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September 18 Toronto The Ontario […]
Description
September 18 Toronto The Ontario Court of Appeal refused to overturn the April 1979 judgement of County Court Judge Joseph McMahon that took the custody of two children away from Gayle Bezaire, a lesbian. It did, however, allow Bezaire leave to appeal to Judge McMahon for a variation of his order "if changed circumstances could be shown." Justice Bertha Wilson, the only woman on the Court of Appeal, also clearly stated that she did not agree with Judge McMahon's implicit statement that the mother's lesbianism was a negative factor in Bezaire's case for the custody of her children. On November 14, 1980, Bezaire took her two children from the home of her former husband, George Bezaire, and went into hiding. Bezaire's appeal to the Supreme Court of Ontario to regain custody of the children was dismissed in January 1981 after she and her lawyer failed to appear in court. Ontario Supreme Court Justice A.W. Maloney issued an order that Bezaire return the children immediately to their father. The children were recovered in the United States in October 1985 and returned to George Bezaire. Gayle Bezaire surrendered to police in Windsor in December 1985. She was charged with one count of abduction and four counts of harbouring, and was found guilty on all counts by a jury on June 9, 1987. Judge Sidney Dymond gave Bezaire an absolute discharge on the first charge, and sentenced her to three years' probation and 300 hours of community work for the others.
