Dateline: Quebec, Canada
From: Montreal Gazette
Author: Peggy Currain
Via: Kurt Anderson at F4J (US) & The Honor Network

Andy Srougi isn’t afraid to make people angry. Last year, he climbed to the top of the Jacques Cartier Bridge during rush hour to draw attention to fathers’ rights.

Yesterday, in Montreal outside a hotel where an international conference on violence against women was being held, he called on “Nazi” feminist groups to give back the millions of dollars they get to run shelters. He claims they are empty most of the time.

“We know that there is violence against women around the world. The problem is that in Quebec the problem is bigger against men than it is against women, and they don’t want to believe it,” said Srougi, 39, who is locked in a bitter custody battle to regain his 4-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son.

A member of Fathers 4 Justice, Srougi challenged statistics from women’s groups claiming 34 per cent of women in Quebec have been sexually abused.

“If that were true, it would mean that there were about 1.5 million women who are sexually abused and there would be 1.5 million sexual predators on the street. It’s impossible. It means that we would have a police car at every corner.”

Instead, he said, “these lies are being perpetrated to get the $620 million that the government gives the feminist movement. They aren’t interested in the well-being of women. They are interested in manipulating things so they get more money.

“All we are asking for is to take a real look at the figures. Don’t believe us? Go to the Quebec statistics institute and look at the real figures that show that Quebec has one of the lowest rates of violence against women.

”Why lie to everybody? All you are doing is taking away from the real victims, the women who are victims of violence.

“I was a victim of my ex, who was violent against me. Because I am 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds, I didn’t feel a thing. But psychologically, it still had an impact on me. Now, I’m not going to go out there and tell everybody that there are millions of fathers who are beaten up, because it will discredit everybody who has really been beaten.