Manitoba needs more services for abused men: Experts

Mar 22, 2009 11:59 PM

 

THE CANADIAN PRESS

WINNIPEG – Domestic violence experts say abused men in Manitoba need more services.

Carol Ellerbeck, executive director of Osborne House, said the women's shelter's 24-hour crisis line regularly receives calls from men who need help dealing with violence at home.

Osborne House is participating with the Men's Resource Centre in a new project to track how many abused men seek help and what are their distinct needs.

The project came from the realization that abused men who sought help were sometimes placed in hotels for their safety, but not offered counselling once there.

Manitoba has no agency offering 24-hour service specifically for abused men, and officials at Osborne House and the Men's Resource Centre say one is needed.

Men were the victim in about 14 per cent of domestic violence charges Winnipeg police laid in 2008, according to police statistics.

Program manager Duane Lesperance said the Men's Resource Centre helped eight to 10 men leave their homes and find shelter in a hotel in the last year.

Lesperance said men who suffer physical or mental abuse often are loathe to say they are victims of domestic violence by the women or men they live with. Generally, those who do step forward are suffering severe violence.

Experts on domestic violence in Manitoba agree that men need better services for escaping domestic abuse, but not all agree with Lesperance that a shelter for men is the way to go.

Anna Pazadzierski, executive director of Selkirk's Nova House, said only about six men have sought help from her women's shelter since 2000. She believes it would be difficult to fund a shelter when the demand is so small.

"We just can't have beds sitting empty and staff sitting there twiddling their thumbs," she said.

 

Source

Only a crazy man would call a Feminist One Stop Divorce Shop asking for help. Most employ graduates of "feminist studies" read indoctrination of hatred towards men. The effects are staggering. Many of these establishments carry manuals of prepared court documents, that can turn the most violent mentally ill woman into a victim whose children will probably never see their father again. Police arrest men on any vague call by a woman regardless of the lack of evidence, often the police are making permanent custody decisions in their arrest of an innocent man who deserved their protection, not their abuse. It happens by the thousands of cases across Canada every day. It leaves a trail of destroyed families, delinquent children who grow up predisposed to breed another dysfunctional generation. We need less abuse of process, especially by those entrusted to protect the victims in society and we can start by cleaning up the judiciary.

 

http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/606610

 

Commentary by the Ottawa Mens Centre

Note, the Star initially invited comments however within hours they removed the invite and none of the comments sent to the Star were posted. You can see two of those comments below.

 

Most men, don't report abuse. Odds are if a man reports an assault, HE gets arrested. Men suffer abuse that is far more damaging then a punch to the head, its called the abuse of absolute power a woman has over a man who can dial 911 and end his relationship with the kids instantly. Add in biased man hating judges and the absolute power corrupts absolutely. The solution is a federal approach copying Quebec, a Legal Presumption of Equal Parenting after divorce, and a judicial council with real powers to get rid of corrupt judges that dominate the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal for Ontario who abuse men more than their wives. see the research on gender bias by Peter Roscoe at the OttawaMensCentre