Thank you.

I am here about an issue that jeopardizes the well-being of children and undermines the integrity of the Canadian family courts. That is the pseudo-theory or concept of parental alienation in family court and in the context of coercive control. My organization has a Canadian chapter, so I have a front-row seat to this crisis.

“Parental alienation” is a term that was coined by disgraced psychiatrist Richard Gardner. He crafted it as a legal strategy for men accused of sexually abusing children. Gardner's views were controversial and deeply troubling. He advised that children suffering from alienation should be separated from their preferred parent and subjected to threat therapy. When asked what a good mother would do if her child disclosed sexual abuse, Gardner instructed that she should say that she doesn't believe them, that she's going to beat them for saying that, and that they don't ever talk that way again about their father.

Parental alienation is a theory that has been overwhelmingly dismissed by the medical community and governing bodies, including the World Health Organization, the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association. Proponents have unsuccessfully attempted to have it included in the DSM for over a decade. The United Nations special rapporteur called for this dangerous theory to be eradicated from family courts worldwide. I agree with this recommendation.

The alienation industry, as I call it, is very lucrative, with a predictable pipeline. I know that you have been given a copy of this diagram. You will see at the end of the pipeline the big-ticket items: the reunification camps and the intensive programs.

I have personally witnessed the toll that these programs take on parents and children, and the cost of youth services is shocking. Parents face significant loss of income because of the time-consuming and costly litigation. Many lose their jobs, homes and cars and face insurmountable debt and bankruptcy. However, equally devastating is the trauma that these families endure, which will ripple through into future generations.

For the past 15 years, I have observed a troubling pattern. Each time there is exposure on the tactics of those who work in the alienation industry, they just rebrand. What started as “parental alienation syndrome” has been called many things over the years. The latest is “resist and refuse dynamics”. The constant rebranding allows them to escape scrutiny and accountability, and now they have begun to co-opt the language of coercive control. This is very dangerous.

Dr. Emma Katz is a leading expert on coercive control, and she offers vital clarification. She emphasizes that the work on coercive control prioritizes children's rights and respects their autonomy. Parental alienation proponents emphasize adult dominance over children. We must be vigilant and not swayed by those who try to conflate these concepts.

The framework of coercive control makes it clear that overriding a child's wishes is harmful and traumatizing. When asked about the reunification modalities utilized in family court proceedings, Dr. Christine Cocchiola, a coercive control expert, explained to me that children forced into these treatments are coerced to acquiesce to the clinical goal: repair of a relationship with an alleged abuser, someone they fear. Research affirms that rupturing the attachment and creating an environment of unsafety is traumatic to the developing brain and compromises healthy brain development.

Here in the U.S., we are successfully passing legislation that prevents judges from ordering children into these programs labelled as barbaric by our lawmakers. We passed one such law in Canada last year, and now, as a result, one of the most notorious reunification camp owners has relocated and is operating in British Columbia. Canada is becoming a hotbed for reunification profiteers.

It is imperative that we disentangle the pseudo-concept of parental alienation from family court altogether and from legislation surrounding coercive control. We have to take swift action and stop unscrupulous professionals from using children as revenue streams.

Thank you very much for your time.

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