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Halton women's shelter helps to tear apart Burlington, Ontario Family

By Mike March, Justice Reporter - June 16, 2002

Family loses everything after women's shelter advocates help throw father in jail and break apart family.

As this article is being written, four lovely young children cry in anguish about not being able to see their loving father on father's day. At the same time, their mother shakes her head over the draconian domestic violence laws that have thrown her and her family into utter turmoil.

To relatives, neighbours and friends of the family who have been following this family tragedy, it would appear that the Halton Women's Shelter was directly involved with the destruction of this family and the resulting injustice and suffering that now tears at the children's hearts.

It all began when the husband and wife got into an argument late one afternoon in their home. The kids were there and there was no alcohol, drugs or violence involved.

As with many other families, they were under the day to day pressures of life and trying to cope with finances and the kids. The woman had gone to the local woman's shelter seeking help because of the family's problems and had been advised to call police when an argument erupted. On that fateful day, out of anger, frustration and self inflicted fear of the situation, she called police.

Even though neither party physically touched the other, in come the Halton police with guns ready, looking to arrest the husband who at the time of their arrival was out buying their youngest child some ice cream. In tears, and not able to think straight, the mother is pressured into signing a statement saying that there were issues concerning guns, drugs and that her husband was always a violent man. To anyone looking at the police report, especially a judge, the father would appear to be a most violent individual. To neighbours, the intervention by police was an unwarranted and excessive use of force and power by the state.

In short order, the father is arrested, handcuffed, fingerprinted and thrown in jail almost immediately. Even though the mother told police that she did not want him in jail and that she was not fearful of him, he is kept in jail and bail refused.

In reality, there were never any drugs or guns as reported by police. Not once that day did the father ever physically touch the mother, even the kids testified to that. The mother repeatedly said that her husband was a good father.

The mother advised the Crown Attorney that the police report before the court was wrong and submitted an affidavit through a lawyer saying that Halton Police pressured her into signing papers that she did not fully understand because of her state of mind at the time. Other witnesses submitted affidavits contradicting the accuracy of the police report as well.

After three weeks in jail and just when it looked like bail might be granted, according to witnesses in the courtroom, in come advocates from the Halton Women's Shelter to attend a private meeting with the Crown concerning bail. After the meeting, the Crown decides to keep father in jail and oppose bail.

To make matters worse, the shelter and the Crown Attorney got the social workers from the Halton Children's Aid Society involved. The mother was told she was not allowed to let the children see their father and if she did not do as she was told that the Halton Children's Aid Society would take the children away from her.

Although the mother repeatedly told the women at the Halton Women's Shelter and the other authorities that the father was a good father and that the children had a loving relationship with him, it seemed that the only thing that mattered to authorities was that mom and the kids get rid of dad.

Although the Halton Women's Shelter claims to help women and children, it certainly did nothing to help this mother and her children when she wanted help to ensure that her children could maintain their loving relationship with their father during these difficult times. Maintaining communication between the children and their father and promoting the children's relationship with their father would have prevented a lot of grief and helped the mother as well.

Unfortunately, the family is now in the process of losing their home and all the assets that they managed to accumulate since coming to Canada. The lawyers will get their money first but in the end everything the family had will be lost.

Although the children have repeatedly stated that they want to see their dad, nobody listened. It has been over two months since the children have seen their father. The couple's little boy, especially, is turning angry and rebellious and wanting to see his father. Chances are that these kids will grow up with hate and disrespect for the authorities for what they remember was done to their dad, knowing that what authorities did to their family was wrong.

The plan to separate the family by the women's shelter seems to be going along as planned. Now that dad has lost his job and can no longer support the family, mother must now move into a home paid by taxpayers and arranged through the women's shelter. The shelter staff can beam with pride knowing that they now have made another independent women who no longer has to rely on a man. With the restrictions lifted on boyfriends moving in, this mother can now get herself a new live in boyfriend and live off of welfare.

The Halton Children's Aid Society will collect money from the taxpayers as fees to monitor the mother and children who will now struggle without a father to help her. Although statistics show that children raised in single parent homes without their natural fathers will have significant emotional problems throughout life, it seems that those in the system have no second thoughts about creating more single parent, fatherless households in the community.

A struggling family, once able to fend for itself, will now be trashed and disposed of. The destruction of the father will be chalked up as a victory for women and the mother will be praised by women's advocates for getting rid of her husband. Four more young children now will be without a dad and on welfare at the expense of the taxpayers.

What is such a tragedy is that if that money that was used by the women's shelter, the police and the courts to destroy this family were turned towards helping the family instead, chances are that the family would still be together today and very capable of taking care of itself. As is not stands we have another mother and children on welfare and at high risk of future problems.

Author Erin Pizzy, who is recognized world-wide as the woman who opened the first women's shelter in the word, now devotes her time in exposing the women's shelter movement for what is has become -- a radical feminist movement bent on destroying families. In several of her books and articles including, "The Planned Destruction of The Family" Pizzy clearly outlines the background and agenda of the radical women's shelter movement. Canada now has a reputation of being a world leader in promoting hate ideology against fathers and the break up of families. Women's shelters are one of the first places where all of this hate starts.