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Friday, March 31, 2006

Programs to watch:

Global Television's Focus Ontario program this weekend as the Ombudsman will be discussing the issue of CAS oversight. The program is scheduled to air on Saturday at 6:30pm and will repeat on Sunday morning at 7 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.



"Failing Jeffrey"
The Fifth Estate
Friday April 14, 2006
10:oo pm

From the clip they showed last night it looks like it is going to be good.

Monday, March 27, 2006

Hi Amanda:

I am a Toronto Star reporter working on a story to come out April 7 the day of the ruling into Eva Bottineau & Norman Kidman on Jeffrey's death.
I am trying to find other cases of kinship care where children have been killed or abused in care of other relatives after having been taken from their mother.

Please contact me,
Sincerely,
Dale Anne Freed
Toronto Star
416-869-4436
email dfreed@thestar.ca

A CAS story...

Program Supervisor
Ministry of Children & Youth Services
119 King Street West, 7th Floor
Suite 600
Hamilton ON L8P 4Y7


To whom it may concern

This is a letter explaining my situation and complaint with the Brant County Children’s Aid Society. The Society has been involved with my family on and off since July 1992 on assumption of alleged abuse on my children, poor parenting skills and too much stress.

In October 2002, a worker by the name of Donna Symes was assigned to my case, who since then has remained involved to this day even though I have no more children in my care since December 5, 2002. All of my children live in different homes. My youngest has been in foster care since that date, and is waiting for the courts to make her Crown Ward for the purpose of adoption. I was required by them to take parenting courses, group sessions, counseling and be seen by a psychiatrist for hopes that my children would return in my care. I followed through with each of their demands in order to be in good standing with the Society. Yet, it seems that my honesty and willingness to improve myself has caused much grief and pain to my family and to me. There have been accusations made against me that were untrue and overly exaggerated. For example, having high expectations of my children; punching them, which I never did because my approach to hot situations has always been to walk away; neglecting them, lack in parenting skills; failed to protect them; forcing my daughter to toilet train, which was never the case. My family life and my mental health haven been shattered which brought me to a depression and undo stress. This mental state was use against me and was told that I could not be a good parent. A parenting assessment was done in 2004 and so much information was untrue and distorted also. At that time, it was obvious to me that the doctor in question, seemed very bias on the whole situation and the recommendation was exactly what the worker wanted in the end.

I am presently expecting another child and I am being told, by this worker, that apprehension is very possible. There are many uncertainties on this at the present time. I am taking it one day at a time but still wonder what the agency will do. An alert has been place throughout Canada against me. So upon the delivery of this child, C.A.S. will be contacted and I will loose this child. She has stated that I can bond with the baby in the hospital and can nurse but to not expect the child to come home with me. In the last few weeks, Donna Symes was getting me to go to the office on a bi-weekly appointment. I have signed all the Form 14 required so that at the time of birth of this child, the Society can call the authorities involved in my life. I have been told that I need to continue counseling and see a psychiatrist, which I have no problem doing this even though I do feel that all is well with me. I was told to take, once again, a parenting course which if my memory serves me right, I have taken at least 4 of them to this date. She also told me that I would be re-assessed around the time of the birth of the new baby. I have no solid evidence of the outcome of my near future. I did tell Ms. Symes, why not let me take the baby home and have a worker at my home every day of the week if necessary even on Sunday. Her instant response to this was that this was not possible.

This worker, Donna Symes, has made many promises that she did not kept on more then one occasion. For example: Do what is required and your children will be returned to you; scheduled make – up visits with my daughter with no show from her part and no calls to cancel either. A few weeks ago she even told me that C.A.S. does not apprehend babies from the hospital and then stated differently. My doctor was upset that this woman was being dishonest with me and said that she should be telling me the truth.

I have often sought, in the pasts, the help of the Society, for help and advice. My children are my life and my world. All I want is a chance to prove that, but it seems that once again it’s impossible to prove anything to the Society when a worker is bias and seems to not follow what the Society really represents. I do understand that you are there to protect children but it’s also been my understanding that the Society is suppose to try to keep families together. It seems that this particular worker has been working very hard in keeping my family apart and continues to do so. I honestly believe that there is no reason for C.A.S. to be involved at this time or anytime in the future. But Ms. Donna Symes seems to think that she needs to be involved to be in control of the situation, which at this time there is no situation or anything else for that matter. How do I get the Society to stop being in my life and what damage is she trying to do or continue to do?

The only reason this worker knows of my pregnancy is because I’ve told her. In April 2005, I had to remove myself completely from the whole situation that surrounds me and moved to another province. At the time, it was something that was very much needed for my mental state. Removing myself away from all stressors that was surrounding me was the only thing I could think of doing at that time. I had nothing left to give to anyone including myself. I was so stressed out that I would break down at the least little thing. Before I left, I had my last visit with my daughter (April 7, 2005) who is in foster care as mentioned above. Upon my return to Ontario (Jan.16, 2006), I thought that being there still was nothing settled for her case, that maybe I could see my daughter again, so I called the worker. At that time, I told her about the pregnancy because I figured, if I was to see my girl, the Society would then notice my condition and so that I would not withhold any information, I voluntarily gave the info but now it’s causing me more grief once again.

I have found that over the years, there have been many contradictions with the Society. Some workers use to say that a spanking was ok but others would scold me for doing so. I am not talking about hard-core spanking; I’m referring to one or two spanking on the bottom with clothing. For one thing, how is a child suppose to be raise to respect and obey when we have no right to do anything to show them the right path? The Society and the Government has taken all of our parenting rights away and as we see the children now, we have children that are out of control and turning to a life of crime.

I’ve had workers in the past, wondered why they were involved with the family. They could not see what the problem was. So how can in so little time all of that has changed? I am not a monster as I have been made out to be and I want a chance to prove this but it seems to be impossible to do. I feel that I can’t breathe with C.A.S. constantly being involved and telling me what I can and cannot do. Yet I know that I have put into practice what I have been taught over the years. My biggest problem is that I’ve allowed to many people around me to tell me what to do and ended up feeling and believing that I was no good at anything especially in parenting. That is why I have often let others take over because I had no more self-esteem. If I’ such a bad parent, at it’s been perceived, then why do my older children keep telling me how good of a mom I am and all wish to be residing with me? I do admit that my choices of relationships were not healthy, even though it took me a while to see this, I did eventually take care of it. Unfortunately, not always when I should have. I get scared and it takes me some time to get this accomplished. I have a tendency to give the benefit of the doubt to all whom cross my part. I’ve allowed people to abuse my kindness and it’s something that I do have to work at so that I may not repeat my previous mistakes.

On a final note, I wanted to say that I have read your beautiful brochure call “Working together to protect children”. I will say that it’s well put together. Unfortunately, not even 1/3 of it’s content was applied towards my case since Donna Symes go involved.

If you require any additional information from me, please feel free to contact me in any way that is convenient for you.

Sincerely,

Nathalie Gauthier
Brantford ON
nathalie19682000@hotmail.com
March 20, 2006




Dear members of the Social Policy Committee,


I am writing to ask each of you to visit the blog; http://jeffreyslawnow.blogspot.com
so you may get an idea of what the general public thinks of Bill 210. We are all very apprehensive of it going through and feel we are losing the battle. If you are elected to decide what society accepts and does not, then you should be listening to what society wants, not use your own personal judgment! Society is demanding accountability from the people who determine our future generations’ fates.

The child welfare agencies need more accountability for their actions, never mind none at all! They must answer to someone and the first step is to give the Ombudsman the power to investigate them. We, as taxpayers, are paying for the 'Canadian Mafia' to do whatever they want to Ontario families and children and we refuse to let this continue! The CCAS and CAS's of Ontario should be made public agencies, accountable to us, their employers. You, as
government officials do not pay these societies, we do. All government does is dish out our hard earned money and I want a say in where it goes.

If you refuse to listen to the public, then maybe the public should stop paying their taxes. You would fine and put us in jail for not paying, yet these social workers suffer no consequences when a child dies or is tortured or starved to death as a direct result of their poor judgment or laziness.

Do any of you honestly believe that Margarita Quintana visited Jeffrey or his siblings after they were placed? Did the social worker visit Matthew Reid after he was placed or listen to the child's grandmothers complaints against the foster family? I know for a fact Mary Ann Chambers didn't.

Please do not let this bill go through. The public is demanding this of you, our elected officials. Visit the blog and pay attention to what we want, NOT what you or the children's aid societies want.

Sincerely,

Amanda Reed
jeffreyslaw@cogeco.ca

c.c
mracco.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org
kramal.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org
ted_arnott@ontla.ola.org
ted_chudleigh@ontla.ola.org
kcraitor.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org
pfonseca.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org
jleal.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org
rmarchese-co@ndp.on.ca
info@kathleenwynne.ca

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

March 22, 2006
Toronto Sun Publication
Foster parent guilty of abuse
'He's the father I never had'

By IAN MCDOUGALL, COURTS BUREAU

A former foster parent has admitted sexually abusing two wards of the Catholic Children's Aid Society in a surprise guilty plea entered yesterday.
Paul Blackwell, 64, was convicted of one count of indecent assault and four counts of sexual assault on five different victims, including the two CCAS wards, between 1977 and 1992.
The victims were from 12 to 16 years old.
"It took a lot of courage for these people to come forward," said assistant Crown attorney Cara Sweeny. "For them it's good to see that the system works."
The trial had barely begun when Blackwell changed his not guilty plea. He was originally facing 22 charges.
None of his victims can be identified under a court-ordered publication ban.
But the Crown's first witness, a 43-year-old man, testified Monday he was first assaulted when the CCAS placed him in Blackwell's home as an emergency measure in 1977.
Despite the abuse, the man said Blackwell treated him well otherwise.
He said he quit school in Grade 10 to go to work for Blackwell's construction company.
NO EXPLANATION
"He's the father I never had," the man said yesterday as he continued testimony before Blackwell entered his guilty plea.
"You felt he treated you well," defence lawyer Louise Botham said.
"Yes," the man answered.
No explanation for the change in Blackwell's plea was given in court.
Justice Frances Kiteley said she will hold a sentencing hearing Friday.
"I think you have taken a very important step," she told Blackwell.
When Blackwell was arrested and charged in September 2004, a spokesman with CCAS said they had no reports of abuse.

The victim who testified Monday said he was also abused by his caseworker and at one point contemplated legal action against CCAS. Instead he went to the police.

"There may be more victims," Sweeny said outside court yesterday.
"If there are I would urge them to call Toronto Police 55 Division," she said.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

CCAS in the hot seat... AGAIN

March 21, 2006
I was abused: Ex-ward
Says guardian, CCAS staffer molestersBy IAN MCDOUGALL, COURTS BUREAU
A former ward with Catholic Children's Aid Society was sexually abused first by his guardian and then by his social worker, court heard yesterday.
Paul Blackwell, 64, is facing 22 charges allegedly involving five victims over 20 years, assistant Crown attorney Cara Sweeny said as the trial began.
The first witness, now 43, was a CCAS ward in 1977 when he was placed with Blackwell and at first things seemed fine, the jury was told.
"It was one of the first times in his life he felt loved," Sweeny said.
But when the man took the stand, he described a recurring pattern of abuse that began with a trip to Florida -- he was 14 at the time -- when the pair shared a bed.
'TOUCHING MY GROIN'
"Paul had started fondling me," said the man, whose name is protected by a publication ban. "He was touching my groin ... I was a little scared ... I probably asked him to stop. I can't remember if he stopped at that time."
The abuse continued into the man's 16th year, when he was asked by a social worker if Blackwell was abusing him. He said there was nothing going on.
The worker invited him to stay over and also sexually abused him, he said.
"There was no one I could talk to. They were both molesting me," the man said.
He said Blackwell's sexual advances, which had included oral sex and touching, gradually lessened after he turned 15.
EMBARRASSMENT
In the fall of 2004, he recalled seeing a police story on the TV news announcing Blackwell's arrest and asking that witnesses come forward.
He had thought before about going to the police, but the fear of embarrassment always kept him from going ahead.
Still angry about the treatment he suffered from his social worker, he contacted a lawyer about Catholic Children's Aid.
"I told him I was molested as a child, and I wanted to hold CCAS responsible for it," he said, adding the lawyer said he should go to the police.
"I was a little reluctant," he said. "I just didn't want to be in a position to have to tell somebody."
Blackwell is also accused of slipping one of his victims sleeping pills in milk, Sweeny said in her opening address.
//

Sunday, March 19, 2006

Things the CCAS wants you to do for free...

Current Volunteer Opportunities
The following volunteer opportunities are currently available at the Catholic Children's Aid Society of Toronto:
The Hope for Children Foundation raises funds to provide services to children and youth in the Society's care that are not covered by government funding. The four core programs (Education and Scholarships, Youth, Emergency and Enhancement, Community Development) the Foundation supports, brings hope to thousands of children and youth every year.
At the Hope for Children Foundation of the Catholic Children's Aid Society of Toronto, we have several openings for donor-relations volunteers. As a volunteer, you will assist in:
data input
organizing information
mailings
donor calls
other administrative support.
You have:
good organizational and communication skills
computer skills
previous donor-relations experience an asset
sensitivity in handling confidential information.
Time commitments:
a half to full day every week, for a minimum of six months.
If you are interested in volunteering with the Hope for Children Foundation, please call 416-395-1500. Fore more information on the Hope for Children Foundation and the programs it supports, please check the Foundation page on this web site, by clicking on the Foundation logo.
Return to top
Special Friends, male and female, needed for children in families in the Scarborough Branch area. For more information contact our Scarborough Branch at 416-395-1900.
Volunteers are needed for the Child Access Program at the Scarborough Branch. This is a volunteer supported program, bringing children in foster homes and their birth families together for access visits and operates on Saturdays from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. For more information contact our Scarborough Branch at 416-395-1900Return to topChild Access Program requires volunteers at the West Toronto Office (Dufferin/Bloor), which is a volunteer-supported program, bringing children in foster homes and their birth families together for access visits. The program operates on Saturdays from 10:30 am to 3:30 pm. For more information contact Toronto West (416) 395-1785.

Friday, March 17, 2006

My 'parallel' crusade

Please read this. I think this deserves our attention as well. Letters to the government demanding tougher sentences for these menaces, these perverted, demented people preying on our babies! This article will turn your stomach, guarenteed.

They were talking about it last night on CH 5:30. If you saw it or want to comment, please do at the same e-mail address. 530@chtv.ca

Thanks,
Amanda

Save the Children

W-FIVE Staff
The Internet Connection

If you worry that more pedophiles are out there than before, you're not alone. Hardly a day goes by without news of an arrest -- for luring a minor, possession of child pornography, or, worst of all, an assault on a child by a sexual predator.
At the Child Exploitation Section of the Toronto Police, they deal with that reality every day.
It's an uphill battle, but there are also moments to celebrate. Like the arrest in August 2005 of 36 year-old Kenneth Symes, a church pastor and married man from Ajax, Ontario, who was charged with luring a minor on the Internet.
The minor in question wasn't a minor at all, but Detective Constable Scott Purches, a specialist in Internet luring. The detective had been communicating with Symes for four months in an online teenage chatroom, where Symes had never concealed the fact he was an older man.
"When he started to formulate a plan on how to meet is when it really moved from the realm of the virtual world to the real world," says Purches. "And simultaneous to that, he was becoming more sexually interested, asking about the experience my online persona had been involved in as far as sexual experience and things like that."
Symes pleaded guilty to two counts of luring a minor and was sentenced to 12 months in prison. He was released after serving six because time spent in custody before conviction was counted as double time.
He's just one in a growing army of predators, but catching them is just one of the problems confronting the unit.
Most of their time is spent analyzing the flood of pornographic images and videos on the Internet, most of it produced in the United States, Canada and Western Europe.
The head of the Child Exploitation Section, Detective Sergeant Paul Gillespie, says the producers are people who have worked themselves into a position of trust with children.
"The boyfriend, the uncle, the father, the doctor, the person who all of a sudden is willing to spend a whole bunch of time with a child."
Every day, in cramped quarters and using equipment that can hardly be called state of the art, investigators trawl the Internet, sorting through thousands of images of almost unimaginable depravity. They're searching for clues, any detail that might lead them to the children and their tormentors.
Most people wouldn't want to see these images, but Gillespie and his team have no choice. That's their job.
"To say that there's thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people around the world who are trading and producing these horrific photographs and movies of children being tortured and babies ... it's very hard to get a handle on," says Gillespie.
He believes the Internet has led to a huge increase in the amount of pornography.
"It has combined modern technology with an age-old problem. And it has allowed a number of these offenders to realize how many others are out there, other like-minded individuals."
The sheer volume makes it hard for the police, harder still because much of it is hidden in dark corners of the Internet. Beyond the reach of most surfers and search engines, only those in the know are invited to join what's become a kind of exclusive club for the depraved. It's here the investigators find the worst of the worst.
"I think a lot of people now are a little more educated, especially in Canada, as to how bad it is, but they still don't want to let their mind go there," says Gillespie. "They don't want to force themselves to realize it's not a 10-year-old frolicking on a beach naked. It's a baby being bound and gagged and tortured and crying until they pass out."
Such sights and sounds haunt even hardened investigators like Detective Constable Warren Bulmer, who says he'll never forget watching the rape of a 16-month-old baby.
"During the entire two or three minutes of video, he screamed from start to finish. And I will never, ever forget that sound. Because visually, you can look away, or you can picture something else that's going on, but you can't get rid of the sound. While that movie's playing it doesn't matter where you look in the room, you'll hear it."
Gillespie says that such atrocities have prompted a shift in priority at the Toronto unit ƒ{ from hunting down the perpetrators, to identifying and rescuing the victims, the estimated 50,000 children from around the world who have been abused.
The Toronto Police were one of the first to recognize that child pornography knows no borders. With help from Bill Gates at Microsoft, they've developed a tracking system for police forces around the world to use, in identifying abused children, no matter where they are.
"Their only cry for help is the fact that we watch the action and with our limited resources, do our best to try and make a bit of a difference," says Gillespie.
That international outlook led to one of the unit's most dramatic rescues.
Attention To Detail Pays Off
In February 2005, undercover officers in the Toronto Child Exploitation Section posing as online pedophiles received some unusual pictures of a young child -- unusual because there was nothing pornographic about them. They showed a boy of about 18 months wearing a diaper and posing on a sofa, or playing with a computer keyboard -- the kind of picture a proud parent might show to friends and relatives.
But Detective Constable Warren Bulmer was intrigued. Why would a pedophile send such harmless looking pictures? Bulmer suspected he was being checked out.
"I think some of the offenders are getting a little bit wise that if certain things occur during Internet conversations that in fact it could be an undercover officer," he says. "And some of them are just a little bit careful, maybe meeting you for the first time online."
Bulmer passed the test -- he was accepted into the club. Then the images became more graphic and more disturbing. The toddler was being raped on camera.
The officer studied the images in every detail. Was there anything that might tell him the identity of this child and where he was from?
Bulmer noticed a light switch in one of the pictures and recognized right away it wasn't a type found in North America.
In another image, he examined the computer keyboard held by the child and when he blew it up, spotted a manufacturer's name and keys with Spanish symbols.
A call to the company confirmed that this type of keyboard was only sold in Spain.
But Spain's a big country and police needed another detail to narrow down the search.
Bulmer found it in another image -- what looked like a ticket held in an offender's hand.
The Toronto Police sent their information to Spain via Interpol, where it ended up on the desk of Inspector Luis Garcia, the head of Madrid's Child Pornography Unit.
Garcia hadn't seen these images before and, shocked by the age of the victim, quickly opened an investigation.
He focused on a key clue -- the ticket discovered by Toronto Police. Examining the video, Garcia watched the ticket being given to the child and clutched in his tiny hand as he's being raped.
"It's a way of distracting the boy," he says.
But revealing that ticket was a huge mistake and turned out to be a key clue in the investigation. The Spanish police recognized it immediately as coming from Madrid's suburban train system. It helped narrow down the search because information printed on the ticket showed it was only valid for five stops on one line of the system.
Then Garcia noticed another detail on another image sent from Toronto -- what looked like a towel with lettering on it. When he enlarged the picture, he identified the letters A and Z, and a cross. The towel was from a hospital.
Turns out that hospital was called La Paz and served a community called Villalba, one of the five along the train line police were looking at.
Villalba was 40 kilometers from Madrid, a community of working couples and plenty of children. A perfect hunting ground for pedophiles.
Now police had somewhere to show the child's picture and quickly got results.
"The boy was identified first and then his family," says Garcia.
The Spanish police discovered the family had lived for a time in one particular apartment in Villalba, but had moved.
When they searched the apartment, they took photographs and immediately recognized it from the furniture. The sofa was the same one as in the images sent from Toronto. They'd found the scene of the crime.
The parents had rented the apartment from a man who had offered them something no working couple could refuse -- cheap babysitting.
But while they were at work, their child was being abused in unimaginable ways. That man also ran his own computer store, which police immediately put under surveillance.
And they began to wonder. Could he be the same man they'd been tracking on the Internet for some time? A pedophile who went by the online name of Nanysex.
So just two months after getting their first clue from Toronto, Spanish police had a possible suspect under surveillance. But they couldn't be sure it was him. He'd always been careful not to show his face on video
They asked Toronto Police for more help. Warren Bulmer began going through the videos again, this time, frame by frame and found what he was looking for in one of them. It was only four frames, a fraction of a second. But it was enough.
"The offender shows his face as he's abusing the child," says Bulmer. "And once we sent that video to Spain, that was ultimately the final straw."
It was the same man Spanish police had under surveillance. As soon as confirmation arrived from Toronto, they raided the computer store run by the suspect, Nanysex.
They found a treasure trove of evidence -- thousands of horrific videos and images. Nanysex was running a porn factory -- other children abused in the same horrible ways.
Inspector Garcia told W-FIVE that the parents had no idea what was going on because they trusted Nanysex and his friends.
"If you've never experienced something like this and you're living in a normal social environment, it's hard to believe it could happen," he says.
Three suspected pedophiles were arrested, including the ringleader who called himself Nanysex.
And police believe the group may have on the verge of expanding their operation. They found books about child care and application forms needed to open a day-care centre in Spain.
In all, seven abused children were identified and rescued, including the little boy who came to the attention of the Toronto Police ... untold others spared the horror of Nanysex and his ring of pedophiles.
It was the high point in Warren Bulmer's career, knowing the work he and his colleagues started in Toronto led to the arrest of Nanysex.
"I don't think we really have the time to sit and bask in it as much as we might think," he says. "But it becomes a confidence builder that no matter how small you think something is, even if it's just one or two pictures, you never know where that's going to lead you."
Victim and Offender
He was only four at the time, but Max -- not his real name -- will never forget what happened on a winter's night in 1993.
"That's in my head forever," he says. "No matter how old I get, it's still going to be there."
His parents had gone out for the evening and two teenage boys who lived nearby offered to look after him. As Max played video games in their living room, he was lured to another room and sexually assaulted by one of the babysitters.
"I was scared. I was petrified," says Max. "It's hard to tell other people about it when it's something you want to keep away from everybody. But when stuff like this happens, it has to be told."
W-FIVE can't reveal Max's real identity because he's still a minor. That's the law.
It's designed to protect young victims. But that same law often prevents victims like Max from doing what they often want -- and need -- to do. Speak out and tell their stories of ruined childhoods.
"Even though it's happened to me, I just don't want it to happen to anybody else," says Max. "It's just something that hurts and it's indescribable. When I was younger, I used to beat on my Mom and, now, looking back, I feel so bad because I didn't mean to. But it's something that happened because I was rebelling against what happened to me. I've been in and out of behaviour schools. Nothing's worked. I'm not in school anymore cause they can't handle me."
Max believes his troubles can be traced all the way back to the assault, an assault that imposed a kind of life sentence on him.
Charged with that assault were twin brothers, Stephen and Junior Spencer. Stephen pleaded guilty, but the charges against Junior were dropped. Since then, both brothers have piled up a string of convictions involving children
"Jail's nothing to both of them," says Max. "They've gone in, they've come out, they've gone in, they've come out. And they think it's a joke. It's life. They've ruined people's families, ruined children's lives."
Stephen Spencer recently moved to Ottawa, and Junior is finishing a five-year sentence for producing child pornography.
"He sees nothing wrong with having sex with kids," says Detective Constable Stefan Mueller of the Toronto Police Child Exploitation Section who has been tracking Junior Spencer's career.
Mueller believes this attitude may be typical for some pedophiles.
"I think that's what it's all about for them, that in their own minds they justified the fact that kids are sexual objects and they should be allowed to do whatever they want with the children."
If that's hard to believe, reading what Stephen Boone has to say may be even harder.
Now living in Winnipeg, he's been convicted three times for sexually assaulting children, some as young as eight years old.
Boone insists it's the children who want to have sex with him.
"Children would like to be sexual if they were allowed to," he says. "They're just politically repressed, repressed to the point where it actually kills them, to the point where it's almost fanatical. It's like a religion. You're not allowed to say it could be possible that some children like sex and would have sex if they could."
He doesn't see children as victims. "Because they tend to be open. Children seem to be so amazingly open to that experience. That is what causes the problems for me. People see children who take an interest in me as unnatural and suspicious."
If Boone is convicted a fourth time, he could be declared a Dangerous Offender and put in jail indefinitely.
While that's kept him from re-offending so far, he argues that the morality of sex with children depends on how you define sex.
"I have never tried to make a baby with a child," he says. "If you define sex as purely procreative, I haven't tried to sex a child. If you're asking me if I've been sensual with a child, or with children, or with adults in various contexts with the collective sort of approval, or with the understanding of the children's intent, I have been sensual. I will go as far as that."
Trying to navigate the mind of a pedophile is what Dr Julian Gojer does for a living.
He teaches psychiatry at the University of Toronto and is one of Canada's leading experts in deviant sexual behaviour. He believes there is no scientific explanation as to why a person is a pedophile. They are just born that way.
"It's like saying you or I are born gay or heterosexual," he says. "We can't change that."
Dr. Gojer also believes pedophilia can't be cured.
"If you're going to look at it from a treatment perspective, it's like diabetes. Can we cure diabetes? No. You can manage it, and I'd say pedophilia is a condition that can be managed but not cured."
Stephen Boone is being managed by means of a court order restricting his movements. He's refused psychiatric help, refused hormone therapy that would control his urges.
And he admits that steering clear of children -- as he's been ordered to do -- won't be easy.
"You try limiting yourself, your personal life to not having children around you," he says. "Just try it. Just try going for a walk, going to the grocery store. Do anything at all and see how many children you come across. It's impossible."
This creates a dilemma for the men and women whose job it is to protect our children from the likes of Stephen Boone.
"What are we supposed to do with these people?" asks Detective Sergeant Paul Gillespie of the Toronto Police Child Exploitation Section. "Some would say let's lock them up. Some would say it's not fair, and I certainly agree, you can't lock them up forever. But I just wish we would build a better support system and a better way of enforcing compliance. These are our children that we're playing with. We shouldn't be using them as bait to see whether or not these guys are going to be able to control themselves or control their sexual urges."
Pedophiles and the Justice System
One of the tasks at the Toronto Police Child Exploitation Section is checking up on people convicted, or charged, with offences against children to make sure they stick to their conditions of release.
It should be routine, but it often turns out to be an exercise in frustration. In many cases, conditions of release or bail are changed by the courts, but the police aren't told.
"This is ridiculous," says Detective Constable Stefan Mueller. We have to have a say in the bail variations. There's got to be a hearing."
You're not supposed to be out walking around and going around and do whatever you want, but that's what it's come down to," Says Detective Ian Lamond.
"They know that we don't have the resources to go check them every day," says Detective Constable Paul Krawczyk. "So they know the chances of getting caught are slim to none."
Just keeping track of pedophiles is hard enough. Getting them locked up in the first place is even tougher.
"I can simply say I'm way past frustrated," says Detective Sergeant Paul Gillespie. "The fact that child abuse itself is not dealt with properly. These are children that are destroyed. Their souls are destroyed. They'll never live up to their full potential. Their lives are wrecked. And that someone might do this out of pleasure and go to jail for one or two years or one or two months, I don't understand it."
No one knows that better than Max. Assaulted when he was a child, he makes a point of turning up every time his former babysitters, Stephen and Junior Spencer, are in court on another charge.
"The victims need to be heard," he says. "It's hard to get closure on something when you have no say in anything because of age. They need to have something where the courts, or a lawyer, or something will talk to the victim and figure out what's gone on and use that against them."
Even more heartbreaking for the victims and frustrating for the police are the light sentences being handed out by the courts.
Believe it or not, 42 per cent of people convicted of some sort of sexual offence against a child never see the inside of a jail cell. And when it comes to child pornography, 70 per cent of those convicted get off with a conditional sentence, probation or a fine.
"It's very apparent to me there are some judges and justices in Toronto that are just way too sympathetic," says Detective Sergeant Paul Gillespie. "And maybe they just don't understand the problem. And they're not that often that willing to look at the images that we have to present in court. They often don't want to see them or they don't want to see all of them. I don't get it. These are crime scene photos of torture of children. And would that child be something else, perhaps an animal, I suggest people would be all over it.
But for some reason, if it's an unknown child, it's not our problem. And it's a big dilemma."
Among judges, Ray Wyant, the Chief Judge of Manitoba's Provincial Court, is seen as something of a renegade.
Once a month, he goes on the radio to take calls from listeners. He thinks it's important for judges to stay in touch.
And what he's hearing about jail sentences disturbs him enough to take the unusual step of speaking out publicly through W-FIVE.
"I think the perception is in the public that sentences may be too lenient in certain cases," he says. "And I'm concerned that public confidence in the system may be eroded from that particular view."
That concern also troubled politicians in the House of Commons in Ottawa, who recently brought in a mandatory minimum jail term for possession of child pornography of 14 days.
"It's better than what we had," says Detective Sergeant Gillespie. "It's a start. My own personal opinion, the fact that we even had to go down that road of introducing mandatory minimums says something about our whole system. Why did it have to get this far? Why are judges, why is that discretion taken out of their hands? Because they obviously were not dealing with this the way that society thought it should be dealt with."
The light sentences may have something to do with how the crime has been sanitized.
Take child pornography for example. In most cases, plea bargains are worked out in the backrooms between lawyers, meaning the victims aren't heard from and the evidence isn't seen.
Even when cases do come to trial, judges often choose not to look at the evidence. It's simply too disturbing.
In Manitoba, a crusading Crown Attorney, Mick Makar, is working to change that.
He says it's not enough for prosecutors to simply describe what's in the pictures and videos.
He's tried and he remembers one particularly disturbing example.
"The adult male was a very large male," he recalls. "The little girl was laying on a bed and she was very thin. And when he began to force intercourse on her, obviously causing her to be in pain, she pulled a little sucker out and put it in her mouth to comfort herself when it occurred. So how can I describe that orally in front of a court? I can't."
Working with police, Makar helped develop what's called the Integrated Child Exploitation Project (ICE for short).
As part of that project, judges and lawyers are provided with video monitors and are now required to see and hear the evidence for themselves."
Manitoba judge, Ray Wyant, believes this allows judges to full understand the nature of the evidence, but has it affected the length of sentences?
"I don't know whether it has or not," he says. "I certainly can't comment on whether or not other judges feel they've been affected in a particular way by seeing the images. I can simply say it's evidence that's there. It's real evidence. It's the best evidence. Why not see it?"
The problem is that this type of program doesn't exist in most other provinces. So judges don't have to look and often choose not to.
But those on the front line, like the members of the Toronto Police Child Exploitation Section, have no choice.
Paul Gillespie has been at it since the unit was formed five years ago.
Five years that feel like a lifetime.
"I'm not quite sure how much longer I'm going to be able to do this," he says. "I don't do as much viewing as I used to. I have a wonderful team and they do a terrific job. The fact that we on a daily basis now pull dozens and dozens of new full-length movies of babies having their diapers removed and being raped. How many times can your heart break before you just can't do it anymore?"

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Murder charge laid in case of missing child

Last Updated Mar 14 2006 06:51 PM
CSTCBC News

Child welfare agencies in Manitoba are under scrutiny for losing track of a five-year-old girl believed to have been killed last summer.
Phoenix Victoria Sinclair had been missing for nine months, but it seems no one noticed or reported the case to authorities.
The alleged crime came to light last week when police received new information about the girl, who had been living on the Fisher River First Nation reserve, 150 kilometres north of Winnipeg.
Although the girl's body has not been located, RCMP Sgt. Steve Colwell said police were able to lay the charges through "an investigation that has been conducted in the past week."
Samantha Dawn Kematch, 24, has been charged with assault with a weapon, aggravated assault, forcible confinement and failing to provide the necessities of life. Her 43-year-old common-law husband, Karl Wesley McKay, is charged with second-degree murder. Both are awaiting bail hearings.
'She was a loving baby'
Phoenix was in and out of foster care during her short life, spending some time in the care of Kimberly Edwards, a friend of Samantha Kematch.
"She was a loving baby. She loved everybody," said Edwards. "Everybody loved her."
Near the end of 2003, the cases of many aboriginal children were transferred from Child and Family Services to three native-run agencies. Edwards says she was told Phoenix was one of those cases – however, it appears that never happened.
Eventually, Phoenix lived in the home of Edwards' ex-husband. Edwards says Kematch came to her ex-husband's house and took the little girl away one day in April 2005, saying she would return in a few hours. Edwards says that's the last time anyone saw the girl.
Court documents indicate police believe Phoenix was abused, confined and eventually murdered in June 2005.
"They failed her and they fail children every single day. How many babies have to die before politics are changed?" said Chief David Crate of the Fisher River First Nation.
"The question has to be posed to the provincial agency, the Winnipeg Child and Family [services agency], why the file was closed."
Three investigations launched into the case
Provincial officials can't say exactly what actually happened in the case, but say Phoenix was not lost in the transfer to the new native child agencies.
"The actual transfer of cases in devolution occurred between May and June of 2004, so this case was actually not one that had been transferred," said Family Services Minister Christine Melnick.
Melnick says three investigations have been launched into the case – by the chief medical examiner, the RCMP and Child and Family Services – in order to uncover the facts.
She would not speculate on when the investigations would be complete.
"I know that everyone is anxious for the answers – I'm anxious for the answers, too – but I also have to respect the processes that have been in place for many, many years in this province," Melnick said.
Conservative family services critic Mavis Taillieu says it ultimately doesn't matter which agency was responsible or who's to blame, saying the province failed a child in its care.
"This little girl, unfortunately, didn't just fall through the cracks. She fell into the abyss," Taillieu said.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Please keep e-mailing CH TV with comments regarding the discussion between Mr. Marin and Andrea Horwath! They are being flooded, but there can never be too many!

530@chtv

Thanks!
Amanda

Friday, March 10, 2006

The 'Wards of the Crown' airs again on CBC tonight at 10pm. Here is the link to the show http://www.cbc.ca/thelens/program_070306.html

The following is the e-mail I received from Andree Cazabon, the filmmaker of this documentary.
I urge everyone to take the time to please e-mail the show after the program tonight.

Thanks!
Amanda

__________________________________________________
Hi,

Thanks for your comment and please help pass the word along... your passion is so appreciated! If we can get over 67 email comments to CBC this would help tremendously in setting this issue as a national priority. Please pass along this notice to all those who want to see changes in the child welfare system and do keep me posted!

Andrée Cazabon
Filmmaker

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

TV to watch

CHTV
Discussion with Mr. Marin and Andrea Horwath
Bill 210
Thursday March 9, 2006
5:30 pm

"Wards of the Crown"
CBC Newsworld The Lens
Saturday March 11
10:00 pm
Please see inside for Bill 210 Amendments posted. Thanks.

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Open comments

The last posting was getting too big, so here's a new one. All of your comments are absolutely phenomenal and I thank everyone for posting Hansards, idea's and information. I know political people read this blog, maybe they should take note of what the general consensus is and stop Bill 210, and COMPLETLEY overhaul and clean out this branch of Canadian government.

Who ever said Canada doesn't have skeletons in the closet never investigated the 'child protection' agencies!

Again, thank you all for your contributions!


Amanda