Monday, September 22, 2008

Discrimination against fathers

Today, my husband had an unpleasant experience.

Canada Revenue Agency got the name of my third daughter wrong.

My husband is working on getting this corrected.

So he phoned up Canada Revenue Agency.

And during a nasty conversation, they told him that they will not discuss the files of any of our three daughters.

It's illegal.

Because he's not the mother.

He's the dad.

And the money is sent to the mother.

But he can't even correct her name.

Here's the kicker: We have a joint account. The money gets deposited in an account he has access to. It's not like he's going to make off with money that's not his to begin with.

This is very wrong. My husband should have the authority to change my daughter's name. We already sent a letter (signed by both of us) asking to make the name change. He phoned up to find out whether they had received the letter and whether the change had been made.

I really hate this, because I don't think the mother should be burdened with all the childcare duties. Now I have to deal with it.

Maybe I should file a human rights complaint. I wouldn't file it on his behalf-- there's no way the system would recognize a dad's burden. I'm the mom, and now my burden has been increased because of this.

There has to be some leeway for the married father of children.