Ontario Taxpayer Watch Report
Published by the Ontario Citizen’s Free
Press - By the citizens and for the citizens of Ontario - March 22, 2002
Kids
spill the beans:
Halton Women’s Shelter exposing
children to
VIOLENCE AND ABUSE!
Young children forced to watch graphic video showing man beating up a
woman as part of children’s indoctrination process!
Burlington, Ontario
A young girl who recently managed to gain her
freedom from the Halton Women’s Shelter in Burlington, Ontario, has disclosed some
bone-chilling information about just what goes on behind the closed doors of that
facility, something which those operating the shelter would not like the community to know
about.
One of the troubling things that this child revealed was that she and the
other children in the shelter were made to watch a video in which a man was graphically
shown beating up on a woman.
This video was part of a children’s program at the shelter and all children who came
to the women’s shelter were forced to attend shortly after their arrival.
The young girl said she and her siblings did not like watching the violent video and that
watching it made them feel very upset and uncomfortable.
The young girl also said that it seemed to her that the women who worked at the shelter
did not like men and that everyone at the shelter was supposed to think the same way as
the shelter staff.
It would appear that this program is being used to condition the children into believing
that it is a normal for men to go around beating up women.
The children were also being told that what was on the video was what they could expect to
happen to them when they get older.
It would seem that the Halton Woman’s Shelter has developed its own in-house
children’s propaganda program, possibly in collaboration with other shelters, to
indoctrinate children at an early age into believing that men in general are wife
batterers and abusers and that women are always the victims.
It’s highly unlikely that the teaching of this program to young and impressionable
children has received the endorsement of early childhood educators, nor is it likely
The ONTARIO TAXPAYER'S
REPORT is a periodic report published by the many volunteers throughout the
Ontario network of the Ontario Citizen's Free Press. It is intended for distribution
without copyright to any individual, group or organization that may have an interest in
the materials contained in this report. All groups and individuals are encouraged to copy
this report and pass it on to a friend or neighbour. All articles are based on actual
events.
This publication is intended to bring to the attention of the public abuses of our system
and the failure of the government to prevent such abuses. Many of these abuses often
result in the devastation of children and families in our community at great expense to
the taxpayers. If you have a story to tell then contact the Rev. Dorian Baxter, National
Chairman of the National Association for Public and Private Accountability (NAPPA) at
416-410-4115 |
that this program for kids in the shelter is being
taught by anyone with professional teaching qualifications who may better understand what
long-term emotional harm this sort of video may be causing children after they leave the
shelter.
In all likelihood, this program is being given to the children by women, who themselves
are former victims of abuse and likely harbour intense feelings of resentment against men
in general.
If a child’s feelings and perceptions are any indicator of the environment there,
according to this girl, she felt frightened and afraid staying at the shelter, especially
at night. She said she cried and wanted to go back to see her dad at her own home.
Many parents in the community would argue that only professional educators, such as
teachers with local school boards, should have the job in the community of educating
children about domestic violence.
At least in a more public forum, those that teach such materials would be under greater
public accountability.
Many agree that exposing children to such a video is not appropriate. Even if children
were being removed from a home where violence had occurred, to expose them immediately
again to violence by forcing them to watch a video of a man beating on a women certainly
is not the most appropriate thing to do under any circumstances.
Children don’t want to have violence crammed down their throats, especially by women
whose agenda is to spread hatred towards men.
Being forced to watch these violent videos is nothing less than a further abuse of the
children.
Some of the things disclose by this child included:
That she and her siblings had been taken into the
shelter against their wishes and that although her mother and father sometimes fought, she
had had never witnessed their father ever physically hurt her mother when they were at
home.
That she and her siblings hated the shelter and preferred being
with their father.
That they cried almost every day while in the shelter and only
wanted to get out of that awful place.
That women in the shelter said bad things about fathers and that
the children were left with the impression that most of the women did not like men and
that everyone else was expected to feel this way.
That one day the children witnessed the Halton Regional Police
come to the shelter to physically remove one of the mothers who was being physically and
verbally abusive to staff and patrons in the shelter.
That they felt afraid when they were in the shelter and only
wanted to get out of there and get back to be with their loving father.
That the kids had wanted to call their father but that they were
not allowed to do so. When they did try to use the public phone on their own, they were
told not to touch the phone and to ask their mother for permission to make phone calls.
That it "smelled like pigs" inside the shelter and
that this was disgusting.
Information from this girl would seem to collaborate
previous information given by a mother, named Helen, who also reported in Feb of 2000
about her stay at the same Halton Women’s Shelter.
Helen, was quoted as saying, "During my six week stay at the shelter, I met only one
other resident who I felt was what most people would consider a decent mother. The rest of
the women definitely had serious emotional problems. It didn't take any doctor to see that
they were dysfunctional parents. They were terrible mothers who likely were a significant
cause of the problems that landed them there in the first place. I believe that many of
the women were not physically abused and out of anger wanted a break just like I did. I
was not physically abused."
"Once in the shelter, I felt stuck until I got my own place", said Helen. Helen
also indicated that the system offered no help to mend problems. Charging the father and
then going after him seemed to be the main goal of the system.
Helen stated that many children at the shelter were being exposed to an abusive
environment and that the shelter was no place for children to be living in. Some of the
things she witnessed were:
One night, a little girl cried for a long time
looking for her mother. When Helen tried to locate the mother, she found that the mother
had left the shelter to go drinking at a local bar.
Mothers were staying up late at night without putting their
children to bed at an appropriate time. At night, women could be heard yelling at their
kids.
Fights by women over donations. The more aggressive women were
first to push their way to the donation room and got what they wanted while others waited
in the pecking line.
Children being hurt while playing because inattentive mothers
and staff were busy doing other things
One woman at the facility had a drug problem. The mother did not
take care of the baby properly. Half the time the mother left her child with others
expecting them to babysit. Eventually, CAS was called in and the baby taken away from the
mother.
Most of the women and shelter staff used foul language in the
presence of the children.
Staff and residents spent a lot of time father-bashing and
degrading men in the presence of the children. Helen said that she thought that it is
terrible for children to be exposed to this type of hate.
Many of the women could not be bothered to get up, and instead,
they slept while their kids ran around screaming unattended.
Helen described how she felt that shelter staff were
very biased against men. She said that it seemed that all the staff were abused themselves
and told residents of their personal abuse stories. On one hand it may have been good for
other abused people to help you, but that the bias was so deep that it was fostering hate
against the children’s fathers.
In closing, Helen stated, "It was a terrible place. Not the environment where
children should be…not even the women."
It's no wonder these shelters have to operate behind a "veil of secrecy" and
hide what goes on there. |
