Former F4J Coordinator 'investigated' by Ottawa Children's Aid

March 4, 2007, World Father Union News Service (CAN)---The Ottawa office of the Children’s Aid Society (CAS) is alleged to have 'investigated' the former Ottawa Fathers-4-Justice (F4J) Coordinator solely for being a member of that group.

According to Ken Sandall, a member of the Canadian Forces who acted as the Ottawa-area coordinator for F4J Canada for three months, CAS investigators questioned him about his F4J membership and activities. CAS documents indicate that CAS had only 'unverified child protection concerns' on which to base their investigation, but Mr Sandall says they failed to explain how his involvement with the group was related.

During the time he was acting as Ottawa-area F4J Coordinator, Mr Sandall says he received emails from the CAS making inquiries and demanding information about local F4J policies and activities. When he did not comply, an official investigation was launched against him, which he characterises as 'damaging and defamatory.'

Mr Sandall says that CAS told him they had received an anonymous complaint about him and used that as a justification for their investigation. However, he says, CAS’ investigation went far beyond the accusations made in the anonymous complaint.

Mr Sandall says that the interview was focused on his F4J membership and on other allegations that the CAS investigator later admitted were not in the anonymous e-mail complaint upon which they based the investigation.

Mr Sandall’s activities with the F4J were limited at the time of his service due to the fact that he is a member of the Canadian Forces. He says he supported F4J primarily in an administrative capacity. However, after three months, he was forced to resign as the coordinator for family reasons. Mr Sandall states that he was not bullied into leaving the F4J position, and that his decision was entirely family-related. He still maintains his basic membership in F4J and other Fathers and Family Rights groups.

Questioned Saturday, Mr Sandall ventured, 'Is participation in F4J or any other father’s rights groups illegal? Does being a father’s rights supporter constitute a danger to children?'

'CAS seems to think so,' he concluded.

It is not uncommon for fathers identified as members of fathers' rights groups to be targeted by child welfare departments and family court judges. During the course of a research project conducted by World Fathers Union last year, a number of Quebec family court rulings were found to contain remarks by the presiding judge criticising the father for his involvement with such groups. The 'chilling effect' this has upon fathers in continuous litigation is one of the primary reasons World Fathers Union members remain anonymous, according to founder John F. Smith.

'No father who has not already given up all hope of seeing his children again should lightly consider becoming a public gadfly to the system,' he said. 'It is all too easy for him to be characterised as "obsessed", and for that characterisation to be used to deny him whatever small access he might have to his children.'

Nonetheless, Mr Smith noted that it is important for fathers to work together. 'Without unified action, fathers are doomed to a constant worsening of an already intolerable situation,' he said. 'We simply urge them to protect their identities, so that their work for the public good cannot be used to cause them private harm.'

Mr Sandall says he has tried to resolve this issue directly with the local CAS Ottawa office, and has also made representations to the CAS provincial office in Toronto. He says he has received no replies to phone calls and emails from either of them. Mr Sandall now has an official complaint filed to CAS, and has complained as well to his Member of Parliament and the Office of the Ombudsman of Ontario.

' I fear that, CAS will attempt to "find" and launch another allegation against me in response to my complaint and attempt at redress against them,' said Mr Sandall.