SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Western Arctic MP Dennis Bevington has agreed to put forward a private member's motion to review the federal Divorce Act in the House of Commons as a Yellowknife man complains it's unfair to children.

Mark Bogan says the current federal Divorce Act puts a strain on families by draining financial resources and splitting up family members.

Mark Bogan, who approached Bevington on behalf of the Canadian Equal Parenting Council, wants to see new legislation that would put a focus on shared parenting and keep divorcing parents out of court. Bogan said the current Divorce Act is outdated and drains people's financial resources through lengthy and expensive custody battles that strain families.

"It's better for the parents to mediate and come up with an amicable solution. If they're unable to do that, court would mandate they (the children) would have an amicable, loving relationship with children," he said. "Keep kids out of court is really our message. Keep these families healthy."

He said the justice system needs to consider how children are affected by a system that often puts divorcing couples in court.

"Children get caught in the middle of a vicious battle, specifically when they're under the age of 16 or so, they really don't have a voice into what's going on," he said.

Bogan said he's been lobbying federal and territorial politicians for years and was pleased when Bevington agreed to write a motion addressing a review of the Divorce Act. He called Bevington's commitment "a great step for children, for sure."

But the NDP MP said he was motivated by the "litigious" nature of the Divorce Act to put forward a motion to review it, not Bogan's goals for changing it.

"The idea would be to review the divorce law. What direction that takes could be subject to that review. I'm not coming out or saying one thing or another should happen. But we've always felt there's a need for that review to take place."

Bevington cited NDP policy to review the Act and a 1999 House of Commons report called "For the Sake of the Children" that he said didn't lead to any changes.

Private member's motions are put forward by MPs but don't have the policy recommendations included in private member's bills. They rarely become law.

"It would just indicate to the government that this is something of interest," said Bevington. "A private member's motion will trigger nothing by itself."

He said he hasn't prepared the motion yet but he'll be consulting with his colleagues and residents about the wording.

"In the fall session I'll take a look at that," he added.

Bogan said he's been dealing with the ramifications of the Divorce Act for two decades because he has been denied access to two of his children. His eldest son is now 19.

Bogan previously gained notoriety for setting crickets loose in the Yellowknife courthouse and former Western Arctic MP Ethel Blondin-Andrew's office as well as protesting while dressed as a super hero dubbed "Plywood Man."

After scaling NDP leader Jack Layton's Toronto office in costume in August 2008, Bogan was arrested and a ban from Ontario was one of the conditions of his release.

Last June, Conservative MP Maurice Vellacott, representing Saskatoon-Wanuskewin, put forward Bill C-422, which called for changing "custody orders" to "parenting orders," which would mandate judges to assign 50/50 custody unless one parent proves that arrangement isn't in children's best interest. The bill received criticism from some groups who said making shared custody mandatory didn't account for children's needs and put parents without financial resources to go to court to protect their children at a disadvantage.

The bill is still in its first reading.

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