Virtual Library of Newspaper Articles

The Globe and Mail

"Quebec police issue Amber Alert for four-year-old girl"

Globe and Mail, Canadian Press,  JULY 03, 2004

Longueuil, Que. - Police have issued an Amber Alert for a four-year-old girl they say was taken by her mother.

Police in Longueuil, south of Montreal, say Sophie Cayer, 30, fled with her daughter, Megane Ladouceur, late Friday night. Police think Ms. Cayer's mother, Huguette Lareau, 58, is with them.

Police spokesman Gaetan Durocher said Ms. Cayer left letters in the family home that threatened suicide and possible harm to her daughter.

"In these [letters], she was saying she might bring Megane with her," Mr. Durocher said. "The life of the young girl, the life of the mother and also the life of the grandmother are in danger. That's why we had to do the Amber Alert, to [track down] these people as soon as possible."

Police said Megane's parents were going through a divorce and custody battle.

It's the second time the family has been in the news this year.

In May, Megane's father, Eric Ladouceur, lost a leg after a bomb placed in his car exploded when he turned on the ignition.

Police said at the time that the computer worker, 40, had complained of being threatened.

Investigators have made no arrests.

Ms. Ladouceur has no criminal record and was not known to police.

Police said they are treating the car bomb and kidnapping as separate.

"It's too soon to make a link between these two events," Mr. Durocher said.

Eric Ladouceur is still recovering from his injuries in a Longueuil hospital and is under 24-hour police protection, Mr. Durocher said.

Police gave no details on his reaction to his daughter's kidnapping.

The public had called in over 100 tips by late Saturday afternoon.

"We've received a lot of information and our investigators are trying to evaluate it," Mr. Durocher said. "But so far, we have no clues where they are, or where they are going."

Mr. Durocher did not say how police were alerted to the girl's disappearance.

Ms. Cayer was believed to be driving a red, four-door Nissan Altima with Quebec licence plate 302 HTS.

The Amber Alert system is used across North America when police suspect a child has been abducted.

The alert quickly disseminates information to highway billboards, broadcasters and newspapers.

Copyright 2004 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Associated Press

Why boys are in trouble

Boys have been painted as the bad guys in the push to encourage girls to succeed, leaving many young men feeling confused and alienated, wondering what they did wrong

The Associated Press
January 5, 1999

According to psychologist and author William Pollack, 'sports are the one arena in which many of society's traditional strictures about masculinity are often loosened, allowing boys to experience parts of themselves they rarely experience elsewhere.'

When Harvard Medical School psychologist William Pollack administered a test to a group of 150 teenaged boys a few years ago, the results were shocking.

The Boy Crisis Book - Warren Farrell - John Gray

The Boy Crisis Book

The Boy Crisis: Why Our Boys Are Struggling and What We Can Do About It

Authors- Waren Farrell PhD and John Gray PhD

What is the boy crisis?

It's a crisis of education. Worldwide, boys are 50 percent less likely than girls to meet basic proficiency in reading, math, and science.

It's a crisis of mental health. ADHD is on the rise. And as boys become young men, their suicide rates go from equal to girls to six times that of young women.

It's a crisis of fathering. Boys are growing up with less-involved fathers and are more likely to drop out of school, drink, do drugs, become delinquent, and end up in prison.

It's a crisis of purpose. Boys' old sense of purpose-being a warrior, a leader, or a sole breadwinner-are fading. Many bright boys are experiencing a "purpose void," feeling alienated, withdrawn, and addicted to immediate gratification.

So, what is The Boy Crisis? A comprehensive blueprint for what parents, teachers, and policymakers can do to help our sons become happier, healthier men, and fathers and leaders worthy of our respect.   Read More ..

The Boy Crisis

The War Against Boys: How misguided feminism is harming our young men

War Against Boys Book-Gender Bias Misandry

Canadian flag
Health Canada Publication

The Invisible Boy: Revisioning the Victimization of Male Children and Teens

"... the existence of a double standard in the care and treatment of male victims, and the invisibility and normalization of violence and abuse toward boys and young men in our society.

Despite the fact that over 300 books and articles on male victims have been published in the last 25 to 30 years, boys and teen males remain on the periphery of the discourse on child abuse.

Few workshops about males can be found at most child abuse conferences and there are no specialized training programs for clinicians. Male-centred assessment is all but non-existent and treatment programs are rare. If we are talking about adult males, the problem is even greater. A sad example of this was witnessed recently in Toronto. After a broadcast of The Boys of St. Vincent, a film about the abuse of boys in a church-run orphanage, the Kids' Help Phone received over 1,000 calls from distraught adult male survivors of childhood sexual abuse. It is tragic in a way no words can capture that these men had no place to turn to other than a children's crisis line."