Yesterday had a very understandable déjà vu quality, since it was basically a re-run of September 17, 2007. We saw a very similar slew of "open records" articles as last time. (Heck, we even saw a surging Canadian dollar!)
I'm impressed by the Toronto Star. There are two lengthy articles by staff reporter Nicole Baute: one discussing open records in general and focusing on an adoptee named Paul O'Donnell (Emotions high as veil around adoption lifts, May 31), and another from the perspective of birth mother Rebecca Fraser (Knowing a name makes all the difference, May 31). As well the Star has an op-ed piece (Unveiling adoption, June 1) in support of open records with disclosure vetos, and they are also soliciting for reader feedback (Adoption records in Ontario opened up. What's your take?, May 26).
The Globe & Mail presents the story of Toronto writer Richard Wright, birth father of a 40-year old son (After 40 years, a father can tug on the ties that bind, May 24). This prompted a response letter by Denbigh Patton, the guy who with Clayton Ruby launched the legal challenge to Bill 183. The Globe also presents an interesting digest of adoption stories (Adoption: Other sides, stories, June 1) and an article by Erin Andersson about people signing disclosure vetos profiling Joy Cheskes, another name we know from the court challenge to Bill 183 (Signing a veto on knowing the past, June 1).
This isn't exactly "press", but CBC's The World This Weekend on Sunday, May 31 had a segment by producer Aziza Sindhu interviewing Karen Lynn of the Canadian Council of Natural Mothers and adoptee Steve Forrest (see the podcast archives, and download May 31.)
Finally, the non-Toronto papers. There is surprisingly not much. The Lindsay Post has an article profiling a local adoptee and a birth mother, both reunited, but happy about the change in the system (Looking for answers, May 22). The Barrie Advance has an interview with a local Children's Aid supervisor and an adoptee with their perspectives (Names revealed after adoption law changes, May 26).
Aside from those there's little, except for two articles whose genesis seems to have been Tory MPPs' expressions of dissatisfaction with the new law. The Windsor Star (a CanWest paper) had a piece quoting MPPs Sylvia Jones and Norm Sterling. (New adoption disclosure rules start Monday, May 30). Jones is calling for a postponement of any release of records until all vetos are processed, and Sterling is calling for a one-month postponement of opening records because he expected 4 to 12 times as many vetoes as actually came, and clearly this is a sign that everything is broken. The Caledon Citizen, from Sylvia Jones' home riding, quotes her (to be blunt) fearmongering about birth parents (Jones questions Liberals about adoption disclosures, May 28).
Besides the aforementioned, we have nought but a deafening silence from outside the GTA, which is as effective a demonstration of the gutting of local news staff as any I've heard. (Stick to your pieces about weather and municipal politics, you local kids: we big boys in Toronto will handle the big-picture stuff. But I disgress.)
I have to say I'm rather disappointed in the Hamilton Spectator, which had good adoption stories in even the last year (see the story about adoptee Paul Zadvorny, and the follow-up) and had a number of articles prior to and after the September 2007 abortive opening of records. Yesterday, they had nothing but a tiny, recycled CP article summarizing of the Ontario government's press release.
No comments:
Post a Comment