Desmond Doyle - The Book "Evelyn" and the Movie
"Evelyn" - The Movie
Canadian Children's Rights Council's "Movie of the year" 2004
A Great Movie
Starring Pierce Brosnan,
The true story of a father who fought the Irish government for the right to raise his own children and won in the Supreme Court of Ireland
Desmond Doyle and his family
In 1953, Desmond Doyle was a decorator living with his six children in the grim Fatima Mansions estate of Dublin when his wife left him. Against his better judgment, he decided to place his children in the care of the state industrial schools until he returned from working in England. But Doyle was horrified to discover on his return that his children had been consigned to state care until their teenage years. The bruising battle that Doyle and his solicitors undertook against the Irish legal system gained wide publicity and resulted in massive legal change: the Children Act of 1941 was broken, and Doyle was reunited with his family. Evelyn Doyle was nine years old at the time, and the story, as seen from her point of view, is both heartbreaking and suspenseful. In the battle against an entrenched and intransigent legal system, the human elements are never submerged, and Evelyn: A True Story is a deeply affecting and poignant real-life story about a fathers love for his children and how he had to fight to the Supreme Court of Ireland to get his "god-given Constitutional rights".
EVELYN
Evelyn Doyle: A True Story - The Book
Orion
Rating:
Published March 2003
Evelyn Doyle's Evelyn: A True Story takes us into a little known arena of the fight against a repressive state. And the result is a concise memoir that delivers a considerable emotional punch in its measured tones. James Joyce famously railed against the more repressive aspects of his native country, and for all its considerable beauty, the iniquities of the Establishment (both Church and State) in Ireland are well known.
In 1953, Desmond Doyle was a decorator living with his six children in the grim Fatima Mansions estate of Dublin when his wife left him. Against his better judgment, he decided to place his children in the care of the state industrial schools until he returned from working in England. But Doyle was horrified to discover on his return that his children had been consigned to state care until their teenage years. The bruising battle that Doyle and his solicitors undertook against the Irish legal system gained wide publicity and resulted in massive legal change: the Children Act of 1941 was broken, and Doyle was reunited with his family. Evelyn Doyle was nine years old at the time, and the story, as seen from her point of view, is both heartbreaking and suspenseful. In the battle against an entrenched and intransigent legal system, the human elements are never submerged, and Evelyn: A True Story is a deeply affecting and poignant real-life story that engages the reader quite as comprehensively as any novel by William Trevor or Edna O'Brien. --Barry Forshaw
"We must vigilantly stand on guard within our own borders for human rights and fundamental freedoms which are our proud heritage......we cannot take for granted the continuance and maintenance of those rights and freedoms."
John Diefenbaker
(1895-1979)
About The truth
"All truth passes through three stages. First it is ridiculed, Second it is violently opposed. Third it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur
Schopenhauer
(1788-1860)
"In a world darkened by ethnic conflicts that tear nations apart, Canada stands as a model of how people of different cultures can live and work together in peace, prosperity, and mutual respect."
Bill Clinton
(William J. Clinton)
42nd President of The United States of America
Canada's
national "Child Day"
November 20th
Canada's "Child Day" is held on November 20th each year as designated by the Parliament of Canada in 1993.
It commemorates the United Nations adoption of two landmark documents concerned with the human rights of all children and youths. Read More ..
Canadian appointed U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights
Louise Arbour took up her duties on July 1, 2004 as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Her term in office ended in June 2008.
Mrs. Arbour was a member of the Supreme Court of Canada immediately preceding her appointment to the UN as Commissioner for Human Rights.
Louise Arbour: a colleague we have failed
Law Times, Canada
22 September 2008
This profession - and all of us in it - have failed to protect, honour, and defend one of our most accomplished and distinguished members. We have let Louise Arbour down by our silence when she needed and deserved voices of support.
On July 1, Arbour stepped down as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, an enormously prestigious and important international position.
The gratitude and praise which greeted her at the end of her term was shamefully muted. Arbour was a courageous champion of human rights, and a bold critic of the erosion of those basic tenets in our world.
She was never timid. She was never chained to a desk, was involved, hands on, outspoken, and challenging. She breathed life into the enormous portfolio that she was asked to take on.
INDEPTH: DAY CARE
Day Care in Canada
CBC Television News Online, February 9, 2005
It was first proposed in 1970 a program that would provide affordable day care across the country. It was promised when Brian Mulroney and the Conservatives swept to power in 1984. And again four years later.
By the time Jean Chretien's Liberals did some political sweeping of their own in 1993, promises of a national day-care strategy had fallen victim to the realities of a government wallowing in debt. With budgetary knives sharpened and drawn, day care would have to wait.
But the economic climate began to shift and in 1997, Quebec introduced its own day-care system, offering spaces at $5 a day. Demand quickly surpassed supply.
About The truth
"All truth passes through three stages. First it is ridiculed, Second it is violently opposed. Third it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur
Schopenhauer
(1788-1860)