Centre for the Study of Black Cultures in Canada
York U. Public Forum Looks at Racism and Mixed-Race Custody Battles

TORONTO, October 23, 2000 -- The British Columbia Court of Appeal opened a Pandora's box this year when it overturned a lower court ruling and awarded custody of a mixed-race child on the basis of race. The case of Van de Perre vs. Edwards is now before the Supreme Court, and interracial families across the continent are anxiously awaiting the outcome.

What role should race play in decisions regarding custody of mixed-race children? What principles should apply in determining the ėbest interests' of the child and what is their ethical basis? These are the questions that will be discussed at an all-day public forum on Custody and Mixed-Race Children at York University on Saturday, October 28.

"It is important to gather expert opinion and air concerns that can inform public debate and the Supreme Court as it deliberates on this issue," said Leslie Sanders, professor of Humanities at York University and organizer of the forum. "Interracial marriages are increasingly frequent, but our social and legal language doesn't comprehend this in a way that is both ethical and practical in a society where racial prejudice persists."

In Van de Perre vs Edwards, Kimberly Van de Perre lost custody of her son, Elijah, when the B.C. Court of Appeal ruled he was better off with the family of his father, millionaire basketball player Blue Edwards, who could raise him in a black cultural environment in the United States. The court said the child would always be perceived as "being black" because of his skin colour, even though he has a white mother.

A panel of experts assembled for the forum will consider how issues of race, culture, identity, nation, community, and racism are understood by society and the courts today in determining the "best interests" of a child in a custody battle. Among the panellists:

Susan Boyd is a professor of Law at the University of British Columbia, and was advisor to counsel for Van de Perre in the B.C. Court of Appeal decision.

Carl James is a professor in the Faculty of Education at York, a noted scholar on issues of equity in education, and co-editor with A. Shadd of Talking About Difference: Encounters in Culture, Language and Identity (Toronto: Between the Lines, 1994).

Joanne St. Lewis, professor of Law at the University of Ottawa, is an expert on race and the law, and trains judges, private sector managers and human resources professionals in anti-racist decision-making and practice.

Rinaldo Walcott, a professor of Humanities at York, is a well-known scholar on cultural issues of race, gender and class, and author of Black Like Who: Writing Black in Canada (Insomniac Press, 1997).

Emily Carasco, a professor of Law at the University of Windsor, teaches Family Law, Public International Law and Feminist Legal Issues with a focus on human rights and race/gender equity issues.

Jean Golden and Kenise Kilbride, professors of early childhood education and sociology respectively at Ryerson Polytechnic University, will discuss their research on black bi-racial children and their parents.

The Canadian Journal of Family Law last year noted that while Canada is a racially and culturally diverse society where multiculturalism is officially sanctioned and fostered, Canadians, including the legal profession, are still reluctant to deal with the issue of race. Emily Carasco writes: "The case law provides support for those who contend that including the ėrace' factor in the very discretionary decision-making area of child custody has the potential for perpetuation of racist views." (Race and Child Custody In Canada: Its Relevance and Role, volume 16 (1) pp. 11-50, 1999).

Carasco also writes that despite the fact that ėrace' is an ideological concept that has no scientific validity, it still matters in our society, and the judiciary must accept the notion that it plays an important role in the lives of visible minority children. She adds, however, that the race of a child should never, on its own, be the determinative factor in a ėbest interests' decision.

The public forum is sponsored by the York Centre for the Study of Black Cultures in Canada at the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies, and the Atkinson School of Social Work. It runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Founders College Assembly Hall, 152 Founders College, York University, Keele Campus, 4700 Keele St. In the event of a strike by CUPE 3903, the conference will take place at the Metro Hall Council Chamber, 55 John St., Toronto.

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For further information, please contact:

Prof. Leslie Sanders
School of Arts and Letters
Atkinson Faculty of Liberal & Professional Studies
York University
(416) 736-2100, ext. 66604
leslie@yorku.ca

Susan Bigelow
Media Relations
York University
(416) 736-2100, ext. 22091
sbigelow@yorku.ca
YU/109/00