Quebec's creepy new curriculum

The National Post ( Canada's 2nd largest national daily newspaper), By Barbara Kay, December 17, 2008

An often-quoted Jesuit maxim boasts, "Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man."

Only seven? Amateurs! Since September all Quebec students from primary school entry to high school graduation, whether enrolled in public or non-funded private schools, must attend Quebec's new Ethics and Religious Culture course (ERC). And teachers, regardless of their beliefs, must teach it.

Jonathan Gagne, a courageous teenager at the Joseph-Hermas-Leclerc secondary school in Granby, Que., has just been suspended, and will likely be expelled, for boycotting ERC. He is a hero to thousands of angry, mainly Catholic, Quebecers who consider compulsory submission to ERC a violation of their human rights.

The ERC curricula are mandated to introduce students to Quebec's rich diversity of religious tenets and "facilitate the spiritual development of students so as to promote self-fulfillment." Since when does the state "facilitate" spiritual self-fulfillment? To parents who take religion seriously, this is a chilling intrusion into what all democratically inspired charters of rights designate as a parental realm of authority. Read More ..

'Dear Zachary' hits chord with viewers

Director says he's been inundated with support, e-mails

The Telegram, St. John's NF, by TARA MULLOWNEY, December 11, 2008

Filmmaker Kurt Kuenne gives one-year-old Zachary Turner a kiss upon meeting him July 2003. Kuenne's film about the murders of Zachary and his father, Andrew Bagby, has generated considerable positive reader feedback. - Submitted photo by David Bagby

Since it aired on television across North America last weekend, a documentary about the lives and murders of Dr. Andrew Bagby and his son, Zachary Turner, has inspired people to write the filmmaker, telling him how it has changed their lives.

Kurt Kuenne, a close friend of Bagby, told The Telegram he has received hundreds of e-mails since his film "Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About his Father" aired on MSNBC Sunday, both from people who say they have written Parliament and the attorney general to lobby for justice system changes, and from those who say the film touched them like no other.   Read More ..

Yeeda Topham killed her baby son but walks free

Australian Associated Press, December 05, 2008

A WOMAN who killed her infant son by jumping with him from the eighth floor of a city apartment block has walked free after being convicted of manslaughter.

Yeeda Topham, 40, of Roleystone near Perth, had pleaded guilty in the West Australian Supreme Court to a charge of unlawfully killing 21-month-old James Topham on November 5 last year.    Read More ..

Man jailed for not supporting kid who isn't his

Mistaken-identity victim forced to pay $12,000 to someone else's daughter

Associated Press, USA, December 6, 2008

HARRISBURG, Pa. - A Philadelphia man was forced to pay more than $12,000 in child support for another man's daughter and spent two years in jail for falling behind on payments.

Dauphin County prosecutor Edward M. Marsico Jr. told The Patriot-News of Harrisburg that he is examining the case of Walter Andre Sharpe Jr., who has been unable to recover the money even after establishing that he isn't the girl's father.  Read More ..

Not Your Dad's Divorce

How changes in child-support laws, and a push by fathers for equal time, are transforming the way this generation of ex-spouses raise their children.

Newsweek Web Exclusive, USA, Susanna Schrobsdorff, Dec. 15, 2008

Most parents will never forget the details of the day their children were born. For those who divorce, there's another day-equally vivid, totally different-that etches into memory: when they have to tell their children their mother and father are splitting up. What I remember is pacing through our apartment the night before, watching my girls sleep. The older one was 8 and still slept as she had when she was a newborn, arms thrown high above her head. The little one, just 4, was curled at the top of her bed, leaving two thirds of it empty.  Read More ..

Canada's largest daily newspaper

Deadbeat parents risk jail, court says

Appeal court rules that temporary support orders cannot be ignored, even before a full court hearing

Debtors' prisons may generally be a thing of the past, but not when it comes to parents who stubbornly refuse to pay child support.

The Ontario Court of Appeal, in a 3-0 ruling, said judges have the power to order parents jailed for failing to comply with temporary support orders. Such support orders, made after someone has fallen behind in payments, but before a full court hearing into their ability to pay, are common.

In recent years, Ontario's Family Responsibility Office has taken to asking judges to include clauses allowing for imprisonment in the event of non-compliance, said Michael Marra, a Guelph lawyer representing Andrew Fischer, whose case gave rise to the appeal.  Toronto_Star_Deadbeat_Parents_Risk_Jail_Ontario_Court_Appeal_09DEC08.aspx">Read More ..

  
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Ontario MPPs pass bill banning single cigarillos

The Toronto Star, Robert Benzie, Queen's Park Bureau Chief, December 05, 2008

Ontario is stamping out candy-flavoured cigarillo "singles" aimed at children and teens.

In a move to curb youth smoking, MPPs yesterday unanimously passed a bipartisan private member's bill to outlaw the single-serve cigarillos that are brightly packaged and carry no health warnings due to a legal loophole.

"It's excellent for the protection of children in Ontario," said New Democrat MPP France Gélinas (Nickel Belt), who co-sponsored the legislation with Liberal MPP Dave Levac (Brantford). Read More ..

ITWorldCanada.com

SaskTel bringing broadband to all of Saskatchewan

By: Howard Solomon - Network World Canada  (26 Nov 2008)

Province to pay for bulk of telco's three-year rural upgrade program. An industry analyst says it shows infrastructure spending doesn't have to go only to bridges and roads

In three years no corner of Saskatchewan will be untouched by high-speed Internet coverage under an ambitious government-funded plan. Read More ..

Canada's largest daily newspaper

Tougher rules ahead for young drivers

Toronto Star, November 17, 2008, Brett Popplewell, Staff Reporter

The Ontario government is expected to introduce tough new legislation tomorrow that will further restrict the privileges of young drivers.

The move comes after a long lobbying campaign, led by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and Tim Mulcahy, the father of one of the three young people killed in a drunk-driving accident in Muskoka on July 3.

New measures affecting young new drivers are expected to include:

• A total ban on alcohol consumption
• A ban on more than one teenage passenger
• Zero tolerance for speeders - one ticket and they're off the road.

"We've been advocating this for a long time," said Carolyn Swinson, Toronto spokeswoman for MADD.  Read More ..

Furious dads not only ones wanting tests

The Australian, Australia, Leigh Dayton and John Stapleton, November 14, 2008

ANGRY fathers wanting to shirk financial responsibility are not the only group of people going to court over paternity issues.

In an analysis of legal cases in which people intentionally seek a genetic test, US researcher Gregory Kaebnick found that women seeking testing to impose paternal responsibilities were also highly represented.

Dr Kaebnick -- from the Hastings Center in Garrison, New York -- also found two other categories: women attempting to deny paternity rights, and men seeking to obtain them.    Read More ..

Bad reputation dogs young dads

Canadian Press, By MICHELLE MCQUIGGE, November 10, 2008

RELATIONSHIPS: Young fathers lack the same social service supports that moms get

TORONTO -- At the age of 21, Matt Chartrand thought he was ready to become a dad.

He'd spent half his teen years hitchhiking around Canada after fleeing a violent home in Hamilton and had settled down in Ottawa.

He'd fallen in love with a woman he met at a Salvation Army shelter, had found work and wanted to create the sort of close-knit family he had never experienced himself.

But when his son Jason was born, Chartrand realized the new baby wasn't going to be the only one growing up quickly.

During the 10 years of Jason's life, Chartrand and his partner have learned not only the basics of child-rearing and the complexities of raising a family on a limited income, but also how to cope with an autistic child who didn't utter a word for the first five years of his life.

Although he has no regrets about the hardships, Chartrand acknowledges the decision to become a father at such a young age was not wise.  Read More ..

The Retail DNA Test

Time Magazine, USA, By Anita Hamilton, November 11, 2008

Before meeting with Anne Wojcicki, co-founder of a consumer gene-testing service called 23andMe, I know just three things about her: she's pregnant, she's married to Google's Sergey Brin, and she went to Yale. But after an hour chatting with her in the small office she shares with co-founder Linda Avey at 23andMe's headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., I know some things no Internet search could reveal: coffee makes her giddy, she has a fondness for sequined shoes and fresh-baked bread, and her unborn son has a 50% chance of inheriting a high risk for Parkinson's disease.

Learning and sharing your genetic secrets are at the heart of 23andMe's controversial new service - a $399 saliva test that estimates your predisposition for more than 90 traits and conditions ranging from baldness to blindness. Although 23andMe isn't the only company selling DNA tests to the public, it does the best job of making them accessible and affordable. The 600,000 genetic markers that 23andMe identifies and interprets for each customer are "the digital manifestation of you," says Wojcicki (pronounced Wo-jis-key), 35, who majored in biology and was previously a health-care investor. "It's all this information beyond what you can see in the mirror."  Read More ..

Push for jail terms for theft of DNA

The Australian, Leigh Dayton, Science writer, November 11, 2008

A HUSBAND who suspects he is not the father of his children could be jailed for two years if he steals hair or saliva for DNA testing, under legal changes being proposed by the Rudd Government.

Similarly, a private investigator would not be able to obtain a sample of someone's DNA for testing without their permission.

If adopted, the DNA theft laws would also make it illegal to conduct a genetic test on a sample obtained without consent and to disclose the results of any such test.

The proposed changes to the criminal code are contained in a discussion paper released by Home Affairs Minister Bob Debus yesterday. Read More ..

Ex-teacher gets six months for sexual assault of boy, 13

National Post, Ottawa Citizen, by Brendan Kennedy, Canwest News Service, Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Former Ingleside, Ont., teacher Jennifer Dorland, 42, was found guilty of sexual impropriety with a 13-year-old former student in 2004.

CORNWALL, Ont. -- A former Cornwall junior high school teacher who sexually assaulted one of her 13-year-old male students was sentenced Tuesday to six months in jail.

Jennifer Dorland, 42, who is now known as Jennifer Toews, was found guilty of sexual assault, sexual interference and invitation to sexual touching on Dec. 20, 2007.  Read More ..

Teacher gets six months

The Standard-Freeholder, Cornwall, ON, By DAVID NESSETH, October 30, 2008

Former Ingleside teacher Jennifer Dorland was sentenced to six months in jail Tuesday for a sexual relationship with a male student in 2004.

Dorland is in her early 40s; the boy - whose identity is protected by a publication ban - was 13 at the time of the incident at Dorland's Ingleside home.

Dorland, who is now known as Jennifer Toews, was found guilty of sexual assault, sexual interference and invitation to sexual touching on Dec. 20, 2007. Read More ..

The Making of a Monster?

The Globe and Mail, by Stephanie Nolen and Erin Baines, October 25, 2008

GULU, Uganda - From the time he was a tiny child, his parents coached him: Use a fake name. Say you are from the west. Lie about your family.

If ever the rebels get you, they told him, make sure they don't know where your family is - or none of us will ever be safe again.

The rebels did get him, when he was 10 years old. And when they snatched him, walking home from school on a red dirt Ugandan road, green grass high above his head on either side, he did as he had been told: He lied and said his name was Dominic Ongwen.

And so it is by that name that he now stands indicted for seven counts of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC).  Read More ..

Homicide rate drops in 2007, StatsCan reports

The Canadian Press, OTTAWA, Oct. 23, 2008

Police reported 594 homicides in Canada in 2007, 12 fewer than in 2006.

Statistics Canada reports that stabbings accounted for a third of the homicides last year and another third involved the use of a firearm.

The agency says handguns were used in two-thirds of all firearm homicides, primarily in urban areas, while police reported that one in five homicides were gang-related.

Canada's homicide rate has been on a general downward trend since the mid-1970s and last year it declined another three per cent.

StatsCan reports there were 190 stabbings and 188 shootings last year.

Handguns were used in two-thirds of all firearm homicides, up from about a quarter 20 years ago.

Within the nation's metropolitan areas, however, 81 per cent of all firearm-related homicides were committed with a handgun in 2007, compared with 29 per cent in the rest of Canada.  Read More ..

Moms club to Surrey dad: we 'hate to discriminate, but...'

Father and son get boot

Surrey Now, Surrey, BC, by Ted Colley, Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Sorry, no dads.

Serial pedophile charged in abduction of Edmonton girl

The National Post, Ben Gelinas, Canwest News Service, October 07, 2008

EDMONTON -- A man who was declared a long-term offender and sent to prison in 2002 for molesting six children was charged Monday with drugging and sexually assaulting a seven-year-old girl abducted in Edmonton on the weekend.

Police allege the man kidnapped the girl Sunday while she played with her brothers, ages five and nine, in front of her home.

Danial Todd Gratton, 44, was arrested early Monday morning in a house a few blocks from the Belmont Elementary School grounds where the girl was abducted.  Read More ..

  
Canada's largest daily newspaper

Baby death review 'daunting'

New views on shaken-baby syndrome could change findings in 220 cases dating as far back as 20 years

The Toronto Star, by Theresa Boyle, STAFF REPORTER, October 7, 2008

Ontario's chief forensic pathologist, who was the first to suggest a review of old "shaken-baby" deaths, says the province has a "daunting" task ahead as it looks at 220 cases to determine if anyone was wrongfully convicted.

The review will be a massive undertaking, not just because of the number of cases dating back as far as 20 years, but also because shaken-baby syndrome is being hotly debated in medical and scientific circles, Dr. Michael Pollanen says.

"It's a daunting task. It's a considerable amount of work. Resources will need to be dedicated to it," he says, noting the review will involve poring over almost five times as many cases as were examined in the lead-up to a public inquiry that probed the mistakes of disgraced pathologist Dr. Charles Smith. Read More ..

Conservatives vow to toughen youth justice act

Youth 14 and over would be named when convicted of serious crimes

CBC News, Monday, September 22, 2008

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper said tougher sentences for young people who commit crimes will serve as a deterrent.

Under the Conservative leader's proposal, young people 14 and over found guilty of crimes such as manslaughter, murder or aggravated assault would face tougher sentences, and no longer have their identities protected.

The act currently forbids the release of young offenders' identities, unless the accused are found guilty and handed adult sentences.  Read More ..

Group home youths often suffered severe punishments

It was 'unacceptable behaviour', Towndale tells inquiry

The Cornwall Standard-Freeholder, Cornwall, ON, by MICHAEL PEELING

A retired top official from the Children's Aid Society defended the handling of allegations physical abuse took place in a group home during his testimony at the Cornwall Public Inquiry Thursday.

Angelo Towndale, who held a number of positions with the Children's Aid Society (CAS) of S, D & G from 1965 to 1995, including acting executive director for a short period, learned forms of corporal punishment were being used to discipline troubled teenagers living in a group home. Read More ..

Four-year-olds in Montreal will use laptops in kindergarten class

Computer World Canada, By Jennifer Kavur, Sep 02, 2008

A pilot program led by Lester B. Pearson School Board (LBPSB) in Quebec will provide HP 2133 Mini-Note notebook PCs to four-year-old students this fall. The Kindergarten for Four-Year-Olds program will distribute 100 laptops among five Montreal-area schools and the International Language Centre in Pointe-Claire.

Registration is open to local area residents until mid-September, but spaces are limited. LBPSB schools offering the program include: Orchard Elementary, Thorndale Elementary, Mount Pleasant Elementary, Greendale Elementary and Bishop Whelan Elementary.

According Bob Mills, director general of LBPSB, the program will enhance learning opportunities by incorporating technology as part of a total education package. Research has show that the use of technology by three- and four-year-olds develops gain in intelligence, non-verbal skills, structural knowledge such as long-term memory and manual dexterity, he said.  Read More ..

Canada's largest daily newspaper

Top court, not PM, calls the tune

The Toronto Star, by Rosie DiManno, September 24, 2008

Prime Minister Stephen Harper can say what he wants and promise what he dares.

But when it comes to this country's laws, the Supreme Court of Canada decides what's constitutional and what's not.

This past May, the Supremes declared in a 5-4 decision that the Youth Criminal Justice Act is unconstitutional, in parts, as written: Those under age 18 cannot be sentenced as adults, nor identified, unless the Crown persuades a judge of the necessity for doing so.  Read More ..

Probation for mother who power-washed child

Associated Press, U.S.A. September 23, 2008

ORLANDO, Fla. U.S.A. -A mother who was videotaped spraying her young daughter with a high-pressure water hose at an Orlando car wash has pleaded no contest to assault.

A judge sentenced Niurka (Nicki) Ramirez to one year supervised probation on Monday.

Prosecutors had dropped the Read More ..rious charges - felony child abuse and culpable negligence - from the February incident.  Read More ..

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.  Read More ..

Tears, fury follow infanticide verdict

One father enraged, another relieved as woman who killed two baby sons is acquitted of murder

Guelph Mercury, Scott Tracey, September 12, 2008

GUELPH - A Guelph woman who admitted killing her two sons was acquitted of two counts of murder yesterday, prompting an angry outburst from one victim's father and tears of relief from the other.

"You're a f---ing murderer," the woman's former partner yelled at her before storming from the courtroom at Guelph's Superior Court. "No matter what, you're a f---ing murderer."

The man, followed from the courtroom by his mother and grandmother, could then be heard screaming and banging in the corridor.  Read More ..

Guelph woman convicted of infanticide

THE CANADIAN PRESS, Tamara King, September 11, 2008

GUELPH, Ont.-A 27-year-old woman from Guelph, Ont., facing first-degree murder charges in the suffocation deaths of two of her infant sons, was instead convicted today of the rare crime of infanticide.

The woman - who cannot be identified because she was 17 at the time of her first son's death - had admitted to police that she smothered the two babies, using blankets and plastic baby carriage covers.

The boys were born four years apart to different fathers.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Cas Herold found that the woman's mind was disturbed by the effects of childbirth, fitting the legal definition of the lesser charge of infanticide.

"I am satisfied on a balance of probabilities, at least, at the time she killed... (her) mind was disturbed as the result of her not yet having fully recovered from the biological effects of giving birth," Herold said in his lengthy written verdict.  Read More ..

The sins of the mothers

The Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, Australia, by Adele Horin, September 12, 2008

When Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Britney Spears ran amok, the public blamed their mothers. Their fathers - Lohan's had served time in jail and had addiction problems - escaped rebuke entirely.

Now an Australian study provides some evidence that bad mothering has a worse effect on children than bad fathering.

It shows that mothers who exhibit "toxic" behaviours - from being cold and indifferent to being abusive, manipulative or over-controlling - are far more likely to warp their children's outlook on life than fathers with similar behaviour.

Wayne Warburton, a research fellow at Macquarie University's Children and Families Research Centre, said: "Mothers have a really powerful effect on the way their kids view the world and themselves, probably because kids spend Read More ..me with their mothers, especially in the crucial early years."

Dr Warburton asked 441 university students to fill out detailed questionnaires on the parenting styles of their mothers and fathers, and on their own patterns of thinking. Read More ..

Children's Rights group watches custody battle

Bayshore Broadcasting Corporation, August 29, 2008, by Daryl Morris and Manny Paiva

The President of the Canadian Children Rights Council says an Owen Sound judge made the right decision.

Grant Wilson is referring to the case of two year old Daine Fleguel-Cannock.

The Canadian-born boy is at the centre of a custody dispute between his Canadian mother and Australian father.

The mother, Jessica Fluguel (flu-gull) is appealing a decision made by Justice Robert Thompson to have her son's custody hearing in the Australian courts.

However, Wilson says the judge did everything he was supposed to and is totally in line with the Hague Convention.

Missouri woman gets 8 years in prison for plot to steal baby

By The Associated Press, USA, Wed Aug 27, 2008

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. - A 20-year-old woman who kidnapped a pregnant teenager she met online in a foiled plot steal her unborn baby has been sentenced to eight years in prison.

Lauren Gash, of Odessa, pleaded guilty last month to kidnapping, assault and felonious restraint in the July 2007 attack on Amanda Howard, then 18, inside a Blue Springs motel room. Gash was sentenced Tuesday to eight years each on the first two counts and seven years on the third. The sentences will run concurrently.

Howard, now Amanda Culley, was pregnant, single and unemployed when two women she met on the Internet lured her from her home with promises that they would drive her to get baby clothes.  Read More ..

Canadian Government - News Release - August 12, 2008

Government of Canada Invests in Addiction Support Programs for Youth in Prince Edward Island

SUMMERSIDE, August 12, 2008 - The Honourable Rob Nicholson, P.C., Q.C., M.P. for Niagara Falls, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, and the Honourable Gerard Greenan, Attorney General of Prince Edward Island, today announced over $300,000 in funding over 3 years to improve addiction support programs and services for youth in conflict with the law.

"This Government is simply not going to throw in the towel when the health and safety of our communities - and the lives of our young people - are at risk," said Minister Nicholson. "We remain committed to the goals of making our communities safer, protecting our youth from a life of drugs and crime, and showing compassion for those who fall victim to illicit drugs."

The Government of Canada will provide funding to the Community and Correctional Services division of the Office of the Attorney General. The division will participate in the development and implementation of the Prince Edward Island Youth Substance Use and Addiction Strategy.  Read More ..

Mothers wrongly identifying fathers in Child Support Agency claims

Mothers are wrongly naming men as the fathers of their children in claims for maintenance payments, according to new figures.

The Telegraph, UK, By Graham Tibetts, 1 August 2008

Almost one in five paternity claims handled by the Child Support Agency end up showing the woman has deliberately or inadvertently misidentified the father.

Just under 5,000 paternity claims have been shown by DNA tests to be false since paternity testing figures began to be collected in 1998-99.

Under child support legislation it is a criminal offence to make a false statement or representation, and to provide false documents or information. Read More ..

Canada's largest daily newspaper

A different type of cramming

Toronto Star - June 20, 2008, Education - Andrea Gordon Family issues reporter

Julien Lapointe saw so many kids leaving it to the last minute and not enjoying their volunteer hours that he designed 40Hours.ca, a website to help them find jobs they'd enjoy. (June 16, 2008) Student procrastinators are rushing to complete the mandatory 40 hours of community service.  Read More ..

Windsor man becomes latest to reject Order of Canada

Canadian Press, July 10th, 2008 various newspapers across Canada

WINDSOR-A Windsor man honoured two decades ago for helping orphaned girls worldwide said today that he doesn't want to be painted with the same brush as Dr. Henry Morgentaler and will return his Order of Canada in protest.

"I've got nothing against the man," Frank Chauvin said. "He does what he thinks is right, but I think it's wrong."  Read More ..

Under 18, and pregnant by design

Globe and Mail, by Siri Agrell, June 26, 2008

For many people, the narrative of teenage pregnancy seems fairly set: A young girl has sex, misses her period, takes a surreptitious pregnancy test and receives the shocking news.

She then must decide whether to terminate the pregnancy or carry the child to term, both options often devastating to deal with. But there is another scenario that is alive and well, despite decades of access to sex education and contraception: Some teenage girls welcome the news.

"I think one thing that people don't realize is that there's definitely some girls [who] intend to get pregnant," said Sharon Lorber, a social worker who runs the Young Families Program at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children. Over the past 25 years, the percentage of planned teen pregnancies has stayed steady. Last week, Time magazine reported that 17 girls, none older than 16, are expecting babies at Gloucester High School in a small fishing town outside Boston.

While news of the group focused on contested reports of a "pregnancy pact," in which the girls allegedly planned to get pregnant together, the story offers insight into a group of young women who see pregnancy as a calling, not a mistake.  Read More ..

Surrogate mothers: Outsourcing pregnancy in India

The practice of renting a womb and getting a child is like outsourcing pregnancy. This trade's business volume is estimated to be around $ 500 million and the numbers of cases of surrogacy are believed to be increasing at galloping rate in India.

MeriNews, By Joseph Gathia, June 23, 2008

India - THE MINISTRY of Women and Child Development is examining the issue of 'surrogate motherhood' in India for bringing up a comprehensive legislation. But surrogate motherhood - as an arrangement, in which a woman carries and bears a child for another person or persons, but takes no ownership of the child born - has also raised moral, ethical, social and legal questions about both the woman and the 'commissioned baby'.

To understand the issues involved, let us see the case of Surekha. She is seven-months pregnant like any other expecting mothers, except that the child she is carrying isn't her own. When Surekha gives birth to this child in India, the newborn will be immediately be handed over to its biological parents, Non Resident Indians (NRIs) who live in Canada and who have been unable to bear a child on their own. In return for renting her womb, Surekha will be paid one lakh rupees.

This practice of renting a womb and getting a child is like outsourcing pregnancy. The business volume of this trade is estimated to be around $ 500 million and the numbers of cases of surrogacy are believed to be increasing at galloping rate.   Read More ..

Canada's largest daily newspaper

PARENTAL LEAVE

More Fathers embracing parenthood, study finds

Fathers increasingly hands-on, StatsCan reports June 24, 2008

Toronto Star, by Andrea Gordon, Family Issues reporter, June 24, 2008

More Cannadian fathers are embracing parenthood and taking time off to care for their young children, according to a Statistics Canada study released yesterday.

The number of dads taking parental leave jumped in 2006, led by fathers in Quebec, who are entitled to five weeks' paternity leave and better paid benefits. The study found that more than half of eligible Quebec dads took time off in 2006 after the province introduced its own parental leave program, compared to 32 per cent in 2005.

Elsewhere in Canada, one in 10 dads took parental leave. That's up sharply from only 3 per cent eight years ago, though it has barely increased since 2001, when federal parental leave was boosted to 35 weeks that could be shared between parents. However, the study found other evidence of Read More ..nds-on fathering, including longer leaves, which averaged 17 weeks in 2006 versus 11 weeks in 2005. As well, 55 per cent of dads reported taking unpaid leave or vacation after the birth of a child. Read More ..

The daddy shift

Fathers across Canada are taking more time off to care for their children as the idea of paternity leave gains greater acceptance. Rebecca Dube reports

Globe and Mail, by REBECCA DUBE, June 24, 2008

A few weeks ago, Alex Smith had a revelation: He doesn't need to wear a belt any more./p>

He had grown used to the daily ritual of strapping on his BlackBerry or cellphone, the tools of his trade as a communications officer with the federal government.

But now Mr. Smith answers only to calls of "Papa."

"It's so liberating," he says.

Alex Smith says his six-month paternity leave with son Noah-David and infant daughter Nellie-Rose is 'the greatest gift I've ever had.'  Read More ..

Rights bill is a model

BEV SHIPLEY PRAISES WALPOLE INITIATIVE

THE DAILY NEWS, By BY BOB BOUGHNER, June 23, 2008 Chatham, ON

A children's bill of rights adopted last year by the Walpole Island First Nation should serve as a model for communities everywhere, says Bev Shipley.

The Lambton-Kent-Middlesex MP, speaking at Saturday's second annual Families First Fair, commended all those who had a role in its development and the chief and council for their wisdom in adopting it on behalf of the community.

"This bill of rights will serve the children of your community well now and long into the future," he said.

Shipley said National Aboriginal Solidarity Day is a day for all Canadians to celebrate the cultures and traditions of aboriginal people whether they are First Nation, Metis or Inuit.

"This year marks 400 years of common history between Aboriginal people and the first settlers," said the MP.  Read More ..

Exposing deadbeat judges

The National Post, Wednesday, June 18, 2008, by Barbara Kay

I once sued a horse dealer for fraud. The evidence in hand was irrefutable, so justice-wise the case was a lock. Nevertheless, my world-weary lawyer, familiar with the presiding judge's record, told me I would likely torpedo my case on the witness stand. Stung, I protested I was truthful and knew my case backwards.

Precisely, he replied. This judge is a small town guy. You're too urban and obviously competent and articulate for his comfort. He'll assume you could have looked out for your interests. The defendant will play up her humble rural working life (she did) and he'll be sympathetic to her.

It was as he predicted, and I lost on a meaningless legal technicality.  Read More ..

Nova Scotia mother booed at court appearance

Canadian Press, by Alison Auld, June 16, 2008

Karissa Boudreau is shown in this undated handout photo. An arrest has been made in the mysterious case of Karissa Boudreau, the 12-year-old Nova Scotia girl whose frozen body was found in February near Bridgewater after a two-week search. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO)

BRIDGEWATER, N.S. - Penny Boudreau, the Nova Scotia woman charged with the first-degree murder of her 12-year-old daughter, clutched a tissue and openly sobbed Monday when she made her first court appearance.

The 33-year-old from Bridgewater, N.S., hid her face and said nothing as the first-degree murder charge was read into the court record.

Later, as she was led out the rear door of the courthouse to a waiting sheriff's car, about 100 people gathered to see the accused mother, dressed in a red T-shirt and jeans.  Read More ..

2 women arrested in 'unbearable abuse' of 5-year-old boy

The mother surrendered to the LAPD on torture charges after a public appeal was issued to find her. Her live-in girlfriend was arrested a day later.

Los Angeles Times, USA, By Ari B. Bloomekatz and Joel Rubin,  Staff Writers, June 15, 2008

The mother of a 5-year-old-boy and her live-in girlfriend have been arrested in connection with what authorities describe as "unbearable physical and psychological abuse" of the child, police said Saturday.

The mother, Starkeisha Brown, 24, turned herself in to the Los Angeles Police Department's 77th Street Division station late Friday night after officers made a public plea for help in finding the women and released their pictures. Brown was being held without bail on charges of torture.

The other woman, Krystal Matthews, 21, was arrested Saturday by detectives when she showed up for her appointment at the county Department of Children and Family Services. She was being held on $100,000 bail on charges of willful harm or injury to a child.

Police said both women have a history of violence.

The boy, who was in guarded condition at a local hospital, was rescued Monday by a stranger who found him abandoned and called authorities.

On that same day, the two women had an appointment with the Department of Children and Family Services and had brought the healthy child of a mutual friend and tried to pass him off as Brown's son.  Read More ..

All fathers, their love and devotion, deserve recognition on their day</h1>

All dads freely place themselves in positions that require them to give constantly of themselves while expecting little or nothing in return.

Vancouver Sun, Saturday, June 14, 2008

The traditional view of parenting roles sees mothers as caregivers and nurturers, and fathers as breadwinners and authority figures.

However, with the changing roles of men and women at home and in the workplace, this traditional view no longer reflects reality. For some families, it never did.  Read More ..

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3 in 4 B.C. boys on street sexually exploited by women

Vancouver Sun, Gerry Bellett, Canwest News Service, Tuesday, May 27, 2008

VANCOUVER - Canada's largest study into the sexual exploitation of street kids and runaways has shattered some myths about who the abusers might be - with the most surprising finding being that many are women seeking sex with young males.

"Some youth in each gender were exploited by women with more than three out of four (79 per cent) sexually exploited males reporting exchanging sex for money or goods with a female," said Elizabeth Saewyc, associate professor of nursing at the University of British Columbia and principal investigator for the study conducted by Vancouver's McCreary Centre Society.

"I must admit it wasn't something we were expecting."  Read More ..

Female Teacher's licence revoked following sex convictions

Ottawa Citizen, Andrew Seymour, Wednesday, May 28, 2008

A Cornwall-area teacher convicted of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old student has had her teacher's licence revoked.

The Ontario College of Teachers withdrew the teaching licence of Jennifer Dorland, 42, earlier this month after finding her guilty of eight counts of professional misconduct under the Ontario College of Teachers Act.

Ms. Dorland, who now goes by the name Jennifer Toews, pleaded no contest to the accusations. She did not attend the May 6 hearing or have a lawyer make arguments on her behalf.

In their decision, the three-member disciplinary panel found that Ms. Dorland's actions "betrayed the trust of students, parents and the public." Read More ..

All fathers, their love and devotion, deserve recognition on their day

All dads freely place themselves in positions that require them to give constantly of themselves while expecting little or nothing in return.

Vancouver Sun, Saturday, June 14, 2008

The traditional view of parenting roles sees mothers as caregivers and nurturers, and fathers as breadwinners and authority figures.

However, with the changing roles of men and women at home and in the workplace, this traditional view no longer reflects reality. For some families, it never did. Read More ..

Female Flasher begs to be free

Second time she's been convicted

The Winnipeg Sun,  SUN MEDIA, by DEAN PRITCHARD, May 29, 2008

A 21-year-old woman convicted for the second time of exposing herself in front of school children begged to be released from jail yesterday, claiming she has learned her lesson.

"I promise I won't do it again, I mean it this time," said the woman...

Police arrested the woman May 12 after she exposed her breasts to a passing truck at the intersection of St. John's Avenue and Charles Street, in plain view of a nine-year-old boy a short distance away.

"I didn't mean to do that in front of the kid, I didn't see him," the woman said.

At the time of her arrest, the woman was bound by a strict probation order in connection with a similar incident two months earlier.

The woman was standing across the street from an elementary school at 8:30 a.m. when she exposed her breasts to three passing school buses and dozens of children walking on the sidewalk, community prosecutor Susan Helenchilde told court. Read More ..

Judge rules father brainwashed son into hating mother

Globe and Mail, By Kirk Makin, May 15, 2008

Toronto - A 13-year-old Ontario boy whose domineering father systematically brainwashed him into hating his mother can be flown against his will to a U.S. facility that deprograms children who suffer from parental alienation, an Ontario Superior Court judge has ruled.

Mr. Justice James Turnbull ordered the boy - identified only as LS - into the custody of his mother. He said that the boy urgently needs professional intervention to reverse the father's attempt to poison his mind toward his mother and, in all probability, to women in general.

"There will probably be future significant problems experienced by LS if the court does not intervene - including significant personal guilt for his part in the rejection of his mother, anger towards women, and dysfunctional relationships with women," Judge Turnbull said. Read More ..

New sexual consent law may confuse teens

The Globe and Mail, Tralee Pearce, May 2, 2008

When it comes to sex, 16 is the new 14. Under a law that went into effect yesterday as part of the federal government's omnibus crime bill passed in February, a teen under the age of 16 cannot consent to sex with an adult five or Read More ..ars older.

The bill is intended to target sexual predators, but many youth advocates say that by focusing on age, the new law will confuse teens, make their sexual activities more thandestine and expose them to other risks, including abuse, early pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. Read More ..

Age of sexual consent climbs to 16

The Canadian Press, by Kimberley Shearon, April 30, 2008

OTTAWA - Canada's age of sexual consent will be bumped up two years to 16 beginning Thursday.

The change means adults who have sex with boys or girls aged 14 and 15 years old could face criminal charges.

Canada's age of consent has been 14 since 1892.

The legislation was brought in by the Conservative government in part to deal with older internet predators who troll the web looking for younger victims.

Canada's age of consent will now be in line with other countries, such as Britain and Australia, and most American states.  Read More ..

Mom still cries over newborn's abduction from Sudbury hospital

CBC April 29, 2008

A mother whose day-old baby was abducted from a northern Ontario hospital last fall says she is still devastated by the incident and can't even pass the hospital without crying.

The woman, who cannot be identified due to a publication ban, testified Tuesday at the sentencing hearing for the woman convicted in the case, Brenda Batisse.

Batisse has pleaded guilty to abduction after snatching the baby girl from the maternity ward of a hospital in the city of Sudbury on Nov. 1, 2007.  Read More ..

No Spank Day a hit

The Windsor Star, Trevor Wilhelm, Saturday, April 26, 2008

When you're trying to convince people not to hit their kids, it's sometimes best to use a gentle hand, or even some crayons.

That was the philosophy behind the No Spank Day Family Event on the weekend at Devonshire Mall.

The Windsor Essex Children's Aid Society put it on in the lead up to International No Spank Day on April 30.  Read More ..

Canada's largest daily newspaper

Apology to native people must end 'denial of truth'

An open letter on residential schools to the Prime Minister from Chief Phil Fontaine

Phil Fontaine, April 22, 2008

In the Oct. 16, 2007, Throne Speech, your government promised to apologize for residential schooling for First Nations, Métis and Inuit children which led to profound harms. Every expression and word of the apology will be of great importance to our peoples and will be carefully studied, as will its timing and place. After 150 years of waiting, nothing less than a complete, unencumbered and honest apology for this dark period in our shared history will do.

An apology acceptable to survivors must be offered in the House of Commons where the Prime Minister will address Parliament, the nation and the world. It must be an event as significant and meaningful as the apology to our brothers and sisters of the Stolen Generations of Australia, and our fellow Japanese Canadians. It must incorporate the ceremony and dignity that such a symbolic and historic occasion requires. The galleries must be filled with survivors, their families, as well as church and government representatives who will bear witness.

The content of the apology must end denial of truth and history. It must raise the awareness about the residential school policy and its disastrous consequences, admit that it was wrong, accept responsibility and provide us with solemn assurances that it will never happen again. Read More ..

Person of interest indentified in discovery of dead baby

CBC News, Friday, April 18, 2008

Police have identified a "person of interest" in the discovery of the body of a baby boy dumped outside Edmonton, RCMP said Friday.

A man walking his dog west of Edmonton discovered the body of a dead baby in this wooded area Wednesday morning.  Read More ..

Government of British Columbia

NEWS RELEASE- For Immediate Release - April 14, 2008

32 NEW TRANSITION BEDS FOR HOMELESS YOUTH

VANCOUVER - Premier Gordon Campbell was joined by provincial and community partners today to celebrate a $5 million funding partnership for a major expansion to Covenant House Vancouver, a shelter and resource centre for homeless youth.

"The services provided by Covenant House make a real difference in the lives of hundreds of young, at-risk British Columbians every year," said Campbell. "Transitional housing can be the turning point for homeless youth. This project will get Read More ..ung people off the streets and into a secure environment while they get the help they need to plan for healthier futures." Read More ..

Circumcision "the unkindest cut of all"

The London Times, UK, by David Baker, March 24, 2008

Barbaric, mutilation, child abuse, freaks, nutters, obsessives. The language on both sides of the debate about infant male circumcision is not always temperate. Put together new-born boys, their penises, knives and two of the world's oldest religions and passions are likely to run high.

While last month saw the fifth International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation, marking a fairly united global campaign against the practice in females, the arguments about the removal of a male infant's foreskin seem mired in misinformation, accusations and despair.

What is clear is that there are very few medical indications nowadays for choosing circumcision over other procedures.  Read More ..

Man finds son via at-home DNA test

Father of three sends to States for kit that confirms long-held suspicions

The Province, Vancouver, BC, by Cheryl Chan, Thursday, April 03, 2008

A Surrey man has discovered he has a teenage son after a do-it-yourself DNA paternity test confirmed a nagging 20-year-old suspicion. Read More ..

Men of Courage bare sex abuse

Conference delves into victimization of men

Toronto Sun, by Tamara Cherry, Tuesday, March 18, 2008

It started as "hazing" at a military college in Ottawa.

The three men who sexually assaulted a teenaged Mike Church in 1957 said they were just giving him what he wanted. He was aroused, after all.

But for each of the three or four times a week Church was assaulted over the next nine months, he knew it was wrong. Read More ..

More Gay Men Choose Surrogacy to Have Children

Designer Tom Ford Says He's Wanted Baby 'Forever' -- Though Not His Partner

ABC, USA, By SUSAN DONALDSON JAMES, March 12, 2008

Tom Ford the 45-year-old Gucci designer who has cooed over the prospect of having a baby may soon join the Pop Luck Club.

"I'm going to have a kid in 2008," Ford recently told Fantastic Man, the Gentleman's Style journal. "I've always wanted kids. I don't want to get to be 75 years old and just have made a lot of dresses, done some houses."

Ford is part of what appears to be a shift in attitude among gay men in their 30s and 40s, who hadn't traditionally been all that keen on becoming parents.

But now, according to medical experts and men in the gay community, neither gender, nor sexual orientation, nor age is an impediment to having babies. And in one of the last breakthroughs of the gay pride movement, Read More ..le same-sex couples are now embracing gestational surrogacy to have a biological child. Read More ..

Man to get child support back

Parents owe $14,460 in case of mistaken paternity, judge says

Augusta Chronicle,  Georgia, USA, By Sandy Hodson, Staff Writer, Sunday, March 02, 2008

Judge David Roper said he felt bad for Kenneth Samuels when he learned the child he had fathered for 11 years wasn't his.

Justice was also short changed, the judge said, because Mr. Samuels had been paying child support all of those years.

Last month, Judge Roper ruled that Jamie Hope, the child's mother, and Oba Wallace, the child's biological father, would have to repay Mr. Samuels $14,460 in child support he had paid since 1997.

Such an order is unusual, but not unique.

"We have seen it happen before," said Sandra Jarrett of the state's Child Support Recovery Unit. Read More ..

Child support reform: Mums fuming

The Daily Telegraph, Australia, By Kelvin Bissett March 10, 2008

THE biggest overhaul of the nation's child support system in 20 years is just months away - and women's groups are fuming.

Between now and May, the 1.5 million parents with a financial relationship through the Child Support Agency are being notified by mail of their new payment arrangements, to take effect from July 1.

According to Sole Parents Union of Australia's Kathleen Swinbourne, most mums will be furious at the news they get in the post.

Stripped back to the basics, the reforms mean reduced payments to support children living with resident parents. And that is usually mums.

From July 1, child support payments will no longer be based on straight percentages of income from the non-resident parents, usually fathers.

Canada's largest daily newspaper

Canada's Arbour quits UN commissioner post

Former Supreme Court judge locked horns with U.S. over tactics in 'war on terror'

Toronto Star, March 08, 2008, by Olivia Ward Foreign Affairs Reporter

Canada's Louise Arbour is saying farewell to one of the world's toughest jobs: United Nations high commissioner for human rights.

"I am not quitting because of this pressure," Arbour told reporters in Geneva in advance of her announcement yesterday. "On the contrary, I have to resist the temptation to stay and confront it." Read More ..

MP calls for crackdown on candy-like cigarillos

The National Post, Canwest News Service, Mia Rabson, Wednesday, March 05, 2008

OTTAWA - Cigarillos that look and taste like candy are intended to encourage children to smoke and should be subject to all the restrictions placed on cigarettes, a New Democrat MP says.

Judy Wasylycia-Leis plans to introduce a private member's bill in the coming weeks that would require cigarillos to be packaged and labelled under the same regulations as cigarettes.

Right now they are not subject to the same warning labels and sales restrictions, and can be sold individually.

"These are tobacco products designed specifically for kids to attract them to the idea of smoking at a young age," said Ms. Wasylycia-Leis, a Winnipeg MP. Read More ..

  
Canada's largest daily newspaper

Mother found guilty of drowning autistic daughter

The Toronto Star, March 01, 2008, By Peter Small, Courts Bureau

Xuan (Linda) Peng has been found guilty of second-degree murder in the drowning death of her 4-year-old autistic daughter Scarlett in a bathtub in the family home.

A Superior Court jury returned its verdict Saturday morning after two days of deliberations.  Read More ..

High Court Judge Presiding Over Magill Paternity Fraud case had a Child as a Result of Affair

American Chronicle, February 19, 2008

Newswire Services

High Court Judge, Justice Susan Crennan, who presided over the now infamous Liam Magill paternity case, had herself given birth as the result of an affair, according to the new book, "Ultimate Betrayal," to be released today.

Minister for Resources, Energy and Tourism, the Honourable Martin Ferguson, confirmed the allegations were true in a private meeting with Mr Magill in 2006.   Read More ..

Press Release: Amnesty International - Tuesday, 19 February 2008

Experts Back NZ Initiative On Rights Education

Two Canadian researchers have backed an initiative aimed at ensuring children learn their human rights and responsibilities as New Zealand and global citizens, saying research suggests it will contribute to greater participation and engagement in school, and improved educational achievement.

Dr Katherine Covell and Dr Brian Howe from the Children's Rights Centre at Cape Breton University, Canada, are visiting New Zealand as part of Building Human Rights Communities in Education - a collaborative initiative involving schools and early childhood education centres, the Children's Commissioner, Human Rights Commission, Amnesty International, Development Resource Centre and Peace Foundation.  Read More ..

Seven girls charged with assault in random swarming

Ottawa Citizen and other CanWest newspapers, February 22, 2008, by Linda Nguyen, Canwest News Service

Seven teenage girls aged 12 to 16 have been charged with assault following a random gang-style swarming in London, Ont., earlier this month.

"Over the past few days, we' ve arrested and charged seven young offender females," London police Const. Amy Phillipo said Friday.

Police in this south western Ontario city say that on Feb. 2 at around 9:40 p.m., a 19-year-old woman, a 15-year-old boy and another boy were walking through a commercial area of town when they were approached by a "large group" of teenagers.

"The group approached the youth, surrounded and swarmed them," Phillipo said. "They assaulted the 15-year-old boy and stabbed him in the back."   Read More ..

N.B. woman ruled responsible in burning of baby's body

The Canadian Press, various newspapers and media throughout Canada, February 8, 2008

ST. STEPHEN, N.B. - A New Brunswick judge says a woman who burned and dismembered her newborn son is criminally responsible for her actions. Read More ..

Canada's largest daily newspaper

Parents of baby left in snowbank make bail

Father 'under the impression' his wife would take child back inside the house

The Toronto Star, Toronto, ON, February 20, 2008, by Michele Henry Crime Reporter

The father of a baby boy abandoned in a snowbank Monday night was under the impression his estranged wife would take their child back inside her home after he sped away, his lawyer said today.

Anthony Tran, counsel for the father, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his 6-month-old son, said his client never thought that his former common-law wife would abandon their child in the snow.

"He couldn't believe a mother would do this," Tran said. "No parent in their right mind would leave a baby outside - especially in that weather, especially on Family Day."

InTheNews.Co.UK

Children with active fathers 'less likely' to be disturbed

Wednesday, 13 Feb 2008

Children brought up by an active father figure are less likely to develop psychological and behavioural problems, according to a new investigation.

Researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden have carried out a review of studies published in the US and UK between 1987 and 2007 and found that regular positive contact between a child and a father figure decreased the likelihood of children taking up smoking or being arrested. Read More ..

Suddenly teen pregnancy is cool?

For the first time in years, Read More ..ds are having kids--and not just in movies

Maclean's magazine, CATHY GULLI, January 17, 2008

When Jamie Lynn Spears, the 16-year-old sister of Britney, announced that she was pregnant last month in OK!, the magazine sold a record two million copies and had to run a second printing of the issue to keep up with demand. How could a wealthy preteen idol with her own hit Nickelodeon show, and the good sister to her chaotic older kin, be just several months away from adolescent, out-of-wedlock motherhood? "I didn't believe it because Jamie Lynn's always been so conscientious. She's never late for her curfew," lamented mother Lynne Spears. She got over the shock in a week, and then Jamie Lynn, ever conscientious, notified the press that she would be having, keeping and raising the baby with her mama in Louisiana. "I'm just trying to do the right thing," said the star of Zoey 101. Read More ..

"Babies are the new handbag"

Teen pregnancy may be all the rage, but two Calgary teens tell what it's really like to be an underage mom.

Maclean's, by Kate Lunau, Jan 17, 2008

Ever since December when 16-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears announced her pregnancy to the world, it's been impossible to escape her. She's now one of several young celebrities-from Jessica Alba, to Nicole Richie, to Lily Allen-  whose "baby bump" is under permanent tabloid scrutiny. Witness also the recent success of Juno, a film that tells the story of a knocked-up teen. To cap it all off, the teenage birth rate's up in both the US and the UK for the first time in a decade-making teen pregnancy a hot topic, as is explored in the current issue of Maclean's.

Nicole Fischer, 17, and Kayla Clark, 18, both got pregnant at age 16 (Fischer gave birth to son Cristian in August. And Clark's baby, William, will be two years old in April). Although over 50 per cent of teen pregnancies in Canada currently end in abortion, both Fischer and Clark opted to keep their babies. They're now students at Louise Dean Centre. The Calgary high school is one of the few across Canada exclusively for pregnant teens and young moms aged 14 to 20.  Read More ..

Maclean's

How to fix boys

January 9, 2008 by KATE FILLION

Let them start school later and, yes, let them fight and play with toy guns.

Not everyone believes boys are being let down by joyless, uncreative kindergartens. Some think girls are, too.

A dozen years ago, the hue and cry was about girls: girls were "silenced" at school, girls were tragic mini-Ophelias, in need of reviving. As it turned out, whatever other problems girls had, being "silenced" and "disadvantaged at school" were decidedly not among them. In fact, on most academic measures, girls outperform boys.

Hence, the new buzz: there's a crisis among boys. Read More ..