"Evelyn"
A Great Movie
Starring Pierce Brosnan
The true story of a father who fought the Irish government and won in the Supreme Court of Ireland
Desmond Doyle and his family
This movie is based on true events. Evelyn tells the inspiring story of real-life hero Desmond Doyle and his young children, Evelyn, Maurice and Dermot.
Struggling to raise his kids alone in Ireland in 1953 when his wife abandoned the family, Doyle is devastated when the power of the Church and the Irish courts take his children away and put them in orphanages.
Vowing to reunite his family, he enlists the help of his friends and together they attempt to do what has never been done before - challenge a law before the Irish Supreme Court. Doyle's fight to keep his family intact becomes an uplifting testament to a father's love and the power of the human spirit. More..
Canadian Children's Rights Council's "Movie of the year" for 2004
Divorced Dads:
Shattering the Myths
Dr. Sandford L. Braver and Diane O'Connell
This is the result of the largest federally funded 8 year study of the issues confronting parents and their children in the United States.
Shattering the Myths. The surprising truth about fathers, children and divorce. More ..
The Baby Naming Case - The Supreme Court of Canada
Child Identity Rights
A child's right to be named / identified with both parents.
Dad wins in the Supreme Court of Canada. He takes on the provincial government of British Columbia to get his name on the birth records.
Darrell Wayne Trociuk - v. - Attorney General of British Columbia, the Director of Vital Statistics and Reni Ernst
The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the British Columbia Vital Statistics Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 479, on their own or in their effect, discriminates against biological fathers on the basis of sex, by providing biological mothers with sole discretion to include or exclude information relating to biological fathers when registering the birth of a child, contrary to s. 15(1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The Canadian Children's Rights Council views this a victory for fathers and their children.
We believe that this court decision is supportive of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) with reqards to a child's relationship rights.
The President of the Canadian Children's Rights Council stated " It's been 50 years exactly since Irish father Desmond Doyle ( see right sidebar "Evelyn" ) won the right to the society of his children in the Supreme Court of Ireland. We are still facing substantial discrimination in family law against father - child relationships."
Will it take another 50 years to get mandatory paternity testing before or after a child is born?
Supreme Court of Canada - Cour suprême du Canada
The Supreme Court of Canada's press release - June 6, 2003 Click here
Supreme Court decision in this case Click here
Canada's Largest National Newspaper
First ruling for male equality
The Globe and Mail, by KIRK MAKIN
A British Columbia man whose name was left off birth certificates for his triplet sons suffered sex discrimination, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled yesterday in its first decision in favour of male equality rights. More ..
"Supreme Court rules in favour of dads"
Canadian Press, June 6, 2003
OTTAWA Mothers who arbitrarily refuse to acknowledge the fathers of their
children shouldn't be allowed sole power to name their children, Canada's highest court says.
More ..
Dad's case now a feminist cause celebre
He won a court fight to have his name on his sons' birth certificates but some say the ruling was flawed
Vancouver Sun, by Ian Mulgrew, November 14, 2003
More ..
The B.C. Feminist Professor Point of View in the above story
Some scholars and lawyers, for instance, have suggested that in today's world of gay and lesbian families, the high-court ruling in Trociuk is as flawed as the original statute.
..... A writer and teacher of feminist theory, constitutional law and equality rights, Hester Lessard, feminist professor, is particularly critical of the decision.
She believes the decision is a disheartening endorsement of "biological" concepts of parenthood, "an increasingly fictional creation narrative."
"It legitimates a heterosexual view of the family," she said.
Court: Dads have right to name kids too
Canadian Press, June 6, 2003, By SUE BAILEY,
OTTAWA (CP) - Mothers shouldn't have sole power to name a child when they arbitrarily refuse to acknowledge
the father, Canada's highest court says.
More ..
B.C. government refuses comment on father's birth certificate law suit
Canadian Press, various newspapers across Canada, Canoe News, October 28, 2004
VICTORIA (CP) - The B.C. government is refusing to comment on a $6.3 million lawsuit filed by a Nanaimo father who says the government is guilty of discrimination for not allowing his surname to appear on his triplets' birth certificates.
A Health Services Ministry spokeswoman said Thursday the government does not comment on cases that are before the courts. Darrell Trociuk, 39, said he is suing the government for discrimination and-or negligence because he feels it has blocked his attempts to be acknowledged as the father of his three boys. More ..
Dad sues gov't for $6.3m in case of 'discrimination'
Father claims B.C. 'negligent' for not putting his surname on his triplets' birth certificates
The Province, Vancouver, BC, Jack Keating, Thursday, October 28, 2004
Darrel Trociuk shows off his family portrait with eight-year-old triplets Ryan (left), Daniel and Andrew, posing with his recently deceased dad, Bill Trociuk. He says the provincial government has acted in 'bad faith' for not helping him give the boys his surname.
A father has filed a $6.3-million lawsuit against the B.C. government for "discrimination and or negligence" for not allowing his surname on his triplets' birth certificates. More ..
