'Bat Girl' arrested after publicity stunt
Barrie Advance, Barrie, Ontario, by Rick Vanderlinde, Staff, April 25, 2009
A woman dressed as Bat Girl climbed to the top of the water tower at the Cookstown Outlet Mall jut before noon Saturday and unfurled a banner in the name of Fathers for Justice.
Firefighters from Bradford West Gwillimbury used an aerial ladder truck to climb to an upper platform of the tower to bring the unidentified woman down.
Before the ladder was raised a lone firefighter climbed up the tower's metal and spoke with the woman for about 10 minutes.
A large banner the woman hung from the side of the tower, which overlooks Highway 400, proclaimed the cause of Fathers for Justice, a group that has criticized Ontario's Family Court system as being unfair to divorced fathers.
The banner read: Parental Alienation Awareness; Love is For Everyone.
Mayor Mike MacEachern of New Tecumseth and Mayor Tom Walsh of Adjala-Tosorontio both made the proclaimations.
The woman was escorted down the fire truck's ladder as dozens of mostly bemused spectators looked on.
When she reached the parking lot she was immediately arrested by South Simcoe Police officers, who escorted her to a waiting cruiser.
A mall maintenance worker said it wasn't clear how the woman managed to access the tower's ladder to carry the large banner to the top.
The ladder is locked from the bottom and is raised six feet from the ground for safety reasons.
April 25 is Parental Alienation Awareness Day. The group Fathers 4 Justice Canada hosted an event to raise awareness for their cause last Saturday at Zehr's in Alliston where a similar banner was displayed.
Over the past two weeks representatives of Fathers 4 Justice have attended local municipal council meetings and asked for proclamations setting aside April 25 as Parental Alienation Awareness Day. The 49-year-old Alliston woman is now facing charges of mischief as a result of the stunt.
She was released on a Promise to Appear and a Recognizance with several conditions. She will appear in a Bradford Court on May 28 to answer to the charge.
Revisiting Canada's infanticide law
The Edmonton Journal
November 12, 2006
A safeguard for women? An insult to women? Canada's infanticide law, like the crime itself, ignites strong emotions on both sides. Just how did the legislation evolve and why do some legal experts want it scrapped?
"You heartless bastards!"
The words rang out in a Wetaskiwin courtroom, Ryan Effert's verbal attack on the eight-woman, four-man jury that had just found his 20-year-old sister, Katrina, guilty of murdering her newborn baby.
Ryan Effert was the first to lash out at the jury, but his angry words have been echoed by many others. Defence lawyers, legal experts, pundits and members of the public have all expressed upset and bewilderment at the decision on Sept. 26. Read More ..
Infanticide law must die
The Calgary Sun
September 25, 2010
For six decades, women who have killed their babies have typically benefited from reduced sentences under our infanticide law because of the belief their minds were disturbed from giving birth.
University of Alberta law professor Sanjeev Anand wonders why only mothers who kill their infants get a break.
Fathers and adoptive parents should have a shot at judicial compassion as well, he argues in a provocative article in the Alberta Law Review.
There is little evidence of a direct connection between the physical effects of childbirth or lactation and the onset of mental disturbances in women, he declares.
Rather, poverty, isolation and other social stresses are more likely causes of the mental illness some women experience after childbirth, Anand argues.
And if mothers are vulnerable to mental breakdowns because of the socio-economic burden of child-rearing, surely fathers and adoptive parents risk the same stress and should also be able to use the defence of infanticide, he says.
"Once the law recognizes biological mothers who kill their children may commit these acts because of the effects of mental disorders caused by social stresses, the law must also acknowledge all parents are susceptible to such influences," Anand writes. Read More ..