Fathers Battling Injustice

Letter to Editor RE: Darren White Suicide

Posted By: Sean Cummings
Date: Thursday, 23 March 2000, at 2:30 p.m.

Dear Editor:

The suicide of Darren White is a chilling reminder that communities need adequate support systems that can guide parents through the divorce minefield in peace.

Each day in Canada parents wage open warfare with each other in a 'winner takes all' atmosphere and they pay an average of $150.00/hour to family lawyers because there is no other alternative.

Last May, Federal Justice Minister Anne MacLellan responded to sweeping recommendations for changes to Canada's divorce laws tabled by the Joint Committee on Custody and Access suggesting that divorce law needs to be studied further.

Amendments to the Divorce Act are three years away - too long for most parents and any change will not help Darren White or his children.

We all have a stake in making peaceful divorce a reality. Darren White's former spouse could have chosen to wage peace with her husband and craft a co-parenting plan with the help of a professional mediator. It didn't happen and now Darren White is dead.

This tragedy points to the need for serious divorce reform in Canada based on one simple premise:

If parents choose a course of action that will lead to increased conflict they are not acting in the best interest of their children.

Lawyers also need to be held accountable. They cannot wash their hands of this affair and simply state, "I was only doing what my client instructed".

Suffer the children.

Sean Cummings

Halifax Divorced Parents' Resources

www.divorceself-help.com