report basically ignored the issue of violence against women and children, omitted any gender-based analysis of family law , marginalized the recommendations made by women's equality-seeking organizations and gave credibility to the claims of the "fathers rights" groups. In May 1999 the Federal Department of Justice responded to this report by stating that it would conduct further research and consultations on specific options, in collaboration with the Provinces and Territories. A few weeks ago, the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Family Law Committee released a consultation paper entitled “Custody, Access and Child Support in Canada: Putting Children’s Interests First”, accompanied by a response booklet. This 64 page consultation document does not refer to women once. It does not acknowledge women's actual care giving work in the family, ongoing social and economic inequality and vulnerability to male violence in the home. The law reform options that are offered in this consultation document are presented in a vacuum that does not reflect the context of women's lives, and contain some proposals that would be extremely detrimental to women and children. In addition, the response booklets call for anonymous responses, making it easy for any individual or organization to fill out several copies, and therefore call into question the very legitimacy of the process.
Do you want an assumption of shared parenting to govern your child custody arrangements after divorce or separation, even if you were the primary care giver throughout the relationship? Do you want to be forced to attend mediation sessions with your ex-partner, take “parenting” classes and have to consult him (or her) on every decision regarding the children? Do you think that “maximum contact” between the children and your ex-spouse is always in the best interest of the children? What do you think of the proposal to fine or imprison the mother /parent who refuses to allow her ex-partner to have access to the children?
Let the federal government know before June 15 what reforms to family law, and in particular to the Divorce Act, really matter for women, and what the children really need. Let them know about the real circumstances of women's lives both after separation or divorce, and during marriage. Express your concerns with any specific proposal that is being put forward in the Consultation document. You can send a letter or a fax, write a brief or endorse someone else's. You can organize a local or regional meetings with other women and women's groups, inform them of what is happening, tell them where they can get more information. You can write an article in your local paper, call a press conference on June 15, and advocate for change with your MP in the course of the summer. The Ontario Women's Network On Child Custody and Access is preparing a model letter, and a standard brief that will be ready in early June. You are welcome to use them, modify them, cut and paste them, or simply endorse them. They will be posted on the website of the Ontario Women's Justice Network (OWJN).
Get more background information and a feminist analysis of the proposed changes by consulting the following websites: www.owjn.org
or call 1-888-373-2222. We are a recently formed network of Ontario based women's equality-seeking organizations. We do not have staff, but you can contact us by writing at: nancy@nawl.ca You can also get in touch with the following Network members: Ontario
Association of Interval and Transition Houses (OAITH) Action
ontarienne contre la violence faite aux femmes Northwestern
Ontario Women’s Center TAKE ACTION!
Please send us a copy of your submisssion to: nancy@nawl.ca
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BACKGROUND INFO: Position Papers/Consultations on Custody and Access Spousal Violence
in Custody and Access Disputes: Recommendations for Reform N.A.W.L. (National
Association of Women and the Law) RECOMMENDATIONS to the Special Joint
Committee on Child Custody and Access March 1998 Summary of Recommendations
by the Special Joint Committee on Child Custody and Access December
1998 Women's Justice
Network Site re: the Special Joint Committee |
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