Lecture with Dr. Richard Warshak in Calgary - Thurs Feb 24@7pm

Alberta PAAO is very pleased to be sponsoring a public lecture by world renown PA expert - Dr. Richard Warshak Ph.D - author of  "Divorce Poison: Protecting the Parent-Child Bond from a Vindictive Ex".   (More background about Dr. Warshak is available at his website.)

Dr. Warshak will make a 45 min presentation on "Understanding, Preventing and Overcoming Parental Alienation" and then be available for questions and discussions with the audience.

The event will take place at the Blackfoot Inn, 5940 Blackfoot Trail SE in Calgary at 7pm on Thursday Feb 24.  Tickets are available in advance (here) for $25pp ($30 at the door). Group discounts apply for online, in advance orders only.

To order click on on "Events" tab above, or just click here.

Bill 211 - DOCUMENTATION OF CHILD ACCESS EXCHANGE ACT

Mrs. Alana DELONG, MLA for Calgary - Bow has proposed this Personal Members Bill 211 THE DOCUMENTATION OF CHILD ACCESS EXCHANGE ACT.  

The bill received 2nd Reading in the Alberta Legislature on Monday Dec 1, 2008 at 1730h.

Here is the video link for House Proceedings on Dec 1, 2008 (this requires Windows Media Player to be enabled in your browser).  The specific debate on PMB 211 begins at the 3h25m15s mark.   And here is link to Hansard hard copy (go to p 29/36 which is p2155).

Because the House is about to recess for Xmas, the bill will die on the order paper but Justice Minister Alison REDFORD informed the house she intends to adopt it as a Government Bill in the Spring session.

This bill is intended to formalize a protocol that allows divorced or separated parents (or legal guardians) to document an exchange of children as per instructions in parenting orders.   Currently, when one or both parents do not cooperate on respecting such exchanges a child is denied the opportunity to spend designated time with a parent.  This act will establish a responsible person and procedure to document that such exchanges have taken place and will be admissible as evidence in Court. 

Bill 211 will also expand the number of exchange locations and recorders to include, Day Care Centers, Schools, Doctors or Child Psychologists and even Churches.   These are distinctly different from those special situations where families are dealing with domestic violence.  Six specially designated exchange centers have already been established in major towns accross the province to manage such supervised visits and designated high conflict exchanges.  Otherwise, many families meet at RCMP stations.   Obviously, these high-conflict locations are unsuitable for the vast majority of divorced or seperated families.

I suggest this legislation will be useful to PAS impacted families.  Click here to find your own MLA contact info or link here to search.

We did it!

Dear Everyone,

We did it!

Despite the cold winds, we held our Information Event and Petition Drive outside of Edmonton City Hall, Winston Churchill Square from 1100-1400h and at the Alberta Legislature (North steps) from 1500-1800h on Friday April 25, 2008.

We had the PAAO pamphlet, PAAD Alberta Petition, numerous PA resources (various books, suggested reading list, PAAO website Mission and Selected Articles printouts) as well as my laptop playing selected DVDs on PA topics and to keep spirits up, my personal PAAO iTunes
playlist.

It would be less than honest to say there was alot of interest, but the poor weather certainly had some influence.   In any case some curious individuals came and enquired about PA, and whenever possible we sallied forth to engage others.  Clearly, few are even aware of PA.

I would like to THANK EVERYONE who contributed to our 2008 PAAD Event and remind all that "from small acorns grow mighty oaks".

Over the next year I hope others will harness their own concerns about PA and join with us in order to make April 25, 2009 a better and more successful event.

Kind Regards,

Christopher JONES

[Ed: FYI, This is carried-over re-post from the former PAAO Alberta Google Discussion Forum. Photos of the "momentous" event are shown below.] 

Week before PAAD 2008

On April 19, 2008, the week before PAAD 2008 Edmonton had a terrible arctic front move in. I had been planing on "checking-out" the City Hall venue so I could be familiar with our selected "site" and so I took my camera along downtown to document it for Toronto.

It was pretty miserable!  The snow was coming down fast and blowing hard (as you can tell).  In the main square were a number of workmen who were setting up tents for Edmonton  Fashion Week!  It seemed poetic justice as the "Fashionista's" were the major excuse City Hall had given to locate me off the square.

For those who are interested, here is the visual account.



I hope we have better "spring" weather for 2009.

Cheers, crj

p.s  Mayor Stephen MANDEL issued a Proclamation making April 25 "Parental Alienation Awareness Day in Edmonton".