Canada "A father contacted us from jail after he was arrested for failing to pay child support arrears to the Family Responsibility Office. He was unaware that he owed any support, and he had custody of his child when he was arrested." Tweet with me to seek justice.

2020-02-01T14:43:11+00:00

Linking to that brainsyntax site is a bad idea for a tweet campaign to the general public. It strains the browser loading up all sorts of crap, pops up an overlay asking for an email address, and when you somehow manage to click past it, what's there is badly organized and badly presented.

Throwaway_Old_Guy · 2020-02-01T17:21:20+00:00

What in the actual fuck is wrong with this country? I deal with FRO and have dealt with their bullshit first-hand but this is something else. Incarceration is the absolute last resort they go to. First it's angry letters, then they confiscate all tax credits, then loss of drivers license, then when all else fails they push for incarceration. If this father had custody then it would have been entirely reasonable for the child support payments that he probably wasn't getting to be deducted off of his arrears.

genkernels · 2020-02-01T22:00:42+00:00

Here is a slightly less rosy story showing that in Ontario prison for failure to pay even when unemployed is a thing. This guy in my link is some sort of fraudster, so not exactly a nice person, even then, it is troubling to read about:

Justice Kurz sentenced to Mr. Garrick to 90 days in jail unless he paid the arrears of $55,000. The judge then added that if the ongoing support was not paid, Garrick would serve a further 3 days for each and every default.

To the surprise of many payors, debtor’s prison is alive and well in Ontario

Jail is not a remedy for failure to pay child support Canada-wide (though revoking driver's license still is, even though that normally would make employment extremely difficult). And if it were just the 90 days that would be one thing, but this is an ongoing jail sentence.

patasaurusrex · 2020-02-02T01:52:17+00:00

Canada is a shithole.

Talbooth · 2020-02-01T17:37:16+00:00

What the actual fuck.

printmaster5000 · 2020-05-10T12:34:34+00:00

At least he has a place to stay. I pay $700 per month in child support...No change due to Covid19...still collecting despite my salary being cut in half. I'll be homeless before end of summer. When I begin living out of my car in Canada I know I will have achieved a personal low and a new milestone. This can't be what life is about.