Category: Calgary Herald

By Helen Dolik
Canadians need more hard facts on what really happens in child-custody cases, not just anecdotal evidence from men who feel they have been treated unfairly by the courts, a retired Calgary judge says. Herb Allard, the former senior family and youth court judge in Calgary, made the comments Wednesday after addressing a special parliamentary committee on child custody and access at the Calgary Airport Hotel.​

Noticing the predominantly male audience in the hearing room, Allard said: “In my life experience in the court, I never saw so many men except those who were under compulsion. “They don’t show up when their children are hurting as often as they should, or as often as mothers,” he said, adding that no one is keeping track of how many men have sought sole or joint custody and didn’t get it. “We should count.”​

But Gus Sleiman, president of the Men’s Educational Support Association in Calgary, said the courts are biased against fathers. Men give up, he said, because the financial and emotional resources of fathers fighting for access to their children are often exhausted, and they know the end result is that they will lose inside the courtroom. “I want the justice system to change its direction and start treating fathers as fathers, not as a paying father,” said Sleiman.​

More than 20 individuals and groups presented a variety of views to the joint Senate-House of Commons committee, which is conducting cross-country hearings. It will present a report in November.​

Joe Hornick, executive director of the Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family said,” We have to be very careful because we lack good empirical research in this area.”​

The committee is composed of Senators and MP’s from all political parties. Its mandate is to access the need for a more child-centered approach to family law policies that would emphasize joint parental responsibilities.​

Liberal Senator Anne Cools, a committee member, said, “It is the duty of the law to support equality and to support the fact that despite the dissolution of that marriage, both of those parents should be good parents.”​

There’s an enormous social transformation happening in Canada and it’s time to look at divorce and its consequences, Cools argued, noting that thousands of fathers are now insisting that they will not be shut out of their children’s lives.​

About 8,000 divorces are granted each year in Alberta.
Copyright Calgary Herald

Re “Shared parenting-the next ripple in evolution of divorce,” Susan Ruttan, Calgary Herald.​

This column contains many myths and misconceptions and shows a common lack of insight on parenting after divorce.​

Ruttan claims that “for men in particular, divorce seemed a way of walking away from a mistake and building a new life with another woman”. The reality is that most divorces are initiated by women, who are generally less romantic than men. It is men that are more likely to try and keep a relationship together.​

Surprisingly, it was not “single divorced mothers as the new poverty class” that demanded action on child support amounts, but rather the government itself. The Canadian Department of Justice studied how mothers felt about child support amounts in the 1980’s and found that mothers were overwhelmingly satisfied with child support amounts awarded. It was the Department of Justice that felt the amounts needed increasing – not divorced mothers. Now men pay for more than their share of their children’s upbringing, thanks to new, unbalanced child support formulas. Meanwhile, they are largely shut out of their children’s lives, because of a court system that almost always awards custody of children to mothers.​

It’s indeed a sad commentary on the value society places on a father’s contribution when we are all too willing put fathers in jail to make them pay more child support, yet do nothing to facilitate their most important contribution: parenting their children. This has well documented, adverse effects on the welfare of children.​

Paul Millar
Calgary
(Millar is a volunteer with the Men’s Educational Support Association.)

Gender-rights crusader hails Alberta ruling on abuse leaflets

Jim Farrell, Edmonton Journal​
A crusader for equal treatment of men and women will announce today what he calls a major victory against the negative stereotyping of men.​

The Alberta Human Rights Commission has ruled family violence brochures circulated by Edmonton’s Family Centre discriminate against men, Ferrel Christensen said Sunday.​

In 1998, Christensen complained to the commission that the brochures portrayed men as the sole practitioners of abuse within the family.
“In January a human-rights commission investigator’s decision came down saying our complaint was justified,” said Chistensen, a retired University of Alberta philosophy professor and spokesman for the Movement for the Establishment of Real Gender Equality.​

“A few weeks ago, the centre said it wouldn’t push this higher.”​

In effect, the Family Centre conceded the point, Christensen said: it won’t lodge an appeal before the full panel of the Human Rights Commission and has withdrawn the brochures.​

Officials from the Family Centre could not be reached for comment.​

Christensen plans to announce at a press conference today the future targets of his organization’s campaign against negative male stereotyping.​

“We will be sending out an announcement to six or eight other agencies, pointing out the bias in their literature and asking that it be changed,” he said.​

Christensen will be joined by Canadian Alliance MP Deborah Grey, Liberal MP Roger Gallaway and Jon Lord, a Calgary alderman and Progressive Conservative nominee for the next provincial election.​

Gallaway has gained nationwide fame in recent years for criticizing what he says is anti-male bias in federal legislation.
In 1998, Gallaway was chairman of the joint Senate-Commons committee on child custody and access, which recommended that both parents have equal custody rights of children following a divorce.​

He accused Justice Minister Anne McLellan of blocking the work of his committee when McLellan said the matter needs more study and changes to current legislation might require three years or more.​

“Roger has sure carried the can on the matter of child access, and we need to look at some equity,” Grey said.
Academic studies demonstrate men and women are responsible for family violence in almost equal proportions, Christensen said. Those statistics have been overshadowed by studies which examine only violence against women. As a result, the “politically correct” view has pervaded Canadian society that family violence is a male vice, Christensen said.​

Other statistical studies are equally questionable, Gallaway said.​

“The problem is that people are always referring to conviction rates which are probably 19 to 1 in favour of women. But the fact is, men don’t report family violence, so conviction rates are not indicative of what is happening in society — only what happens in court.”​

Statistical studies of violence are distorted even further by a broadening of the concept of “abuse,” Gallaway said.
He said the National Action Committee on the Status of Women often cites a Statistics Canada study which said 52 per cent of women are subjected to abuse, including physical, emotional and even monetary abuse in its definition.​

“What NAC failed to reveal was that in same sampling, women said they initiated the same type of behaviour toward their spouses,” Gallaway said. “I’m not sure any more what abuse is.”​

Lord said anti-male bias is pervasive in literature on family violence.
“If you started digging into it, it’s the norm,” he said, adding abused men need services just as much as abused women. “It’s one of those dirty little secrets in society.”​

Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

By Joe Woodard
Despite the threatening weather on Father’s Day, Calgary’s streets and parks were filed with fathers and kids.
Mark St. Mand and his wife, Susan, took their three children_Cathy, 7, Connor, 5, and Cameron, 2, _ to the Science Center.
Then came their first-ever ride on the LRT, and next a stroll down the Stephen Avenue Mall, “so Daddy could see the (antique) cars” on display.​

The kids were still overwhelmed by the train ride, and daddy was still enjoying their awe.
“Life’s been a lot of fun since they started arriving,” said St. Mand.
Gord Miller was one of the Calgarians displaying a “muscle car” on the mall.​

And sitting in the passenger seat of his 1974 Plymouth Roadrunner was his son, David, 10, eager to take charge of the car some day.
“Depends how responsible he becomes,” David’s father said.​

“We put a lot of work into rebuilding the body and the interior, and some day, we’ll have to rebuild the motor.”
The Variety Club of Southern Alberta held its Father’s Day Picnic at South Glenmore Park.​

Photo (Mickey Dumont, Calgary Herald)
Oded Glickson plays on a slide with his 11-month-old daughter Elite on Sunday during a Father’s Day Picnic at South Glenmore Park.
The Prince’s Island crowd also ignored clouds and occasional drizzles. Tim Janz and his kids Emily, 12, and Nicholas, 10, spent the afternoon riding their mountain bikes up and down the island’s little hills.​

But the kids had to take it easy on daddy.
“I had the kids skiing, this spring, and broke a couple of ribs, showing off,” Janz said.
“So then, last month, we get these mountain bikes, and Nicholas start saying, ‘Do a donkey kick, do a donkey kick.’ I do one, and then he says,’ higher, do one higher.’​

“So finally, I fly right over the handlebars and re-injure the ribs I’d injured skiing.”
Janz said he wanted to have kids, so he could do all the “kids’ things “ again, especially climbing on monkey bars.
“But I have to be a little more careful now,” he said.​

“My body’s not quite so resilient as it was 15 years ago.
Prince’s Island was also the venue for the Men’s Education and Support Associations Sixth Annual Father’s Day Picnic.
MESA is an organization for non-custodial fathers, trying to fulfill their paternal role under difficult circumstances.
Tom Mathias attended the MESA picnic with daughter Elysia, 11, and Nicholas, 8, and they spent the afternoon, kicking around a soccer ball.
I didn’t have access to my children for a year and-a half,” Mathias said.​

As a result, I had two heart attacks. The government and the courts don’t think much of fathers, these days.”
At 2 p.m., Sunday, the two dozen fathers at the picnic, with their kids, released 80 purple balloons into the air – a balloon, for every hundred divorces in Alberta this year.​

They also released a single black balloon, to represent all the fathers who have no access to their kids, and the few who have committed suicide as a result.​

“Our Father’s Day Picnic is just a chance for fathers to celebrate with their kids,” said MESA organizer Paul Millar.
“It’s a chance to forget about courts and lawyers and all the times we don’t get to be with them.”​

Copyright 2000 Calgary Herald

By LINDA SLOBODIAN
Data supported by Statistics Canada study

Research proves men in Canada and the U.S. are victims of domestic violence almost as much as women are, says a sociologist who has written extensively on the subject.
But data is “covered up” by those with sinister agendas, said Murray Straus; co-director of the New Hampshire based Family Research Laboratory.​

Photo: Murray Straus
Those responsible for the cover up “are from the ‘all men are bastards’ branch of feminism,” said Straus, who spoke Sunday at the Men’s Educational Support Association family violence seminar, held at MacEwan Student Centre.​

“I find it very awkward because I think of myself as a feminist in the sense that I want to see equality between men and women,” said Straus, who has published five books and written 75 articles for scientific journals on the topic of family violence.​

“We have all over the United States and Canada people who have gathered data on assaults by women and have not published it, including one person in my own lab,” said Straus.​

“They’ll be accused of anti-women bias. And the repercussions can be very severe. I’ve had one of my colleagues, for example, there was a campaign to keep her from being promoted and receiving tenure because she published this sort of data,” he said.
Straus cited a study released by Statistics Canada in July.​

“The rate in the Stats Canada study is seven per cent of men and eight per cent of women are assaulted by their partner. So it’s practically the same,” said Straus.​

The report surveyed 25,874 Canadians in 1999. Victims were married or in common-law relationships and experienced at least one incident of violence ranging from threats to beatings and assault with weapons.​

“I believe that’s true. That’s what we have found in repeated surveys starting in 1975. In the U.S. we get about 10 per cent of men severely assaulting a partner and about 10 per cent of women. It’s within one per cent. For both minor and severe assaults the rates are approximately the same.”​

Straus plotted the rates of men assaulting their partners between 1985 and 1992, and said because of awareness campaigns and support services there has been a decrease in female victims.​

“Assaults by women have stayed the same. Women are not getting the message because there is no message that it’s morally wrong and criminal for women to hit their husbands.”​

He said it also places women at risk. “When she slaps, she sets the stage for him to hit her. The safety of women alone demands we make a big deal of women hitting men.”​

Straus acknowledged women generally suffer greater fear and injuries.
“Men are three inches taller, 30 pounds heavier, and better developed muscularly,” he said. That is precisely why they don’t report being victims of domestic assault.​

“There’s added embarrassment, the myth that a real man should be able to not let this happen.”​

© Copyright 2000 Calgary Herald

MARIO TONEGUZZI​

Children of divorced families have high clinical levels of depression, and a greater likelihood for suicide and other emotional problems, according to recently completed research by a Calgary expert in the field.​

Lesa Wolf, the Calgary Counselling Centre’s Children’s Program Leader, said depression in children of divorce has serious implications for their future, and the research results also point again to the importance of shared parenting responsibilities – a hot topic these days throughout the country.​

“During separation and divorce, parents often get hung up in conflict regarding their children,” said Wolf. “These conflicts are very damaging to the kids and should be avoided by using a parenting plan. Once parents agree on a logical parenting plan for sharing responsibilities and making decisions concerning their children, damaging conflicts can be avoided.”​

Federal Justice Minister Martin Cauchon introduced changes to the Divorce Act recently to make the process less adversarial by changing confrontational words in the Act – “custody” would be changed to “parental responsibility.”​

But critics say a parliamentary committee’s recommendations on shared parenting, making mothers and fathers equal under the law, were ignored and legal experts say there’s nothing radically new in the changes.​

The situation has once again thrown the emotional issue back into the spotlight as organizations across the country continue to lobby for shared or equal parenting reality in child custody cases.​

Wolf said there are studies now that show the divorce rate decreases when divorce laws favor a shared parenting approach.
“By and large, it’s much more beneficial to have both parents involved,” said Wolf. “It’s hugely important. Children deserve to have a relationship with both parents. Kids are very upset and disturbed when they are separated from one parent. It’s hugely important that shared parenting is part of their life after divorce.”​

Wolf’s research measured depression in youth coming to the Calgary Counselling Centre for medical treatment. She found that 62 per cent of children from divorced families have clinical levels of depression, compared with only 18 per cent of children from non-divorced families.
More than 40 organizations across the country, claiming to represent more than 100,000 Canadians, have signed on to an equal parenting platform they have presented to the federal government.​

They want the government to amend the Divorce Act to include a clear statement that each child is entitled to the presumption of equal parenting time with both parents.​

Gus Sleiman, of Calgary’s Men’s Educational Support Association, said “Canadian children and parents are witnessing the continued erosion of their rights.”​

Brenda Mignardi, of the Toronto-based Putting Children and Families First organization, said “the impact of inadequate parenting is manifesting itself annually through hundreds of child and youth suicides, youth crime and many related child behaviour problems.”
Claudio Violatto, a psychologist at the University of Calgary, agreed that children in fatherless homes are at high risk to “all these kinds of problems.”
…..Continued from page E1
Page E2

DIVORCE: Shared Role
And the heart of the shared parenting proposals is making sure fathers in divorced situations have equal parental responsibility in the raising of their children.​

Violatto said there is overwhelming research about mothers and children, but until recently there has been little attempt to conduct research into fatherhood.​

“Unquestionably, fathers are as just important as mothers. They are central to children’s development and well-being,” said Violatto.
“We finally all realized to what extent fathers and fatherhood are neglected in our research. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that the father’s role is important.”​

Robert Glossop, executive director of the Vanier Institute of the Family, said he was pleased to see over the past 15 years a “fairly significant shift to acknowledge more shared custody arrangements” coming out of the court system.​

“It’s ideal and preferable when the parents can agree to implement and consistently apply a fashion of joint parenting,” he said.
“This does take the spotlight away from the parents and puts it back on the children.”​

He said it’s obvious that children who have the love and support and affection of both parents are better off than those who do not.
“Fathers do have an important role that has not been sufficiently recognized in the past,” said Glossop.​

And that role includes the emotional and psychological development of children.​

“Children who can bonded to or closely tied to both the mother and the father benefit greatly,” said Glossop.
“The vast majority of parents at the time of separation and divorce do figure this out.”​

In the past, the role of the two parents was defined as either instrumental or expressive. Typically, the father fell into the instrumental role. Earning money to provide for the family. Also being cast in the role as disciplinarian.​

The mothers were identified in the expressive role. Making sure there was a “nice even emotional tenor around the home,” said Glossop.
But today, the roles have changed. With mothers entering the workforce, fathers have adopted the expressive role. Mothers have adopted the instrumental role. Both parents have taken on both roles.​

“There is an increased emphasis in involved fathers,” said Glossop. “Perhaps they were shortchanged in the 1950’s when their contribution to family was so narrowly circumscribed to the instrumental role.”​

But, despite the changes, Glossop said it is still possible to identify different kinds of contributions and different styles of parenting between mothers and fathers.​

The running of a household still largely falls into a mother’s hands. Men are more likely to actively engage their children in activity.
Over time, there will be a greater similarity in the way mothers and fathers raise their children, he said.
Even feminist author Betty Friedan, who wrote the controversial best-seller The Feminine Mystique more than 40 years ago, sees the benefits in fathers taking a more important role in the family.​

“Women have had too much power in the home and it’s not been good for the family,” said Freidan in a 1999 interview. “It’s really better for the family that women get some power in society, and then they don’t need to have all that power in the home.
“It’s better for children, and better for husbands and fathers, to share the power in parenting.”

© Copyright 2002 Calgary Herald
toneguzzim@theherald.southham.ca

Calgary Herald – Saturday, February 22, 2003​

SEAN MYERS
The Alberta Court of Appeal dismissed a motion Friday by a Calgary father to raise Charter of Rights and Freedoms arguments in his case against the Calgary Health Region.​

In his appeal, Gus Sleiman is trying to argue the CHR discriminated against him because of his marital status as a non-custodial parent when it denied him access to the records of a visit his son made to the Alberta Children’s Hospital in 1994.​

“If they want to shut the door today on my argument, I’ll open it again tomorrow,” said Sleiman.
“The appeal will continue. Even if I have to start all over again, I will.”​

In Friday’s motion, Sleiman tried to win the right to present new arguments based on the Charter of Rights, including gender discrimination.
As part of Sleiman’s motion, the Men’s Educational Support Association, a non-profit organization of which Sleiman is president, tried to attain intervener status to bring forward arguments based on the social context of non-custodial parents’ rights.​

Both parts of the motion were dismissed.
“The appeal is going to go forward on the initial issues alone,” said Blair Carbert, the lawyer representing the CHR. “The court found it is not appropriate to bring in new issues.”​

Sleiman moved to Calgary from Toronto with his wife 10 years ago to start a restaurant. In 1997, he divorced his wife, who then took their son to Ottawa.​

In 1999, during a visit with his family doctor, Sleiman discovered his son had been taken to the Alberta Children’s Hospital as a nine-month-old infant in 1994 before his divorce proceedings had begun.​

When he went to the hospital on Aug. 10, 1999, to try to get copies of the records, he was told that as a matter of policy the CHR does not hand out patient records to non-custodial parents.​

Sleiman had been granted only limited supervised access to his son by an Ontario court that took over jurisdiction from Alberta.
He went to the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission to argue discrimination based on marital status.
The commission initially found “merit” in the complaint in December 1999 but later dismissed it, stating in a document that the commission did not have jurisdiction over custody matters.​

The dismissal was upheld by the chief commissioner in an appeal in July 2000. Sleiman took the matter to the Court of Queen’s Bench, which dismissed it in July 2002. Then Sleiman launched the current appeal.
myers@theherald.southam.ca
© Copyright 2003 Calgary Herald

Abuse Initiative Unveiled
Two new posts will help stop family violence
Gwendolyn Richards – grichards@theherald.canwest.com​​​

A province-wide examination of bullying and domestic violence drew to a close Friday as the Alberta government announced the creation of two new positions that will focus on initiatives to stop abuse.​
Former Crown prosecutor Val Campbell will spend the next year working with the Justice Ministry to create a system for victims of

​​violence going through the courts, as well as training programs for the police, Alberta Children’s Services and the Solicitor General to help them with cases of family violence.​​​

​​Justice Minister Dave Hancock said the new model will be about more than just how the court handles domestic violence and its victims, but will look to reduce the repetition of cases going through the system.​

“We want victims of family violence and bullying to know that they don’t have to stop the violence.
“The criminal justice system can and will take a lead role,” he said.​

At the same time, Sheryl Fricke will co-ordinate domestic violence initiative from all the provincial ministries.
The move comes at the tail end of seven months of roundtable discussions on the problems of family violence and bullying.
Initiated by Premier Ralph Klein back in October, the discussions spanned the province, bringing in front –line workers, stakeholders and victims to talk about the problem and identify possible solutions.​​​​​​​​​

“We wanted to make sure we engaged Albertans, understood the problem and then contemplated the next stage: education, awareness, trying to make sure everybody understands they have a part in this,” said Alberta Children’s Services Minister Iris Evans.
​
From here, she said, the next step is to take all the information and begin developing programs to combat the problems of violence in the home and schools.
​
“One thing we heard is that people, not programs, change people,” she said.
Already this year, 10 people have died in incidents attributed to family violence. Two years ago, that number was six.
“Albertans are increasingly showing concern about violence in society, in the playground,” said Evans.
​
“There’s a reawakening.”
Meanwhile, several organizations are charging the provincial government with perpetuating stereotypes when it comes to domestic violence.
​
Gus Sleiman, president of the Men’s Educational Support Association, said government publications continue to highlight men as the perpetrators and women as victims.
​
He said while laws dealing with family violence have changed, their application hasn’t.
At the counter-roundtable meeting also held Friday, Sleiman was joined by researchers and university professors talking about violence stereotypes and biases in the justice system.
​
Paul Millar, a speaker at the counter-roundtable, added that the Alberta government is only emphasizing a select number of perspectives as they try to create new policies for dealing with domestic abuse.
​
Elder advocate Ruth Maria Adria said the roundtable discussions haven’t included abuse against seniors, despite the fact that Elder Advocates of Alberta receives three or four complaints per day about the mistreatment of seniors.
​© Copyright; The Calgary Herald​

Calgary father faces $100,000 back payment
Calgary Herald​

Shelley Knapp
A Calgary family will be at the centre of a case that will be heard by Canada’s highest court and could end in a decision costing parents across the country millions in retroactive child support.

Lawyer, Deidre Smith heard Thursday that the Supreme Court of Canada will hear the appeal she filed on behalf of four Alberta fathers, including four from Calgary, who owe retroactive child support payments dating back to 1997.

At the centre is Calgarian Daryl Ross Henry, who owes $100,000 after the Alberta Court of Appeal ruled in January he should pay retroactive support for his two daughters because his income rose dramatically after his divorce.

“These aren’t dads who object to paying child support,” said Smith from her Toronto office.

“They object to the playing field being changed after the game has been played.”

She said all four of her clients were previously paying child support based on old court orders. The dispute centres around the retroactive lump sum.

Calgary lawyer Lonny Balbi, past chairman of the Canadian Bar Association’s national family section said there is plenty of confusion when it comes to child support.

“Getting it resolved one way or another helps everybody,” said Balbi. “There are very divergent views of what the law is, so this is a very important step being taken.”

The Alberta ruling in the Henry case runs contrary to 1997 nationwide guidelines that allow retroactive payments back to the date when the child support recipient goes to court seeking a review.

Those guidelines were upheld by an Ontario court ruling last year that said the onus is still on the recipient, not the payer, to question whether child support reflects salary hikes.

Under the Alberta Court of Appeal decision, the onus is on the payer to immediately inform the recipient about any salary increases and provide increased custody support retroactive to when a raise came into effect.

The Supreme Court of Canada decision – expected to be made sometime next year – will have to clarify which position is correct.

“This is just a huge kettle of fish, huge,” said Sean Cummings, a family mediator with Calgary Divorce Management Services.

“If the Supreme Court rules against these fathers and I believe they will, then every single child support payer will now be on the hook for retroactive child support payments.”

Smith acknowledges that the ramifications of the decision are wide-ranging.

A conservative estimate compiled by her office finds that at least 780,000 Canadian families have court-enforced support orders. If the smallest retroactive payment was $10,000 that means $780 – million changing hands.

“But it’s not only the money, that’s 780,000 cases of conflicts that have been created. There are 780,000 fights started.”

Dan Colborne, the lawyer for Henry’s ex-wife Celeste Rosanne Henry, said he is pleased that the Supreme Court will hear the case.

“This is of national importance,” said Colborne, of the law firm Thornborough, Smeltz, Gillis. “It’s an opportunity to conform that there is a positive obligation on payers to support their children.”

Paul Millar, a volunteer with Calgary’s Men’s Education Support Association, said the important thing that will come from the court ruling is clarity.

“We need to have consistent rules for the payers and the recipients. It will help reduce conflicts further down the road.”

sknapp@theherald.canwest.com

Calgary dad owes $108,000

Kelly Cryderman, Calgary Herald​​​​​​​​
Published: Tuesday, August 01, 2006
In a legal decision that could affect hundreds of thousands of families across the country, the Supreme Court of Canada said Monday parents who receive raises at work but do not give more in child support may later be walloped with retroactive charges.
The long-awaited decision, which focused on four Alberta families, will hit Calgary father Daryl Ross Henry with a retroactive child support bill of $108,000, to be paid to his former wife Celeste Rosanne Henry and their two daughters by 2010.
​
“Parents have an obligation to support their children in a way that is commensurate with their income,” the unanimous high court ruling stated.
​
“This is a debt. This isn’t a lottery,” said Daniel Colborne, lawyer for Celeste Rosanne Henry. “When you shortchange child support, you shortchange kids.”
​
While paying parents — mostly men — will now face greater responsibility for disclosing changes in their incomes, the complex ruling leaves courts ample room to determine whether there should be retroactive payments at all.
​
Judges will have to look at factors such as the circumstances of the children, the hardship the retroactive payments will cause and whether the parent making the support payments has a “reasonable excuse” for not paying more when getting a raise.
​
While the ruling suggests retroactive payments will become much more common, lawyers say the decision is far from clear. “It doesn’t provide us with the definitive answers that some may have been looking for,” said Sandra Hildebrand, who heads the family section of the Canadian Bar Association in southern Alberta.
​
But, Hildebrand said, “family law lawyers will be advising their clients that they should be addressing this issue if there is an increase in income.” If they don’t, “it could come back to haunt them.”
​
Lawyers across Canada will be busy dealing with a backlog of cases that had been put on hold while the legal community awaited this ruling, and it’s possible a rush of new cases may come forward.​

In its ruling, the Supreme Court struck down the Alberta Court of Appeal’s decision to award retroactive payments to two of the four Alberta families, saying the cases did not involve “blameworthy conduct” on the part of the paying father. It ruled on one case that assessing almost $16,000 in retroactive payments was too much of a burden for a man earning $23,000 a year.​​

But the Supreme Court held up the two other retroactive payment orders from the Alberta court.
​
The first was the Henry case. When the Henrys divorced in 1991, Daryl Ross Henry was earning $73,500. But a few years later, his salary had soared to above $180,000 and peaked in 2001 at $235,000.​​​

At the same time, Henry’s ex-wife struggled to provide the children with basic necessities on the $700-$1,200 he paid her monthly, significantly below federal guidelines.​​

​The ruling said Henry used intimidation tactics with his former spouse, blamed her for her financial problems and insinuated he was short on cash — successfully convincing her to pay for a bus ticket for one of the children to travel from her home near Edmonton to Calgary for a visit.
“There should be no dispute that the father in the present appeal acted in a blameworthy manner,” the ruling said.
The court also decided in favour of retroactive payments in the case of Kenneth Hiemstra, whose former wife “paid a disproportionate share of the burden for supporting the children.”​​

Deidre Smith, the Toronto-based lawyer for all of the four Alberta men, said her clients objected to retroactive payments going as far back as they did — in Henry’s case to 1997, the year federal guidelines were established.

Smith said the current system is “too cumbersome” to work as quickly as the Supreme Court ruling dictates, as it often takes months to change an order for child support payments.​

“We’re going to have to come up with a more streamlined process.”​

Photo: Gus Sleiman.​
Brett Beadle, Calgary Herald
Gus Sleiman, president of the Men’s Educational Support Association, pictured at his restaurant, Mamma’s Ristorante, where members meet once a month, says the Supreme Court ruling failed to address all issues.​

The ruling mandates that court-ordered retroactive payments will stem back to the date when the paying parent is first met with a request for more money. But if the paying parent hides money or is otherwise “blameworthy,” retroactive payments may stretch back to the time of the pay increase.​

Gus Sleiman, president of the Calgary-based Men’s Educational Support Association, a men’s advocacy group, said he was disappointed the courts did not address the issue of what happens if court-ordered support payments are not reduced when a man’s income drops.​

kcryderman@theherald.canwest.com © The Calgary Herald 2006