#bills-7

Photos from November 19th's Emergency Press Conference to response to Bill S-7: "Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural practices" Act. 

On November 19th, 2014 at Thomas Lounge (Oakham House), violence against women activists and community legal experts came together for an emergency press conference to respond to the Government of Canada’s introduction of the Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act (Bill S-7).

This is the unedited recording from the press conference: https://soundcloud.com/arunazehra/community-response-to-bill-s-7-barbaric-cultural-practices-act

Speakers:  Avvy Go – Clinic Director: Metro Toronto Chinese & Southeast Asian legal Clinic Harmy Mendoza – Executive Director: Woman Abuse Council of Toronto Shalini Konanur – Executive Director: South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario Audrey Huntley - Co-Founder: No More Silence Mary Lou Fassel - Director, Legal Department: Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic Laverne Blake – Manager of Client Services: Ernestine’s Women’s Shelter Christa Big Canoe - Legal Advocacy Director: Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto

The Act will introduce sweeping changes to Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), Civil Marriage Act and Criminal Code. The government’s statements in support of these changes are not based on any statistical data or research, perpetuate myths about practices of polygamy and forced marriages, and lead Canadians to believe that violence against women is a “cultural” issue that happens only in certain communities.

In addition, we know and have experience that criminalization has potential to become a tool to further target and over police racialized communities. While we agree that prevention is important in the discussion around forced marriage in Canada, we believe that education is the most effective preventative tool in this debate. We suggest that educating and raising awareness within the Immigration, Law Enforcement, Health and Education sectors is the best practice. Finally, we stand for all victims and survivors of gender based violence, who told us time and time again that they would not come forward if it meant criminal sanctions or deportation for their own family. We must continue to ensure that victims/survivors - instead of perpetrators - are at the centre of these discussions.

We remain concerned that the proposed legislative changes create barriers for accessing protection and resources by victims and survivors from specifically targeted communities. It will negatively impact survivor’s access to justice and safety through provisions that make non-citizens inadmissible to Canada based solely on their real or perceived choice of marriage form, not to mention the preventative detention and monitoring measures, and the criminalization of survivor’s families and communities. At worst, it exposes the underlying racist agenda that this Government harbor’s towards specifically targeted communities. The lip service paid by this government to the issue of violence against women through Bill S7 demonstrates at best, the Government’s complete lack of understanding of the issue of gender based violence.

For more information: www.salc.on.ca/sw00nb4.html

MEDIA CONTACT: Deepa Mattoo – [email protected] – 416-487-6371 (Ext: 43)

On November 5, 2014, the federal government tabled Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act (Bill S-7) introducing sweeping changes to three areas of Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), Civil Marriage Act and Criminal Code.  The government’s statements in support of these changes are based on no statistical data or research, nor have they consulted experts in this field. The announcements and the tabled act perpetuate myths about practices of polygamy and forced marriages while misguiding Canadians to believe that violence against women is a “cultural” issue and happens only in certain communities. The federal government has blatantly targeted marginalized and racialized communities through the racist framework used in the intent, wording and announcement of this act. The circulation of these racist myths and generalization of communities is one of the biggest obstacles to understanding the harmful effects of these proposed legislations.

Incidents of forced marriages (FM) and issues related to FM are not new to communities living in Canada. Many FM incidents have been reported by agency advocates from various communities since the late 1980’s. The South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario (SALCO) has been actively working on the issue of Forced/Non-consensual marriage with an advisory committee of community agencies since 2005[1].  “A forced marriage is a form of violence and an abuse of human rights. It is a practice in which a marriage takes place without the free consent of the individuals getting married. Forced marriage can happen to anyone; of any gender, of any age.”[2] This definition of forced marriages evolved from extensive discussions and debates among member agencies of SALCO’s advisory group from 2007 to 2009 which later was renamed to be Network of Agencies against Forced Marriages (NAAFM). While NAAFM and SALCO have been doing extensive work on the issue of forced marriage, the makers behind Bill S-7 have unfortunately misused the issue of FM for their own racist agenda.  

Community advocates and organizations addressing FM understand that FM as a practice is not confined to a particular culture, religion or region, but it occurs across races, religions, continents and economic status. Clients who are facing FM are also often populations that are marginalized on a number of levels relating to race, income, immigration status, and language, and face significant barriers to equality, which contribute to the conditions leading to FM and family violence. 

SALCO has encountered cases where victims from various backgrounds entered into matrimonial arrangements through their families under false pretences, involving physical abuse, emotional abuse, and exploitation. In its work with victims of forced marriage, SALCO has uncovered a number of policy, legal, and social barriers to addressing these issues. These barriers and gaps include but are not limited to:

lack of protocols at an institutional level,

jurisdictional issues,

lack of trust between communities and authorities,

cultural stereotyping of the issue,

complexities related to the immigration and refugee process, and

the context in which this practice is located, including social and economic concerns, lack of capacity to address an incident (i.e. at the school level), and lack of knowledge around the issue.

 Since the release of the SALCO’s statistical report (2013) on the incidents of FM in Ontario titled, “Who if when to Marry: The incidence of Forced marriage in Ontario”, this issue has attracted a lot of wanted and unwanted attention in Canada. The report contains data on demographic information about FM clients, and substantive data about the driving factors leading to FM, the barriers clients face, and the challenges service providers confront in serving FM clients. While the attention has created options for better resources and funding on the issue, it has been co-opted by the government to further their racist discourses and agendas through their attempts to focus on criminalization of these issues.

The racist myths that are being perpetuated by Bill S-7 send a very strong message to racialized and marginalized communities that they are being targeted by this Act under the false guise of protection for victims of FM[3]. It is important to understand the need and importance for better protection of victims/survivors of forced marriage. Protection of victims and survivors can effectively happen through education of communities and the social service providers, which will only happen when taking a survivor-centric approach. It is important to recognize that prevention of FM will not come from criminalization through mechanisms like Bill S-7. The prevention of forced marriage should be identified as part of a wider strategy to ensure that populations effected, live without fear, which included racist attacks and gender violence. It is clear that the issue of forced marriage cannot be tackled in isolation and we need to analyze the contributing systemic factors such as patriarchy, racism, poverty and xenophobia that allow forced marriages to thrive and exacerbate the abuse of human rights.

Forced marriages, like many other issues related to gender based violence is very complex and is commonly perceived by mainstream Canadians as a particular cultural practice, which leads to a lack of accountability from larger society as an issue that should not be ignored as something outside of Canadian culture. It is often regarded as a common practice among immigrants from South Asia, the Middle East and certain parts of Africa. However, according to SALCO’s research, forced marriages occur in many cultures and faiths and to Canadian citizens while being condemned by most communities and religions; “Every major faith condemns the practice [of forced marriage] and requires freely given consent for marriage, as does the law in most states.”[4]

The issue of criminalization of forced marriages in the Canadian context is unique because existing criminal laws has sufficient provisions that can be applied to duress, harm, assault, kidnapping etc. that might be inflicted on survivors of forced marriage. Unfortunately, in most cases of forced marriages, families are the perpetrators of violence, and they are also often the only social support a victim has. This complexity makes it difficult to take action and isolates survivors even further if the only option is to pursue criminal action against their perpetrators. We strongly believe that this racist act and its implication will further marginalize the victims and survivors of forced marriage. We know that the strong language used in this proposed Act was an attempt to create further fear and further marginalize communities that this act will not serve, but harm.

We strongly believe that the criminalization of forced marriage and the sweeping changes in Bill S-7 are NOT the right answers for Canada. While we agree that prevention is important in the discussion around forced marriage in Canada, we believe that education is the most effective preventative tool in this debate.  We suggest that educating and raising awareness within the Immigration, Law Enforcement, Health and Education sectors is the best practice. Finally, we stand for victims and survivors of gender based violence, whose voices have told us time and time again that they would not come forward if it meant criminal sanctions or deportation for their own family.  We must continue to ensure that victims/survivors (and not perpetrators) are at the centre of these discussions. In addition, we know and have experience that criminalization has potential to become a tool to further target and over police racialized communities. 

For more information on Forced Marriages in Canada:

Forced Marriage report: “Who if when to Marry: The incidence of Forced marriage in Ontario”: http://tinyurl.com/FMreport 

Statement against Criminalization of Forced Marriages: http://tinyurl.com/notocriminalization

Statement against M-505 (IRP regulation changes to Proxy marriages): http://www.salc.on.ca/ResponsetoM-505.pdf

Please note: This is not an official response from SALCO. Please watch for a detailed statement issued to the public and media next week on SALCO and other concerned community agencies and organization’s official stance on Bill S-7.

By: Deepa Mattoo

  [1] SALCO’s historical data

[2] SALCO/NAAFM functional definition finalized in 2009 as documented in the meeting minutes of advisory.

[3] Public comments on the multiple news articles carried by various newspapers on the after relaase of report .

"Out of the blue yesterday, Canadians were suddenly informed that a bill, tabled by Chris Alexander, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, aims to target polygamy and forced marriages.

"We want to make it clear to anyone wishing to enter the country -- as well as those born in Canada -- that domestic violence, genital mutilation, forced marriages, and polygamy are illegal in Canada and "won't be tolerated," said Minister Alexander.

Tough-as-nails words there, Chris. Way to crack down! ZERO TOLERANCE! *waves flag*

Ok, here's my real reaction.

"Domestic violence? Man, are you kidding me? Take a look at any stats floating around and you'll see we tolerate it just fine in this country."

"But, Toula!" you're thinking. "Genital mutilation, forced marriages of underage kids... Anything that decreases the likelihood of any of those practices in Canada can't be a bad thing, right?"

Absolutely. No one is advocating for any of that.

But here's where they completely lost me.

They named the bill (wait for the dramatic pause...) Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act!

Barbaric. Cultural. Practices.

I guess You Guys Are Animals and We Don't Want You Anywhere Around Us was considered too inflammatory and xenophobic.

It takes an incredible combination of self-ignorance, denial, and sanctimonious hypocrisy to utter something like that out loud and keep a straight face.

It got me thinking about a column I wrote years ago, after watching the North American premiere of J.M. Coetzee's Nobel Prize-winning novel, 'Waiting for the Barbarians'.

And here I am quoting from myself, because the day is short and deadlines await.

"At its essence, the novel is about the constant thread running throughout the course of human history that insists on pitting 'us' against 'them'. It's about humans reacting to this, most contemptible, of emotions that chooses to fear, to be repelled by, to be suspicious of that which is unlike them.

"Have these Barbarians in any way affected your life?" the Magistrate asks Colonel Joll.

"They are ugly and immoral," he replies. A blanket statement that, of course, reveals his utter ignorance of his subject. Ultimately, they are not like him. He, therefore, does not recognize them as human.

History is littered with examples of the 'civilized' attempting to 'civilize' 'barbarians' and despite the slight variations on the official reasons for such attempts, at the heart of these actions the same sentiment constantly reappears; you are not like us, we don't recognize your way of life as legitimate.

The Middle Ages are full of such examples. The attempt to 'civilize', assimilate, and ultimately 'save' was the underlying principle of French and Portuguese colonial rule in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Native Americans had built great civilizations with many millions of people long before Columbus wandered lost into the Caribbean. He didn't 'discover' America; it was already there. And the death and destruction he brought with him in the name of his 'civilization' should make Americans who know their history a little less inclined to celebrate Columbus Day with such fanfare. The idea that 'savages' need to be saved from themselves is also the ideological premise on which Christian missionary evangelization attempts were based on. Bringing the word of God and the light of culture was every civilized man's obligation.

Here at home the Canadian Indian residential school system is a giant stain on our country's conscience, and should be. Perhaps if the average Canadian knew more about the monstrosities committed they would be more inclined to pay attention to the Idle No More movement and why it matters. The forced assimilation of our First Nations is indeed a Barbaric Cultural Act of our own, yet we like to sweep it under the rug.

Even in its most benign form, nationalism; the idea that there exists an 'us' and a 'them', and that somehow the 'us' is far superior to 'them' simply because it's more familiar and more relatable, is humanity's major failing. We continue to make the mistake of believing that other cultures are just "failed attempts at being us", as Wade Davis so eloquently phrased it. It's hubris of the worst kind.

Humans' predilection to value the 'same' is manifested in the intolerance displayed by those who are suspicious of the 'different'; the way recently-arrived immigrants are looked down on by those who did nothing more than catch an earlier boat. This constant clash of cultures, values, languages, religions, plays out on a daily basis right here in Canada every day.

The concept of 'others' sometimes only exists to validate, confirm and assuage the insecurities of the 'us.' If the 'others' exist, than so do we; if only as a contrast and a comparison."

So, while I agree that all those practices that the bill aims to restrict are undesirable and should be eradicated, calling them Barbaric Acts is to elevate us to the status of the civilized preaching to the uncivilized.

And it's simply untrue.

On average, every six days a woman in Canada is killed by her intimate partner. On any given day, more than 3,300 women are forced to sleep in an emergency shelter to escape domestic violence. A man killing his estranged wife? That's an honour killing, even if it doesn't involve the stereotypical clichés we've been warned to look out for and even if the media doesn't refer to it as such.

More than 1,200 Aboriginal women are missing and no one in government seems to give a damn.

460,000 sexual assaults take place in Canada every year and out of every 1,000 only six are prosecuted and a measly three actually lead to a conviction.

Where's the Zero Tolerance for those Barbaric Cultural Acts, or do they only have to involve people who come from somewhere else, dress, speak, or pray differently than you?

Oh, and here's one that continues to crack me up.

That Bridge named after Samuel de Champlain we're all talking about right now here in Quebec? That honourable historical figure, whose significance as the Father of New France we don't want erased? He married a 12-year-old girl. Sure, he promised to only consummate the marriage when she turned 14 (such a gentleman...) and sure it was ages ago, but let's not conveniently forget that these "barbaric cultural acts" were also once very much part of our own history.

Forced marriages? Women forced to give birth in private and give away their children? Women trying to end an unwanted pregnancy with a coat hanger and the help of some back-alley doctor? All barbaric acts condoned, perpetuated, or conveniently ignored by the Catholic Church right here in Canada only a few decades ago. How soon we forget and pretend we're the evolved ones now...

All this to say, go ahead and table laws (even if they're more hyperbolic utterances meant to elicit sanctimonious pre-electoral fervour than anything concrete) that will decrease the likelihood of sexual violence and child abuse, but don't be blatantly blind to our own deplorable shortcomings as a nation when you choose to point the finger and call others uncivilized.