FAMILY VIOLENCE POLITICS

Canadian Senator Anne C Cools Speaks at Howard University on "Domestic Violence, Fatherhood, Families, and Politics"
Report by Stephen Baskerville
Department of Political Science, Howard University

In a historic visit to the United States on February 4-5, 2001, Senator Anne C. Cools of Canada spoke at the Ralph J. Bunche International Affairs Center at Howard University to a warm reception by students, faculty, senior university officials, and Washington policy experts. Senator Cools, who represents Canada's Liberal Party, which is currently the ruling party, later spoke at other venues in Washington, DC. In her talk at Howard on "Domestic Violence, Families, Fatherhood, and Politics," Senator Cools further vindicated her reputation as a courageous and outspoken defender of families and children as she outlined and denounced "injustice" by the government of Canada, and by implication other western democracies, against families, children, and non-custodial parents. She also used the occasion to call on the Canadian government "to bring forward a new divorce bill" to rectify the injustices.

"I have been pained that the Parliament of Canada and the courts have been reluctant to vindicate the needs of children of divorce for both their parents, both mothers and fathers," she began. "The Parliament of Canada and the Divorce Act never intended the dispossession of Canada's children of their own parents, or conversely, the dispossession of parents of their own children . . . I have also asserted that the legal term the "best interests of the child" has always included the children's interests in a meaningful involvement with both parents, fathers and mothers." The Senator's remarks come in the aftermath of several highly-publicized deaths in Canada and other democratic nations in connection with the divorce system, including the suicide of Darrin White of Prince George, British Columbia, after being cut off from his children by a family court and ordered to pay more than twice his income in child and spousal support, and Brian Armstrong, of Milford, New Hampshire, who was allegedly beaten to death by jail guards after being incarcerated without trial for missing a child support hearing.

"In politics, men, the male of the species, have received little concern in recent times. In fact, they have received much diminution, even scorn.  Men have had a difficult time even surviving." At the same time Senator Cools refused to demonize either gender. "I have repudiated the concept of the moral superiority of biology and gender . . . . Aggression, violence and personal imperfection are human afflictions. They are human problems, not gendered problems."

Senator Cools quoted research from Canada, the USA, and other nations on domestic violence, child abuse, and social pathologies that proceed from divorce and single-parent homes. "We know that male children of single-mother, father-absent homes are more likely to display aggressive behavioural problems, and that behavioural and anti-social problems in male children are often products of such environments."

We know that many more men than women are arrested, convicted and incarcerated, and that the ratio of men to women detained in Canada's federal penitentiaries is about 50 men to l woman, that is, about 15,000 men to 300 women, and that male juvenile delinquency follows this same pattern.  We know that more men die violently than do women, and that . . . more men than women commit suicide.

She cited studies by Adah Maurer, The Physical Punishment of Children (1976), which found that 100% of violent inmates in San Quentin prison had experienced extreme violence between the ages of 1 to 10 years, and Alan Button, Some Antecedents of Felonious and Delinquent Behavior (1973), which found that American presidential assassins and would-be assassins had experienced violent childhoods, often at the hands of mothers.

While Senator Cools expressed dismay over the political plight of men generally, her focus was "largely on fathers, on men's suffering as fathers, on fathers' punishment in divorce and family law," criticizing government policy for being at the heart of the problem. "The data shows that on divorce women are granted custody about 80% of the time, while fathers are commonly and frequently alienated from their children," she said.

"Fathers' alienation from families and their children is rampant, yet this fact raises little interest from governments and cabinet ministers." "I assert that anything that diminishes fatherhood diminishes motherhood, and inflicts pain on children," she continued. "Any social or legal theory that promotes or causes the alienation of fathers, good parents, from their children is intellectually and morally fraudulent and bankrupt and should be roundly condemned."

The Senator objected to the term "violence against women," saying it is not interchangeable with the term "domestic violence." "In fact, the term 'violence against women' is misandrous in its presupposition that violence is a male characteristic."

But perhaps her most moving words were directed at the impact on children:  "The impact of family aggression on children, little boys and girls is immeasurable. The panic, fear and anxiety that awakens in their heads, minds, and bodies eludes most. Absolute terror grips them, and all this in their pre-cognitive and pre-rational minds. As these little persons' undeveloped psychological systems are strained, as their nerve endings are eroded by behaviours they cannot comprehend nor control, meted out from uncaring or uncontrolled large persons who tower over them, the damage is inflicted. Meanwhile, these little persons acquire other sets of impulses, impulses which are ungovernable, and which may become uncontrollable, violent, and even homicidal. These little persons' pain is incalculable.  When these damaged little persons become big persons, the pain and suffering that they will inflict upon others is unspeakable. In the formative years, the child's mental and sensory state is essential while the child's personality structure is molded. Parents' emotional unevenness, family instability, and aggression, both physical and verbal, play a major role in the negative formation of children."

Senator Cools emphasized that she had witnessed these problems in her professional capacity as a Senator, rebuking her parliamentary colleagues and the courts and expressing shock "by this collective recklessness with children's lives." "I receive thousands of letters as burdened and anguished Canadian families appeal for help, all questioning how the governments of their beloved country could allow such injustice," she reported. "I have studied this issue, its obvious injustice, and its consequences for the children of divorce and their families. I also have studied the legal documents of hundreds of fathers falsely accused of sexually abusing their own children . . . . This phenomenon is a heart of darkness."

Senator Cools is widely considered to be the most forceful and outspoken advocate for families of any public official of national stature in the English-speaking world. "In the Senate of Canada's debate about divorce, I have drawn a line in the sand. I have asserted that the children of divorce are entitled to the financial, emotional and psychological support of both their parents . . . and that it is the duty of Canada's Parliament to uphold the need of children of divorce for both their parents." The Senator reported her position is "well supported by Canada's public" and cited a public opinion poll done for the Southam News by the polling firm Compas conducted in October 1998 and reported in the Ottawa Citizen on November 23, 1998. The front page article was headlined "Public Backs Fathers' Rights: Astonishing Majority Wants Change To Laws On Access To Children, Compas Poll Shows." The poll was not extensively reported in the United States and other industrial democracies, which face similar problems, but pollster Dr. Conrad Winn was quoted by Senator Cools and the Citizen as saying: "I can't find an adjective to describe the intensity of public dismay over family issues and the unfulfilled rights of fathers and children ... I'm surprised because these issues haven't been on the agenda of Canadian politics for a very long time. The most astonishing thing is the absolute consensus among men and women about how the rights and obligations of fathers and children are being ignored."

"The current divorce regime has left many children fatherless," Senator Cools concluded in calling for a new law. "This is begging correction.  Continued inaction in the face of the evidence that is compelling and conclusive is unconscionable."

The Senator's remarks received a hearty response from the Howard University community, which presented her with an honorary citation for her distinguished career of public service.

To contact Senator Cools or schedule an interview with her, please contact her office: Hon. Anne C. Cools, Senate of Canada, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1A 0A4. tel:(613) 992-2808, fax:(613) 992-8513.