Interview with Paul Mineiro - Director of F.A.C.T.

January 29, 1999

Interview with Paul Mineiro - Director of F.A.C.T.
Brasil News (translated from the Portugese)
Recently, there has been a lot of talk about the rights of fathers when divorce happens. Five months ago Southam News and the National Foundation for Family Research conducted a survey. The survey found the following:

Canadians believe that families with children are under a great deal of stress.
Canadians believe that the government should do more to help families stay together. Governments can make it easier or harder for families to stay together through income tax laws, marriage laws, and financial support.

The study cited specific stress in the family such as: divorce, jobs, and parents working. The list in order of seriousness breaks down as follows:

Divorce and family breakdown (provides the most stress)
Parents working too hard and too many hours
Insecure or unstable jobs
High taxes

Specifically to children, the study found that:

Canadians agree that the emotional upset of children from divided families is a serious problem;
Canadians feel that fathers and children are ignored in divorce court;
Canadians feel that it is important for the children of divorced parents to maintain an ongoing relationship with the non-custodial parent (usually the father). This is especially true of Canadians under the age of 30 (many of them children of divorce themselves).

"It is with these thoughts in mind that F.A.C.T. came into being," says Paul Mineiro, Director of F.A.C.T. "There are lots of men who do not get access to their children. In some extreme cases, these fathers do not even know where their children are". "It is hard to believe that in a country such as Canada, that these injustices would be allowed to happen. But they do happen, and a lot more often than the general public believes."
"F.A.C.T. is the largest fathers' and childrens' rights organization in Canada dealing with custody and access issues. F.A.C.T. is an organization for both men and women working to support our childrens' right to have a relationship with both parents. F.A.C.T. is a non-profit support and lobby group. I encourage you to view our web site at www.fact.on.ca." says Mr. Mineiro.
Our Mission Statement
F.A.C.T. will continue to be a moderate lobby group that is inclusive of both genders, all races, colours, creeds, and denominations. It is dedicated to promoting:

A positive image of fatherhood
Equal parenting
Preserving the rights of children (and future children) to bond with their non-custodial parent and their extended families.

Purpose of F.A.C.T.
F.A.C.T. seeks to promote the right of every child to a complete relationship with both parents by lobbying the government, preparing briefs, organizing conferences and raising awareness of the public of the social consequences of ignoring the seriousness of this problem.
F.A.C.T. seeks to develop a positive image of fathers and their role in the healthy development of children and to expose and resist bias against fathers and mothers in education, social programs, justice and the government.
F.A.C.T. seeks to advance and preserve the ideals of shared parenting, mediated settlements for family disputes, and the removal of the overwhelming majority of family disputes from the adversarial system of the family law courts.
"The courts are very willing to enforce a court order for child support, but not necessarily access of the father to the child. We feel that denying access to the child is not in the child's best interest. Allegations of sexual and/or physical abuse is used by the mothers in many cases to gain the upper hand on custody. A man who has been accused of sexual abuse of his child and/or physical abuse of the mother is very unlikely to see his child," says Paul Mineiro.
F.A.C.T. has been operating since 1993. We provide moral support and educational sessions on how to deal with the process of separation and divorce. We welcome people to come out to our meetings held every Tuesday at:

ALL SAINTS CHURCH
2850 Bloor Street West (at Prince Edward Drive)
(east of Royal York). Time: 7:00pm - 9:00pm.
Tel: (416) 410-FACT (3228)
http://www.fact.on.ca