Protesting 'deadbeat judges' at the courthouse

Perth Courier, By Ian Gray, WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 29, 1997

The first ever deadbeat judge protest in Canada was held in front of the Perth courthouse last Tuesday. Representatives from three fathers' rights groups took part. Brett Peters is president and under of Fathers After Rights Equalization (FARE). His group was joined by Fathers Are Capable Too (FACT) and Dads Canada on the protest march. "What we want is to bring equality back to the judiciary pertaining to child access, custody and visitation,". Mr. Peters said. He says there is a bias in the family court system toward mothers. The fathers' groups describe "deadbeat judges" as those who, in their opinions, adopt these gender biases. "(Fathers) have had enough of our constitutional rights denied. A mother can go in (to court), make an allegation of abuse - they do not have to prove it - and daddy is restricted to the children. "We just want to level the playing field." He sees the court system as a business, and self-serving. "We'd like to see the system speed up...to just go to trial." Stacy Robb is president of Dads Canada, based out of Toronto. He feels the gender-bias is so wide spread, "there's no point in a father or non-custodial parent filing anything. "It's time the judges take responsibility," Mr. Robb said. Mr. Peters says judicial protests like the one in Perth last week will I become more frequent across Canada in the future. "And we're going to start naming judges," said Mr. Robb. "But we want to be fair, we want to put the judicial system on notice that we will have people...in their courts. "We will be recording court judgments." Mr. Robb says judges should be accountable to the public, and suggests they should be voted to the bench, as in the US.

Fathers on the protest line chanted slogans like, "We cloth them, we feed them and now we want to see them." The groups are fighting for the rights of the children, Mr. Peters said. "The children have the right to both parents, and far too often they're used as pawns in this battle." He says 77 percent of young offenders are fatherless boys. "We do understand that there are bad fathers out there, but there are also bad mothers, too," Mr. Peters said. "The biggest unreported crime in the country is abuse towards a man from a woman." Mr. Robb said, "There has to be a better alternative" to the present family court system. "The children are the real losers in this system." Supporters from Toronto, Kingston and across eastern Ontario joined in the Perth walk, Mr. Peters said. We're Growing...but eventually I'd like to put myself out of business.

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