April 21st, 2006 MEDIA RELEASE Ottawa Capital Area Father continues Hunger Strike Gatineau Father Gerry Nicolas (35) continued towards the end of his first week of a hunger strike this morning in front of the Quebec Provincial Court of justice in Gatineau (Hull sector.) He is into his fourth day without food. Nicolas is protesting his treatment and that of his and other Canadian families under the restrictive and oppressive family law as administered by the Quebec Government. He is living out in front of the Court in a tent and other camping gear and is refusing all solid foods. Like many Men and Fathers across Canada Nicolas is another Dad caught in the vicious cycle of the Canadian Divorce Industry that unjustly penalizes Fathers in a divorce and like so many Dads in Canada has been ruined by the system both financially and emotionally. Nicolas has lost his business and his savings and his salary has been ‘attached’ and garnisheed to the point of him losing 95% of his earnings. While Nicolas’s spouse earns $65,000 a year Nicolas faces a situation where after all deductions he is left with a mere $144.00 on which to live. He has to endure the hated “visitation and access” arrangement with his children forced on Fathers by the bureaucrats in family court. He intends to refuse all food until resolution. Canadian Fathers suffer similar deprivations and indignities in family court procedures that are routinely biased and discriminatory and slanted heavily towards turning the Father into “dead-beat Dad” or “dangerous man” status. Fathers and men across Canada are victimized and oppressed and find themselves at the ugly end of false allegations of domestic violence, sexual abuse and other vicious accusation that are used by the courts to rule against the Father. Often Mothers find themselves in similar circumstances. Among the many outrages faced at the hands of the courts, most non-custodial parents find themselves financially ruined by the system and unable to secure proper legal representation. Contact: Ron Sweeney (F4J Canada) Email: lapaix39@sympatico.ca Telephone: 819-669-0427 Cellphone: 819-921-1877

Divorced and separated Men and Fathers across Canada are declaring every Friday a Black Friday as part of a silent protest against the destructive anti-male, anti-father anti-family bias and discrimination that exists in the family court system. They will be joined by non-custodial Mothers, various Grand-parent and other protest and equal parenting groups supporters in the protest. Interest in a world wide Black Friday protest has been received internationally. Activists and protest groups in several other countries are expected to join Canada in support and solidarity.

Starting tomorrow (Friday 21 April 2006) divorced and separated fathers, non custodial Mothers, and various Grand-parenting and other supporting groups across Canada are being encouraged to don black clothing every Friday as a mark of respect and mourning for the loss of their children, property and rights as a result of biased, discriminatory and unfair treatment under Canadian Family Law.

Guy Lavigne, Eastern Ontario representative of Fathers-4-Justice (Canada) says of the new initiative: “We are urging Dads to support Black Friday by wearing a black tie and or a black suit to the office or show support by wearing a black shirt or T-shirt or completely black outfit wherever they are every Friday of every week from now on. It’s a mark of solidarity in our silent protest. Black reflects the pain and misery many fathers feel every single day they are forced to be parted from their children. Canadian Dads and divorced men are now the largest oppressed visible minority in Canadian history, and we face daily deprivations and insults under this law” said Lavigne who fought his own bitter struggle to achieve equal parenting rights to his children and have false domestic violence charges dismissed following his divorce.

“We can no longer stand by and allow the law to do this to us without some kind of protest. Black Friday symbolise the loss of our children and how we mourn the death of family life. It symbolizes the evil we see in the system that destroys our lives, kidnaps our children, steal our dignity and status, turns honest law-abiding and productive citizens into criminals and reduces us to a life of perpetual serfdom for the ‘divorce Industry’. Divorced and separated fathers and men all over Canada know what we are talking about. It has become a daily struggle for the retention of our charter rights under the law and some us daily face brutal arrest for false allegations, jail for non-compliance on hopelessly weighted child and spousal support and other allegations and charges imposed on us by a biased system and biased judges who do not refer to equal propagated law in their decisions. It has become a legal nightmare for men and some women in family court-forced on us by ‘judges’ law’. Between 3 and 5 Fathers and men a day take their own lives daily in Canada. Now we need to stand fast and highlight to others what is happening every day in Family Courts all over this country” says Jeremy Swanson, independent Fathers Rights Activist in Ottawa. “It will be a Black Friday for all Canadian men Fathers and non-custodial parents from now on”