High court to determine if parents to pay millions in lump-sum child support
Canadian Press, August 18, 2005, TARA BRAUTIGAM
TORONTO (CP) - Canada's highest court agreed Thursday to hear a case that could determine whether hundreds of thousands of divorced or separated Canadian parents who owe millions in retroactive child support will have to make their payments in a single lump sum.
Toronto lawyers filed the appeal on behalf of four Alberta fathers who were ordered to make immediate child support payments stretching back as far as 1997.
The fathers are appealing an Alberta court decision in January that required parents with child support payments based on old court orders and separation agreements to pay thousands more retroactive support to better reflect their higher incomes.
One of the appellants "is about as opposite from a deadbeat dad as you can get," lead counsel Deidre Smith said from her Toronto office.
"(He is) being whacked with this significant retroactive award when a trial judge has said, 'Hey, buddy, you did everything you are supposed to do."'
The fathers, who are from the Grand Prairie, Calgary, Edmonton and Red Deer areas, can't be named because of a publication ban.
While their appeal does not dispute the amount of money that's owed, neither provincial legislation, the federal Divorce Act nor federal child support guidelines require parents to make annual adjustments to their payments, Smith said.
The sudden court demand for tens of thousands of dollars has caught the appellants off-guard, she added.
"They really resent being called deadbeats or being told by the community that they haven't taken care of their kids when they've been paying what the court order or agreement told them what to pay," Smith said.
When new federal payment guidelines were introduced eight years ago, Ottawa included a process by which the government could calculate child support payments based on tax returns and notify parents of required adjustments in pay.
Those guidelines, however, have not been implemented because the provinces have not yet signed on, Smith said.
Virtually anyone who is paying child support under a court order or separation agreement made within the last 15 years may face large amounts of back claims, Smith said, noting that the "vast majority" of Canadian dads earn Read More ..ter they are separated.
"If they went back and looked at their old orders, there probably would be additional support owing. I've got to think it's in the millions."
Currently, separated or divorced parents receive a court order telling them how much they owe, or work out an agreement with their lawyers, Smith said.
But as child access arrangements change, parents remarry, have more children and incomes fluctuate, the original support arrangement often no longer accurately reflects each parent's situation, she noted.
Mothers and fathers alike often under-report changes in income, day care costs and associated expenses of raising children - some of the major factors in determining child support, said Stacy Robb, president and founder of Dads Canada.
Some parents make their payments under the table to avoid the costs of returning to court annually for support readjustments, Robb said.
"As a result, some of these people are paying too much money, and others are paying not enough."
One of the divorced fathers involved in the appeal has never earned more than $23,000 a year, and yet he faces a retroactive child-support payment of $10,000, while another faces a payment of $100,000, which is more than half his annual income, Smith said.
The court is expected to begin hearing the appeal between February and May next year.
Ontario urged to help male victims of sex abuse
The Globe and Mail
March 7, 2005
Ontario's male victims of child sexual assault are being ignored by a provincial government that focuses all its attention on women, a newly launched lobby group that wants equitable funding argued Monday.
The group the Ontario Association of Male Survivor Services says that one man in five was sexually abused as a child and that ignoring the problem makes it harder for these men to recover.
"We've got to stop thinking that sexual violence is just a women's issue," said Rick Goodwin, executive director of the not-profit organization that will operate the lobby group, in a telephone interview from Ottawa. "In this day and age, that's absurd.".
Correctional Services Canada
Service correctionnel du Canada
Female Sex Offenders in the Correctional Service of Canada, Case
Studies
Délinquantes sexuelles sous la
responsabilité du Service correctionnel du Canada, études de cas
LITERATURE REVIEW ON FEMALE SEX OFFENDERS
Although there is an increasing literature on male sex offenders, there is a noticeable dearth of information concerning female sex offenders. Most of the work in the area has come from three of the largest prison programs for female sex offenders in Missouri, Minnesota, and Kentucky.
OVERALL NEGLECT OF FEMALE SEXUAL OFFENCES
For a variety of societal reasons, female sexual abuse is likely to remain unnoticed. Some researchers have found that the incidence of sexual contact with boys by women is much Read More ..evalent than is contended in the clinical literature (Condy, Templer Brown & Veaco, 1987). Despite society's increasing concern about sexual assault, there may be several reasons for the under-reporting of female sexual abuse of both child and adult victims. Traditionally, society has held preconceptions of women as non-violent nurturers. Women in general, and mothers Read More ..ecifically, have Read More ..eedom than men to touch children (Marvasti, 1986). Therefore, a man may be Read More ..sily perceived as abusive when touching a child than when a woman touches a child in a similar manner (Plummer, 1981). Further, sexual offences perpetrated by women are often incestuous in nature and children may be reluctant to report sexual contact with a parent on whom they are dependent (Groth, 1979). Health care workers are often unable to detect mother-child incest as mothers often accompany their children to the doctor's office. This may serve as a barrier to detecting sexual abuse of the child (Elliott & Peterson, 1993). The medical profession is only reluctantly becoming sensitive to the fact that females can, in fact, be perpetrators of sexual abuse (Wilkins, 1990; Krug, 1989).
EXAMEN DE LA DOCUMENTATION SUR LES DÉLINQUANTES SEXUELLES
La documentation sur les délinquants sexuels s'accroît alors que l'information sur les délinquantes sexuelles est clairement déficiente. La plupart des travaux en ce domaine proviennent de trois des programmes les plus importants établis pour les délinquantes sexuelles au Missouri, au Minnesota et au Kentucky.
DÉSINTÉRESSEMENT GÉNÉRAL À L'ÉGARD DES INFRACTIONS SEXUELLES COMMISES PAR DES FEMMES
Pour diverses raisons sociales, les mauvais traitements sexuels infligés par les femmes demeurent généralement cachés. Certains chercheurs ont découvert que l'incidence des contacts sexuels entre des femmes et des garçons est beaucoup plus élevée que ne l'estime la documentation clinique (Condy, Templer Brown et Veaco, 1987). En dépit du fait que la société se préoccupe de plus en plus de l'agression sexuelle, plusieurs raisons pourraient faire que l'on parle moins des cas de mauvais traitements sexuels infligés par des femmes à des enfants ou à des adultes. La société a toujours perçu les femmes comme des nourricières non violentes. Les femmes en général, et surtout les mères, ont plus de latitude pour toucher les enfants que les hommes (Marvasti, 1986). Par conséquent, un homme qui touche un enfant de la même manière que le fait une femme peut être plus facilement perçu comme un agresseur (Plummer, 1981). En outre, les infractions sexuelles commises par des femmes sont souvent de nature incestueuse et les enfants peuvent hésiter à dénoncer un contact sexuel avec un parent dont ils dépendent (Groth, 1979). Les travailleurs du domaine de la santé sont souvent incapables de déceler les cas d'inceste entre l'enfant et la mère car cette dernière accompagne souvent l'enfant au bureau du médecin. Cela peut empêcher de dépister les mauvais traitements sexuels infligés à l'enfant (Elliott et Peterson, 1993). La profession médicale prend à contrecoeur conscience du fait que les femmes peuvent en fait infliger de mauvais traitements sexuels. (Wilkins, 1990; Krug, 1989). Read More ..
Educator Sexual Misconduct:
A Synthesis of Existing Literature
Prepared for the U.S. Department of Education
Office of the Under Secretary
Policy and Program Studies Service
U.S. Department of Education
Statistics
Sexual Assaults by teachers on students
Ontario-wide strategy needed for male sex abuse victims, inquiry told
Canadian Press
February 27, 2009
CORNWALL, Ont. - Male victims of childhood sexual abuse need specialized support services and a provincial ombudsman dedicated to their plight, the Cornwall inquiry heard Friday as the $40-million probe drew to a close after three years of testimony.
The inquiry, established to examine institutional responses to allegations of sexual abuse in eastern Ontario, spent the majority of its final week hearing submissions dealing with allegations that a pedophile clan operated with impunity in the city for decades.
Lawyers at the inquiry cast the clan stories as fabrications spread by a misguided police officer and embraced by a panic-stricken community.
On Friday, the submissions focused on healing and reconciliation for the community and victims.
Following a complaint in 1992 that a former altar boy had been sexually abused by a priest and a probation officer, many others came forward to allege they had also been abused by prominent people decades ago.
Many of those complainants were men, and a lawyer for the counselling group The Men's Project said even though there were a lot of community services in the city at the time, none could adequately handle men's counselling.
"In fact, they had to bring in my client from Ottawa because they were the only ones with expertise to deal with this," David Bennett told the inquiry.
"Even though there were existing social services they just weren't able to deal with it and (that's) why there needs to be a specialized area."
Both The Men's Project and the Victims Group urged the commissioner to recommend that the Ontario government create victim treatment service centres for male survivors of sexual abuse province wide.
Both groups also called for the province to create a sex abuse ombudsman.
"There has been a theme from survivors of not being believed, getting the run-around, being kept in the dark, which for some had the effect of re-victimization," the Men's Project said in its written submissions. "An ombudsman could rectify this."
In addition, the government needs to remedy how treatment for sexual abuse victims is funded, the Men's Project said. Read More ..