CALGARY, AB: For several decades now, fathers have faced significant, widespread bias in family courts across Canada.
But as author Grant Brown shows in a new book, many of the popular prejudices behind this bias simply have no basis in law or fact.
In Ideology And Dysfunction In Family Law – How Courts Disenfranchise Fathers, released today by the Canadian Constitution Foundation and the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, Brown shows why dads are getting such a raw deal – and what can be done about it.
Currently, judges routinely deny perfectly normal, loving parents fundamental reproductive and financial freedoms, on the flimsiest of excuses and the poorest of evidence – based solely on their biological sex.
Brown suggests respectable qualitative and quantitative methods that can be brought to bear to right this injustice and help judges – and society – appreciate the importance of fathers as co-parents.
“All reputable social science shows that children are better off having maximal contact with both of their parents. Fifteen years ago, a joint committee of Parliament, after a lengthy consultation process, recommended changing the divorce law to equal shared parenting. That recommendation is still favoured by a large majority of Canadians, and is long overdue,” says Brown.
Ideology And Dysfunction In Family Law presents an academically sound but accessible argument that will be of interest to anyone concerned about making sure the law is doing right by our kids.
Ideology And Dysfunction In Family Law – How Courts Disenfranchise Fathers by Grant A. Brown, D.Phil., LL.B, is published by the Canadian Constitution Foundation and the Frontier Centre for Public Policy and is available here starting today.
The Canadian Constitution Foundation (“Freedom’s Defence Team”) is a registered charity, independent and non-partisan, whose mission is to defend the constitutional freedoms of Canadians through education, communication and litigation.
