F4J CONDEMNS DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN ALL FORMS AS WELL AS THE EXPLOITATION
OF THE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ACT IN SOUTH AFRICA
articles courtesy of JEREMY SWANSON F4J CANADA
CONTENT: letter by Armando Milani, in response to an article in CANADAS
GLOBE and MAIL
Exploiting families by removing the Father"
by
Armando Milani FRA
Toronto
Sent to the Editor
of the Globe and Mail: Friday, March 28, 2008 3:19 PM
The
Domestic Violence Industry and its older wealthier cousin, the Divorce
Industry, are the most notorious forms of state sanctioned abuse against good
parents (mainly fathers) in Canada. These industries have found a lucrative
existence exploiting families by removing the father, stealing his
children, and pouring gasoline on an otherwise simple
domestic matter all under the immoral pretence of helping. Rather than
treating both parents equally, a perversion of both law and protective
measures is used to render a family into the most intractable situation from
which there is no recovery; however, it is only damage of this
kind that will transfer the maximum wealth from the family to the
parasites in these "services".
As
everyone should know with the destruction of families, we give rise to greater
social decay. We are daily witnesses to the high cost of violence
and truancy in fatherless communities, but what an employer social decay has
become. More police, therapists, first responders, lawyers, judges, court
staff, social workers, service agencies, women shelter workers,
psychologists, health care workers, grief counselors, teachers, surrogate
fathers, CAS, FRO, the list never ends. If not already,
social decay can be expected to become the single largest industry in
this country. Even if you are not directly involved in these disasters,
we all pay with a lower standard of living, disillusioned youth and suffering
families.
Councilor
Rob Ford is very lucky his case will have public scrutiny and pressure but
for other fathers the inequitable treatment continues out of
sight in secret courts while the social decay industries
prosper. Inequality is the cornerstone of success for
these self serving industries. With no mention
of shelters for men to run to with their children in your article,
we see further proof that men are treated unfairly.
Toronto councillor called police night before arrest
Wife's 'irrational behaviour' prompted call to authorities,
Ford's lawyer says
New details emerged yesterday in the
storm around City Councillor Rob Ford as the often-controversial politician
returned to work a day after being arrested and charged with assaulting his
wife and uttering a death threat.
Mr. Ford, who has said he will fight the
charges, told reporters in his city hall office yesterday that he actually
phoned police himself on Tuesday night, the night before he was arrested, and
asked them to come to the Etobicoke home he shared with his wife, Renata, and
their two young children.
Officers arrived, and Mr. Ford said that
when police "saw the situation" they asked him to leave and take
his two children, one aged 3 and the other six months, out of the house.
At the home yesterday, Ms. Ford was not
available to comment. A neighbour described her as reclusive and rarely seen
out of the house.
Mr. Ford's lawyer, Dennis Morris, said
in an interview that Mr. Ford called police on Tuesday because he was alarmed
at his wife Renata's "irrational, out-of-control behaviour" and
concerned about the safety of his children. Mr. Ford was arrested after he returned
to the house Wednesday morning to get his clothes, and a dispute occurred,
Mr. Morris said.
Television news footage showed Mr. Ford
holding his three-year-old daughter on Wednesday night and prompting her to
tell reporters "no comment" in a doorstep interview about the
charges. His lawyer said the Children's Aid Society had granted the
politician custody of the children, which he said is unusual in a case where
a man is charged with assault.
Mr. Ford has won few friends at council.
He has campaigned relentlessly against city spending, frequently attacking
the office budgets of other councillors.
In council meetings, he has been known
to make points with loud outbursts and controversial comments.
And Mr. Ford was pilloried in the press
after a drunken, obscene harangue saw him ejected from a 2006 Maple Leafs
game. He first denied, then later apologized for that incident.
Few of Mr. Ford's city council
colleagues had much to say, on or off the record yesterday. None contacted by
The Globe and Mail - even his many opponents - called for him to step aside.
"That's a decision he'll have to
make," Mayor David Miller said yesterday. "Past that, I really
can't comment. He's been charged with some very, very serious offences, and
it's up to the courts to decide whether those charges are upheld or
not."
Mr. Ford, who is to appear in court next
week, was at work in his office yesterday and adamant that the charges would
not affect his duties.
"I'm elected to do a job," Mr.
Ford told reporters in his office, where he said he was still planning to
attend a council debate on the city budget on Monday. "I'm here, I'm
setting meetings, I'm returning calls like I always do, taking care of my
constituents."
The episode is another chapter in a
troubled, and often public family story, acknowledged Mr. Ford, whose father
was the late Tory MPP Doug Ford.
"There's no secret, our family's
had many trials and tribulations over the years," Mr. Ford said.
"Stick together and, you know,
forge ahead. It's all I can do. I'm here to do a job. I've never run away and
hid from any of my problems.
"I take 'em on. And that's how you
have to do it. I'm not going to take a leave of absence or something crazy.
That's just not my style."
His trials include harrowing incidents
in the life of his sister, Kathy. In 2005, she was shot in the head, but
survived in an incident at her Etobicoke home. In 1998, her ex-husband killed
her then-boyfriend with a sawed-off shotgun, right in front of her.
In an emotional speech during a 2005
council debate over a "harm-reduction" drug-abuse strategy that
included safe-injection sites, Mr. Ford alluded to the 2005 shooting.
"When you talk to a person that was
actually shot," he said on the council floor, "and they tell you
the story, and you know what? ... This is the last thing they want, is to
make this a place where they can go get high at taxpayers' expense."
The home in Etobicoke where the alleged
assault occurred is perched on the edge of Lambton Golf and Country Club.
The white-brick bungalow on Edenbridge
Drive bears the hallmarks of a cheerful home: A plastic snowman stands in the
front yard, children's toys adorn the front windows and on the front door
hangs a banner bearing the legend "Love conquers all."
But the blinds were drawn yesterday, and
a knock at the house drew a brusque response from Renata Ford's father.
"No, we don't need it," he
replied to a question seeking comment as he closed the front door. It was
unclear whether his 37-year-old daughter was home.
The Fords jointly purchased the house in
November, 2002, for $490,000, mortgage documents show.
Several neighbours lauded Mr. Ford, who
seems to be popular on his street.
Neda Gagr, 73, who lives immediately
next door to the Fords, was effusive in her praise for him. "He's a good
person, tell him he can have a key to my house any time," she said. But
she described Ms. Ford as unfriendly and rarely venturing outside.
"Nobody ever saw her out on the
street with the kids and she never talked to anybody. Nobody."
