Brantford Rally

July 15, 2008 permalink

Mary Janiga reports on the Brantford rally for Rob Ferguson.

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Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Brantford Rally Success

On July 15, 2008 at 8am a crew assembled upon 19 John Street North Hamilton, ON. Child Assist Services had 5 people participating in the rally in Brantford, ON at 44 Queen Street Family Court house, Swayze, Ed, Mary, John “Bulldog” and Frances.

We were in Brantford at 10am and we handed out flyers, and held signs from 10am until 1:30pm.

We met with the family in trouble with Children’s Aid Society and also we talked with many people that were having problems with CAS of Brantford.

We had three more people show up in their own cars from Hamilton and the Brantford area. Cathy Norris showed up and provided us with support and added to our cause.

We pushed Bill 93, The Ombudsman to have oversight of Children’s Aid Societies of this Province.

I haven’t got a total signature count on what we accomplished, but we filled many pages.

We got names and numbers of people that were supportive of our cause and people were honking their horns and were happy we were trying to make some changes in the Family Court system on the streets.

CAS of Brantford granted them access to their child and we will be back in Brantford in the next month to show our support again for this family.

The Brantford Expositor was there to get an interview and spoke with Ed and Swayze about our cause.

We spoke with Al Sweeney of CHCH Channel 11 (as he was there on another matter) with the Native issues in Brantford/Caledonia, and we told him of our plight and cause of the CAS of Brantford and their ruthlessness of taking children and babies away from families.

I would like to thank all those who participated in the rally, for those who signed the Bill and for those who were there with us in spirit.

If we can make one protest a month we will have made a difference.

Posted by maryjaniga at 1:15 PM

Source: Mary Janiga blog entry for July 15, 2008

Addendum: The success of Mary Janiga and Child Assist Services in getting Devin (chemo boy) returned to his parents has CAS running scared throughout Ontario. In the Rob Ferguson case, they brought out more legal firepower than usual. Rob did not get his newborn son returned, but did get better treatment than usual for this kind of case. His own report is below.

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CAS Brantford vs Ferguson Update

Yesterday in family court in Brantford I noticed some things right away and throughout the morning while there. The first thing was the CAS worker was there but he had brought his manager. I have never really seen this in any CFSA case. The CAS stated this was normal in high profile cases. I thought to myself "high profile"? Was this because of who I was or what I'd done publicly, or what could happen with more public exposure and government involvement? I overheard police who were there for a native issue state that CAS has gone to far in most cases. The waiting room in the courthouse was abuzz with talks which I could clearly hear. I don't think I heard anyone say anything negative about me and my wife, on the flipside I don't think I heard anything positive from the people about CAS. Child assist services was outside handing out flyers and I'd like to thank them for all their support. Another thing I noticed that was sort of odd was CAS's quick yes to all questions, This I do think is very supportive but maybe not completely honest. To give access is a great thing however giving my son back after you have kidnapped him would be better. I had asked the CAS lawyer how come he as the CAS was quick to order things but not so quick in admitting their wrongs. He answered by saying "I know and you know we do some good, but we can't be right always". I can't say I look forward to a family court battle but my son is well worth any court battle. Another thing that happened was the Brantford Expositor came in this sort of surprised me. They stated that they had been following my case for five days. Great I thought I have nothing to hide and never did. Any time Brant CAS director Andrew Koster wants to have a sit down like he has offered in the past I would do it if I could bring the reporter of my choice. So I guess that door is always open to Mr Koster. It is my opinion that my case is not any different from the hundreds of cases here in Brantford and 1000s in Ontario. So this leaves me with my last thought the Ontario government. Dalton you know what's wrong and the two past ministers know what's wrong. This is why as soon as they went public you removed them from the ministers position, they did not quit. But then they had enough I guess with the stress of being the minister in charge of this mess and both quit politics. Dalton if you ever want to have a sit down and talk about what's really going on with CFSA I'll be there so you can fix the issues. Just let me know the day and time and I'll be at Queens Park. However I know that Mr McGuinty will do as he's done all along and dodge this issue. Has to be expected I guess.

Thank you

Rob Ferguson Brantford

Source: email from Rob Ferguson, July 16, 2008