The first thing we'd like to do is thank you for taking time out of your busy day to hear this urgent plea, as the funds are needed immediately.

Patrick Levesque, a loving and very dedicated father, desperately fighting for his
rights as a dad.

After what would be considered a typical disagreement with his spouse on August 5, he was told that she wants a divorce.  Though he is genuinely heartbroken over this, he is now simply bereft because his wife has applied for full custody and is asking for ZERO visitation, as well as denying contact to her daughter's grandmother.

There is no valid reason for this.  Patrick is so very close to his daughter and they have a wonderfully loving relationship.  Everyone who knows them also knows that she is his world, and he is hers.

Patrick's first action was to call as many lawyers as he could to get free consultations because he doesn't qualify for legal aid, and simply cannot afford a family lawyer.  The answers were predictable; "you need a lawyer".

We are all shocked because to make a bad situation worse, his wife called the R.C.M.P.  and made dangerously false allegations against him; that he had threatened her life.   Because many of you don't know him personally, one would immediately wonder if it were true and if so, her actions would make perfect sense.

However, there was a witness to the whole event (we can't name him/her until the court proceedings are over, as we don't want to cause even more possible troubles for Patrick).  This witness not only said that what she is claiming did not happen, but that one of the officers said to her "if you want, we can twist this to make it look like he tried to kill 2 police officers." 

She did not say anything.  Not yes, not no.

The officer followed through on it.  Now an innocent father is facing 2 felony charges, though there is no evidence of this officer's claim.  The lawyers Patrick spoke with said that if both officers testified saying it was not said, EVEN WITH THE WITNESS, that he would probably lose and receive a prison sentence. 
We are trying to find out of the Canadian Human Rights Commission will go to bat against a corrupt officer, but don't know yet if they will.

The following day, the same officers went back to the house to get his ID, bank and credit cards.  His wife withheld the credit card from them, claiming she didn't know where it was.   

Without money for a retainer, he simply cannot afford a lawyer, much less 2 lawyers (family and criminal).  Patrick has consistently worked very hard to support his family, but now finds himself in a very helpless situation.

Though he has this highly unjust and terrifying charge hanging over his head, Patrick is more concerned about his daughter, and the emotional damage she is suffering by having her parents split up.   The loss of her Papa in her life is devastating to her and he has no way of comforting her and telling her that everything will be alright. 
To our surprise, neighbors have been calling him to inform him that his wife has been telling them that she is going  to do everything she can to keep him from his daughter.

Patrick has such high values when it comes to family and raising children.  He does not wish to fight, he does not want his little girl to suffer any more than necessary because of divorce.  He wants her to be as well-adjusted as possible, knowing how confusing and difficult it is for a child to process these changes. 
We are very proud of his ethics, as he refuses speak badly about his wife and has asked family and friends to refrain from doing so.  He respects that she is the mother of his child - he simply wants joint custody so that he can be the best dad he can for her. 

This father's only wish is to ensure that his little girl has very best of both of her parents and as much stability as possible in her life.

Without a lawyer, he will lose his precious daughter.  The injustice is mind-blowing.

We are living in an age where tearing children away from their fathers is finally unacceptable, and when there is plenty of evidence that a man is a wonderful father, separating him from his child is sick, discriminatory and downright cruel.

Without a criminal lawyer he could end up imprisoned because of a court system that may refuse to stand against an R.C.M.P. officer who very casually abused his power.  It costs an awful lot of money to attempt to sue an R.C.M.P. officer (which is what we're encouraging him to do) - but it's the RIGHT thing to do, though very few people attempt it  - it's David vs. Goliath.  Though he is afraid to fight them in court, we want him to know that we support him and will be with him every step of the way, win or lose. 

We are begging for help.  To know that this kind of thing can happen and if a person doesn't have the money to buy their way out of frightening allegations and what amounts to the emotional abuse of an innocent child is both shocking and incredibly saddening.

So please, anything you can give, and sharing this story so that we can get Patrick both a family and criminal laywer would mean so much.  Words cannot express the gratitude we feel that you have taken the time to read Patrick's story.
Even if you can only give $5, any and all support is desperately needed to make this right for this little girl and her father.  We thank you in advance from the bottoms of our hearts.