This past Friday three Judges on the Ontario Court of Appeals heard a case about an allegedly racist will. In the case Verolin Spence is challenging her father’s will claiming that he disinherited her because she fathered a child with a white man. Eric Spence did not explicitly state in his will that the interracial relationship was the reason why he was disinheriting his daughter. In his will he wrote that “I specifically bequeath nothing to my daughter, Verolin Spence, as she has had no communication with me for several years and has shown no interest in me as her father.” Verolin challenged the will in court by introducing evidence from a family friend who testified that the father’s real motivation was racism. The question is whether the Canadian courts should be able to consider outside evidence when deciding if a will should be voided for public policy reasons.
See Michele Mandel, Daughter in court over dad’s ‘racist’ will, Calgary Sun, September 4, 2015.
