A coalition of women's rights groups is calling on the Federal Minister of Justice to change the divorce law to ban the use of so-called “sexist pseudoscience” in family courts, and is particularly attacking the repeated allegations of “parental alienation” there.
Because such accusations “make women and children victims again,” more than 250 groups estimated in a letter that was also addressed to the chairmen of the federal parties.
“Parental alienation” is a “controversial” term that is asserted both in court and before the Directorate for Child Protection, they argue to Federal Justice Minister Arif Virani.
This concept is used to describe a situation in which a parent brainwashes a child into rejecting the other parent. However, when a child refuses to see his abusive father or a mother denounces family violence, she is often accused of “parental alienation” and accused of making such accusations to harm the other parent's on-call time To shorten.
And if the courts find that this is alienating behavior, they can separate children from their mothers and force them to live with their father, “even if there is a documented history of domestic violence,” the coalition denounces the organizations brings together provinces and territories in all areas.
There are no official statistics on the frequency of allegations of parental alienation, says Me Suzanne Zaccour, legal director of the National Association of Women and Law, which is leading the campaign.
But these allegations have multiplied in recent years, so that, according to the members of the coalition, which includes numerous shelters for female victims of violence, they can be described as “omnipresent” and “constant,” the lawyer adds in the interview .
Don’t report violence out of fear
What the coalition sees on site – findings that are also reported in research – is that allegations of “parental alienation” are primarily made against women and that victims of domestic violence are particularly at risk.
So much so that mothers refrain from denouncing violence because they fear losing their child if they are accused of alienation. Lawyers even advise them not to talk about it.
In short, this “controversial” concept is too often used to silence parents who denounce violence, the coalition writes in its letter.
It is even a strategy “to undermine the credibility of survivors in court: it invokes the sexist stereotype that women are untrustworthy and make up stories about domestic violence to get revenge on their ex,” he adds Executive director of the court added Womenatthecentre organization, Nneka MacGregor.
The fear of losing their children even prevents some women from getting out of a violent situation, Me Zaccour adds.
The letter was sent on Tuesday to the federal government, which is responsible for divorce law.
Members of the coalition also advocate for changes to state laws for unmarried parents. The Minister of Justice of Quebec, Simon Jolin-Barrette, and the Minister responsible for Social Services, Lionel Carmant, have already been addressed on this issue, specifies Me Zaccour. “This needs to be resolved on both levels. »
The coalition's letter also refers to a report last year by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences, Reem Alsalem, which calls on all states to enact laws to “restrict the invocation of parental authority To ban alienation or pseudo-concepts”. of the same kind” in family law cases.
The coalition recalls that it has long been unsuccessfully calling for changes to the law to protect women and children. For this reason, she sends an urgent call to action to Minister Virani.