Number of Muslims in Canada predicted to triple over next 20 years: study

National Post, January 31, 2011

The number of Muslims in Canada is predicted to triple over the next 20 years, sparking a debate among moderate Muslim-Canadians about whether the country is ready to deal with the community's Read More ..tremist members.

The current number of Muslims - 940,000 - comprises 2.8% of the Canadian population. A recent report from the Washington-based Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life said they will increase both in number and proportion of the country - 2.7 million, or 6.6% of the Canadian population, by 2030. By comparison, Muslims are expected to make up 1.7% of the U.S. population by that time.

The vast majority of Muslims coming to Canada want the same things every immigrant wants, said Tarek Fatah, a commentator on Muslim affairs and founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress. They are looking for economic security, better education and freedom from oppression.

"But what is different from other immigrant groups is there is a subgroup among Muslims, I call Islamists, who come here with the intention of destroying the social fabric of the country," said Mr. Fatah. "That is very unusual for an immigrant group and will be Read More .. a problem in the future."   Read More ..

World's Muslim population to grow twice as fast as non-Muslim: study

Agence France-Presse, January 27, 2011

WASHINGTON - The world's Muslim population will grow twice as fast as the non-Muslim population in the next 20 years, when Muslims are expected to make up more than a quarter of the global population, a study published Thursday predicts.

Using fertility, mortality and migration rates, researchers at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life project a 1.5% annual population growth rate for the world's Muslims over the next two decades, and just 0.7% growth each year for non-Muslims.

The study, called "The Future of the Global Muslim Population," projects that in 2030 Muslims will make up 26.4% of the world's population, which is expected to total around 8.3-billion people by then.

That marks a three-percentage-point rise from the 23.4% share held by Muslims of the globe's estimated 6.9 billion people today, the study says.

more than six-in-10 followers of Islam will live in the Asia-Pacific region in 2030, and nuclear Pakistan, which has seen a rise in radical Islam in recent months, will overtake Indonesia as the world's most populous Muslim nation.   Read More ..

Fathers demand mandatory paternity testing

The Australian, Patricia Karvelas, February 16, 2011

A men's rights group has called for mandatory paternity testing of all babies after government figures revealed almost 600 instances of men compelled to financially support children they did not father.

Since changes to child support laws four years ago, there had been 586 cases of men successfully using DNA testing to show they were not biologically related to children they had been financially supporting, the federal government has revealed to The Australian.   Read More ..

Female Judge's nude photos ordered returned

CBC News top story, September 2, 2010

Sexually explicit pictures of a prominent Manitoba judge must be returned to her husband, a judge ruled Thursday.

Justice Joan McKelvey of the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench ruled that Alex Chapman must immediately return "all documents, emails and photographs" ever sent to him by Winnipeg lawyer Jack King.

McKelvey's ruling also compels Chapman to ask that any of the material held by someone else be returned. He is forbidden to distribute the material to anyone else.

The photos show King's wife, Justice Lori Douglas, associate chief justice of the family division of the Court of Queen's Bench, naked and in various forms of bondage, with sex toys and performing oral sex.

Another hearing will be held Sept. 9 for Chapman to have an opportunity to oppose the motion. Chapman told McKelvey he doesn't know if he can trust any lawyer in the city to handle his case, so he may be forced to retain counsel from another province.

"Right now, I am under a lot of psychological stress," Chapman said. "I will seek counsel because there are some very important points ... with respect to the public's interest in this matter."

On Wednesday, Chapman filed separate lawsuits against King, Douglas and the Winnipeg law firm Thompson Dorfman Sweatman, where King and Douglas were once partners.

In the statements of claim in the lawsuits, which are seeking $67 million in damages, Chapman claims he was harassed and suffered emotional distress when he was allegedly coaxed by King to have sex with Douglas in 2003. Read More ..

B.C. suspends penile sex tests on young offenders

CBC News, Wednesday, July 28, 2010

The B.C. government has suspended a controversial test called a penile plethysmograph, which it was using to assess young sex offenders to determine their risk of reoffending after treatment.

On Wednesday, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association demanded the government intervene after it learned of the tests.

Within hours, the government suspended the sex testing after the provincial advocate for children and youth announced she would conduct a review. Read More ..

B.C. man gets 11 years for child sex tourism

CBC News, Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Kenneth Klassen, 59, of Burnaby, B.C., was sentenced Wednesday to 11 years in prison for committing sex tourism with children and importing child pornography.

Klassen received 10 years for the sex-tourism charges and one year for importing pornography.

Prior to his sentencing in B.C. Superior Court in Vancouver, Klassen offered an apology. Read More ..

P.E.I. judge sets own precedent in child-abuse case

National Post, Drew Halfnight, Friday, Jul. 16, 2010

Declaring his province's courts too lenient on child molesters, a P.E.I. judge decided he should single-handedly change the paradigm: He imposed an unusually harsh sentence on one man in hopes other judges would follow suit.

"It appears to me that the established range of sentences imposed on P.E.I. for crimes such as those for which the accused has been convicted is too low," Justice Gordon Campbell wrote in his decision. "Once a range has developed, it becomes a self-perpetuating instrument."

Judge Campbell sentenced Alan Wade White to 2½ years in jail. He had assaulted a girl for about four years, starting when she was seven years old. Read More ..

Brisbane Family Court trial halted over claims of judge's secret talks with social worker

Courier-Mail, Australia, by Matthew Fynes-Clinton, July 11, 2010

A CHILD custody trial was aborted when a Brisbane Family Court judge disqualified himself after being accused of holding secret talks with a case social worker.

The week-long trial - which involved an allegation of sexual abuse against a young girl - ended abruptly on April 28 following an application to Justice James Barry from the child's representatives for him to stand aside on the grounds of "apprehended bias".

Family Court Chief Justice Diana Bryant has summoned Justice Barry to a formal interview in Melbourne this week and alerted Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland to the issues.

Australian Family Court Chief Justice Diana Bryant

Justice Bryant told The Courier-Mail that while she had no specific disciplinary powers, she would be spelling out to Justice Barry the "gravity of the situation for the Court and the serious inappropriateness of the conduct".

"Whilst not entirely agreeing with all that was asserted . . . to have been said between him and the (social worker), (Justice Barry) accepted that he had inappropriately discussed the contents of the family report with the (social worker)," Justice Bryant said. "The report was evidence in the proceedings."

Applying for the disqualification, barrister Jacoba Brasch - counsel in the trial for the court-appointed Independent Children's Lawyer - told Justice Barry that the social worker had informed her of the private talks which took place in the judge's chambers. Read More ..

School bullying still not a priority for trustees: MacDonald

Toronto Sun, By MOIRA MACDONALD, June 29, 2010

School's out but Corina Morrison, co-founder of the London Anti-Bullying Coalition (London ABC), is urging parents to do their homework in advance of fall trustee elections.

"What I want parents to do is educate themselves. I want them to be Read More .. aware of what's going on out there in their school system … and I want parents to demand Read More .. their trustees," Morrison told me over the phone Monday.

Morrison often gives parents looking for help a crash course in School System 101 - who to talk to, how to talk to them, who their trustee is and how the trustee might help. Read More ..

Vancouver hospital sets up drop-off for unwanted babies

Then Toronto Star, Toronto, Ontario, by Petti Fong, Eastern Canada Bureau ( The print edition of the Toronto Star stated "Western Canada Bureau" ), April 30, 2010

VANCOUVER- As early as the 12th century, some churches had "foundling wheels" where mothers could place an unwanted baby in a cylinder from the outside, turn the repository to the inside, and ring a bell to alert those within of the infant's presence.

A downtown Vancouver hospital is becoming the first in North America to install a modern-day version of the wheel, with a baby hatch where desperate mothers can drop off their infants.

Under an angel sign near the hospital emergency entrance, St. Paul's Hospital has arranged for a baby drop repository where women can leave their babies in a bassinet. The repository is a built-in portal accessible from inside the hospital and from a protected area just outside of the entrance.

Once the door to the repository is opened, there is a 30-second delay before an alarm sounds, alerting hospital staff to the baby's presence, but giving the mother enough time to depart.

Dr. Geoffrey Cundiff, the head of obstetrics and gynecology at St. Paul's, said there are women who can't or don't pursue other available resources and believe they have no alternative but abandonment. Read More ..

Comment / Editorial

Some 'dads' don't deserve the title

Toronto Sun, June 21, 2010 ( Fathers' Day )

Yesterday was Father's Day, a B-list occasion when compared to Mother's Day, or even Valentine's Day.

This is no secret.

Yes, we're a day late and a penny shy.

But so what?

Fathers will understand this, especially if yesterday passed with little or no fanfare -- with only a card, perhaps, or some cheap cologne.

The good fathers, at least, will understand.  Read More ..

Parents charged in 15-year-old girl's murder

National Post, by Katherine Laidlaw, June 15, 2010

The father and stepmother of a 15-year-old Brampton girl were arrested and charged with second-degree murder Tuesday, Peel Police said.

Police responded to a call Saturday morning and found Tiffany Gayle, 15, dead in her home on Savita Road in Brampton. She died from blunt force injuries, police said.

"In this incident, we waited for the post-mortem results [before making the arrests]. It indicated to us that the cause was blunt force trauma," said Constable George Tudos.

Fedrick Gayle, 42 and Tiffany's father, and Elizabeth Gayle, 43 and her stepmother, both of Brampton, are scheduled to appear before the Ontario Court of Justice tomorrow to be formally charged with second-degree murder. Read More ..

Toronto child-porn probe nets 73 suspects worldwide

Investigation started in November, grew into global search with suspects in 20 countries, police say

Canadian Press - Brampton, Ontario, March 30, 2010

A Toronto-area child-pornography arrest has led to a sweeping investigation uncovering 73 suspects in 20 countries, police said Tuesday.

The investigation began last November with the arrest of a 29-year-old man in Brampton, Ont., on child-pornography and sexual-assault charges, police said.

That probe went global, culminating in police gathering evidence against the 73 suspects.

This kind of offence knows no bounds in the Internet age, police said. Read More ..

Canada's largest daily newspaper

Father's heart aches for abducted sons

Stephen Watkins' two sons were abducted by his estranged wife. Police believe they are in Poland. Watkins had custody, and tried to prevent the abduction. Completely consumed with the search for his boys, Watkins marks the one-year-anniversary of their disappearance this weekend.

The Toronto Star, by Katie Daubs, Staff Reporter, March 8, 2010

The Polish lessons didn't bother Stephen Watkins. Sure, they made him a little uneasy, but he couldn't object to his children learning their mother's native language.

When they didn't show up for school one day last March, it was painfully clear the lessons weren't cultural enrichment.

Watkins' nightmare, the culmination of a toxic separation and years-long custody battle, became real. His estranged wife Edyta had taken Christopher, then 4, and Alex, then 7, out of the country on her court-ordered weekend access.

Police confirmed the boys had crossed into New York state with their grandfather and mother on March 8 and later boarded a flight to Germany.

One year later, Stephen Watkins' life is on hold. Birthdays, holidays and anniversaries pass without news.

Those close to the investigation say the mother of his children was a force to be reckoned with, a woman no system could stop.

Her name is Edyta Watkins. Her whereabouts are unknown, although York Regional Police believe she is in Poland, the place of her birth.  Read More ..

Female sexual abusers not as rare as widely believed

The Edmonton Journal, By Sarah Sacheli, Canwest News Service, January 29, 2010

WINDSOR, Ont. -- She gave him life and was the only parent he ever knew. In the way she snapped photos of him sleeping and playing happily, she was like any other adoring mother. But she also committed unspeakable acts to his little body, turning him into a human sex toy in her pornographic broadcasts.

The set of facts involving the Windsor-area mother who sexually abused her two-year-old son horrified both those involved in the case and those who'd only heard about it.

"Society expects the mother of a toddler would do everything in her power to make sure her child is protected from harm," said the judge who on Friday handed the 24-year-old woman a 3 1/2-year prison sentence.

He called her crimes "appalling" and "abhorrent."

While female sexual abusers are rare in the court system, those who deal with child sexual abuse know the woman is not unique. She may be the first Ontario woman to be jailed for making child pornography featuring her own offspring, but she's not the first mother to sexually abuse a child.

A national study released in 2005 shows that biological mothers were the perpetrators of sexual abuse in 5% of the substantiated cases investigated by child welfare authorities.

The instance is probably higher, since researchers are certain that many cases of child sexual abuse never come to light. "A lot of people have difficulty believing women are capable of sexually abusing children," said social worker Angela Hovey, whose doctoral thesis deals with a topic related to this theme. Read More ..