Pubdate: Wed, 10 Jul 2002
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Webpage: www.mapinc.org/cancom/0951F83F-9F3F-4326-88A2-A6D8DA3BF780
Copyright: 2002 Times Colonist
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/victoria/timescolonist/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Author: Cindy E. Harnett, Times Colonist (Victoria)

GIRL STAYS WITH DRUG-FIGHTING DAD

Guardianship In Doubt After House Ransacked

When seven-year-old Tawni was born she was so tiny and so precious her 
father nicknamed her Beacon. His guiding light.

It was for Beacon's safety, and the rest of the kids on needle-strewn Speed 
Avenue, that Rick Boudreau and a few neighbours got together Sunday night 
and took the law into their own hands.

They got rid of a house of so-called pushers and pimps but as a result of 
that action, Boudreau came close Tuesday to losing guardianship of his only 
daughter to the Ministry of Children and Family Development. After an early 
evening meeting with a social worker, a ministry official confirmed the 
child won't be taken away. For now, both sides are just going to keep talking.

Boudreau is relieved. "They understand I did it out of love for my child."

When Tawni was born at just 41/2 pounds, Boudreau held her in the palm of 
his hand.

"After she was born, I looked at her and thought, 'Wow, she is tiny. That's 
my beacon, my guiding light. That's the reason I'm going to get up for work 
every morning, that's the reason for the rest of my life."

In a form of street justice to shut down an alleged crack house which 
attracted junkies, hookers and petty thieves, about four neighbours entered 
the garbage-strewn party house on Speed Avenue on Sunday and showed the 
tenants the door.

"This is your moving day," proclaimed Boudreau. "Got, get, don't come back."

Windows were smashed, doors torn off their hinges, water pipes were 
ruptured. To make sure that no one returned, they demolished just about 
everything.

It was all the small neighbourhood -- off Douglas Street across from 
Mayfair mall -- could think of doing after numerous calls to the City of 
Victoria, police and the homeowner proved futile.

Boudreau and Kathleen Crocker were charged with break and enter and 
mischief over $5,000 and return to court Aug. 12.

"Not a single soul got hurt," said Boudreau.

But the demolition brought with it scrutiny of Boudreau's role as a parent.

Although the case is confidential, Marisa Adair, of the Ministry of 
Children and Family Development, said meetings with parents are a matter of 
procedure when the ministry has concerns a child's welfare may be at risk.

Only as a last resort is a child removed from the home, she said. If the 
ministry has less than very serious concerns, it will first look at giving 
the family additional support, or, for example, placing the child with 
extended family.

Boudreau, who works for Rockridge Demolition, admits he hasn't got it easy. 
He shares joint custody of his only daughter with his ex-wife.

Although he has lived in a rental unit on Speed Avenue for three years, for 
the last month he's lived in a small trailer snuggled in Crocker's driveway.

Crocker lives in a two-bedroom home, where Canadian flags cover the windows 
and a tarp covers the roof. Tawni stays there while her father is at work.

Boudreau is saving his money to move with Tawni into an apartment in James 
Bay, where his ex-wife lives and daughter goes to school. It's not an ideal 
life, but it's a loving relationship, he said.

And despite the outrage he demonstrated in attacking the party house, 
Boudreau said there's no connection between that incident and the way he 
handles his child.

"I'm a really excellent father. I have never to this day spanked my child. 
If she does something wrong, I don't even have to raise my voice," he said. 
"This (incident) is a totally different thing."

Boudreau said he chased away the alleged drug traffickers to protect his 
daughter.

There was no pivotal incident that provoked the attack, it was just a slow 
boil, another Monday approaching during which he'd have to wonder if his 
child would step on a needle or be attacked by a criminal.

"There's times at work I'm walking on planks 40 feet in the air. How do I 
concentrate when I'm not sure my child is safe," he said. He has no 
regrets. "They're not coming back. That was the point."

For her part, Tawni thinks her dad probably went too far "because he made a 
flood" by smashing pipes but is glad the "he scared away the junkies."

"I think it was a good idea but he did it the wrong way," she said. "He's a 
good dad."

Paul Panteleyev defended his neighbour. "It was a bit extreme but I think 
it had to be done," said Panteleyev.

"As far as something being legal or something being right, I'd rather have 
something be right. And I think that was right."

Panteleyev has lived beside the house, home to more than 10 tenants, for 
about three months. Especially in the last month, there has been a constant 
stream of people coming in and out, he said. The discarded needles were 
disgusting and scary. "You didn't want to go out of the house," he said.

A Victoria police spokesman said officers were called to the residence 
about 10 times in the past year, but there's no proof that it was a drug house.

On Tuesday, the windows and doors at 615 Speed Ave. were boarded with 
plywood -- with the exception of one window where a tenant is believed to 
have broken into the basement to retrieve belongings.

Faxes came into Boudreau's workplace Tuesday, with supporters of his style 
of justice offering to help pay his legal bills.
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