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RCMP Press Release in New Brunswick :---------- Forwarded message ---------- :Date: Thu, 22 Jan 1998 17:28:48 -0400 :From: Melynda Jarratt / Dan Weston <justus@nbnet.nb.ca> :To: cn650@freenet.toronto.on.ca :Subject: RCMP BOMBSHELL PRESS RELEASE :Press Release and Attachments from the RCMP :I'm also attaching an excerpt from an article which appeared in the Halifax Chronicle Herald this morning, January 21, 1998. :Melynda Jarratt :-----------------------------------SNIP!----------------------------------- :New Brunswick Shared Parenting Association : :RCMP Policy Change in NB Has National Impact : :Fredericton, NB - January 20, 1998) The New Brunswick RCMP have adopted a "hands-off" policy towards custody and access enforcement that will have a national impact on the way police and the Family Courts deal with violations of Family Court Orders. : : In a policy letter to Dan Weston of the New Brunswick Shared Parenting Association, Superintendent J.D.M. Seguin says,"Members should not be involved in determining if a breach of such an order has occurred and even if there is a clear breach of an order, the Family Services Act does not authorize police intervention." : : The policy change "couldn't come at a better time," says Dan Weston, of the New Brunswick Shared Parenting Association (formerly known as CARE Custody Access Rights Equality). The group is to appear before the Joint Senate House Committee Hearings on Custody and Access which are currently being organized in Ottawa. Weston says they intend to use the RCMP's policy change as the basis of their presentation when the committee begins hearings later this year. : : The new policy means that custodial parents and non-custodial parents who violate the terms of a Family Court Order for access or custody will be treated equally by the RCMP. Weston explains, "Equal treatment means that both parents will have to go back to an already overloaded Family Court system to get their Orders enforced," something he says that only non-custodial parents had to do before. : : "Mothers and fathers with access to their children have complained for years that the RCMP won't enforce access orders but will enforce the custodial provisions of the same order," says Weston. In August last year, the group complained to Solicitor General Andy Scott that such different treatment was biased and discriminatory and worthy of a complaint to the Canadian Human Rights Commission. Apparently, the RCMP agreed. : : "Unequal treatment by the RCMP is symptomatic of a much larger inequality that's played out in the battleground of the Family Courts," said Weston. "The RCMP are by statute not the enforcement arm of the Family Court, yet the justice system has used the RCMP in this manner for many years to buttress the inequality of its Custody-Access policy." : : Now both parents are in the position of having to go back to Family Court when there are violations of the Custody-Access order. At their own expense, both parents will have to ‘show cause' to the Court as to why it should issue another Order to enforce the original Order. : : Weston calls this "reverse onus", maintaining that it is a legally untenable situation. "Only in the Family Courts, in the matter of Custody-Access orders is the burden of proof turned on its head, making Canadians of separation and divorce second class citizens." : : "By pulling out of enforcement, the RCMP have come down on the side of equality," Weston said. "The question to ask now is: what are the politicians and the Department of Justice going do about it? The chaotic state of family law requires a political solution involving all the stakeholders. " : : Weston said changes in favour of equality at the enforcement level will have to lead to changes in the Custody-Access policy of the Family Courts, where the source of inequality is rooted. "The discrimination still exists," Weston says. "but at a higher level of service delivery." : : Weston says the RCMP decision means that agreements made in the Family Court will depend solely on the commitment of both parents. He says that it's time for a new model such as Shared Parenting with a framework that promotes negotiation over litigation and joint custody over sole custody. : : "Parents will support agreements only if they have negotiated as equals where one parent has not already lost custody of the child," Weston said. This cannot happen under the present custody-access policy." : He says there are many legal questions that have to be answered concerning the rights of children and their parents before the Courts and the role of the Courts in family matters. : : "Court decisions are omnisciently prefaced and righteously carried out in the so-called best interest of the child" says Weston, "but what is lost here is the right of the child to be with their whole family." : :For further information call: : :Dan Weston/Melynda Jarratt :New Brunswick Shared Parenting Association :506-455-3568 :email justus@nbnet.nb.ca :Danny Guspie :National Shared Parenting Association :Toronto 416-864-1139 : :Sean Cummings :Nova Scotia Shared Parenting Association :902-466-6784 :----------------------------------------snip!------------------------------ -- :Royal Canadian Mounted Police :Our file :J195 - 455 : :98/01/09 : :Mr Dan Weston :Custody Access Rights Equality (CARE) :858 Brunswick Street :Fredericton, N.B. :E3B 1J1 : :Dear Mr. Weston : :Your telephone conversation with Corporal Evans refers. :Based on our consultation with your organization and others, the enclosed directive has been developed for RCMP members in New Brunswick. The final version is presently being translated and will be distributed to our operational personnel shortly. : :As this issue is one of greater scope than just the RCMP in New Brunswick, I am also providing a copy to the Policing Services Department of the N.B. Solicitor General. Our policy centre in Ottawa will also be informed of the progress we have made on this issue in New Brunswick so the directive can be available to other provinces. : :Should you have any further concerns please do not hesitate to contact me. : :Sincerely yours, : :J.D.M. Séguin, Superintendent :Officer in Charge :Criminal Operation Branch :"J" Division : :Att. :---------------------------------------SNIP!------------------------------- :PARENTAL CHILD-ABDUCTION-CUSTODY/ACCESS ORDERS ENFORCEMENT : : The Family Service Act governs parental custody and access orders in N.B. The Act recognizes that the family exists as the basic unit of society and its well-being is inseparable from the common well-being. It also recognizes that parents have responsibility for the care and supervision of their children. : :Divorce and separation, however, are modern day realities and are reshaping the traditional model of the family as contemplated by the Act. :In keeping with our commitment to safe-homes and safe-communities and as part of our responsibility as for the front-line community services providers, police are often called on to intervene when family problems arise. In fulfilling this responsibility, we must recognize that the rights of children, families and individuals must be guaranteed by the rule of the law and that intervention by state authorities into the affairs of individuals and families so as to protect and affirm these rights must be governed by the rule of law. : :Members must also be mindful that matters involving civil orders made under the Family Services Act are, generally, the responsibility of the Minister of Health and Community Services. Intervention by the police in civil proceeding between two parties, should be a last resort. In an effort to be proactive and in keeping with C.A.P.R.A. principles which are the central to our service delivery model, however, members are encouraged to participate as appropriate. : :As with any call for service, common law and Criminal Code responsibilities of the police to protect life and property will require timely and effective intervention and enforcement action as required. : :Custody and Access Orders made by the Family Court under the provisions of either section 130.1 or 132 of the Family Services Act are between the parties and are not the responsibility of the police to enforce. Members should not be involved in determining if a breach of such an order has occurred and even if there is a clear breach of an order, the Family Services Act does not authorize police intervention. Parties should be directed to the appropriate authorities to settle such disputes. This applies equally whether the alleged breach is being committed by the parent having custody or access. : :Either party to an order for custody or access made under the sections 130.1 or 132 who believes the other party is unlawfully withholding the child or otherwise not complying with the order, may apply to a court under provisions of sections 132.1 of the Family Services Act for an Order of Apprehension for the purpose of giving effect to custody or access order. :Section 132.1(4) authorizes a judge to direct the police to do all things reasonably able to be done to locate, take charge of and deliver the child in accordance with the order. Such an order must be directed to the police and contain clear directions before members should be involved in its enforcement. : :If, while investigating an alleged breach of any order made under the Family Services Act, evidence is revealed which indicates a permanent intention on the part of one parent to deprive the other from access to a child, whether the order is in place or not, consideration should be given to charges under section 282 or 283 of the Criminal Code. This applies equally whether the child is being withheld by the parent having custody or access. :-------------------------------------SNIP!--------------------------------- :Halifax Chronicle Herald :January 21, 1998 : :What if thy threw a gender war and no one came? :Diane LeBlanc :Chronicle Herald : :Further to the question of access ... This week RCMP in New Brunswick put a new policy affecting court orders in writing. : :The directive says officers are not to respond to ANY child custody or access issue unless a Criminal Code infraction is involved or they are directed to do so by a judge. : :For years, non-custodial parents have complained that police won't investigate access refusals but they do get involved when custodial parents complain about breaches of the same court orders. : :This policy changes all that. It will undoubtedly lead to messy ramifications... Expect this topic to hit the fan quickly. :------------------------ :** Diane LeBlanc can be reached via e-mail: dleblanc@herald.ns.ca VMC, Box 8082, Victoria B.C. V8W 3R7 -- Phone: 370-4MEN (370-4636) --- E-Mail: vmc-e@victoria.tc.ca |
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