Evidence of meeting #21 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was abuse.
A video is available from Parliament.
5:15 p.m.
Liberal
John McCallum Liberal Markham—Unionville, ON
Okay.
That would have been my opinion, but I don't have evidence. Thank you very much for your comments.
I'll leave it at that, Madam Chair.
5:15 p.m.
NDP
The Vice-Chair NDP Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe
Thank you.
I'll turn to Mr. Daniel. You have seven minutes.
April 9th, 2014 / 5:15 p.m.
Conservative
Joe Daniel Conservative Don Valley East, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, witnesses, for not just being here but for doing such a great job on this situation, which is quite difficult. Some of the things you've suggested have been great ideas that I fully agree with. I think it was Madam Fakhri who mentioned that frequent contact with the person who's being abused is helpful.
While we're focusing on those who come to Canada and are abused, there are many women who come to Canada and are very successful. They thrive in our country, they get jobs, they integrate, and they raise children with Canadian values.
My question is this. Would it be a good idea to have these women mentor some of the newcomers who are in abusive situations and help them integrate better into our society?
Maybe we can start with Madam Fakhri.
5:20 p.m.
Crisis Intervention Counsellor, Herizon House Women's Shelter
Yes. If that opportunity were available, that would be a very great idea.
5:20 p.m.
Founder, Executive Director and Therapist, Greater Vancouver Counselling and Education Society for Families
Definitely, that's a great idea, and mentorship programs to be part of the settlement program as well. I would ask for your attention to the briefing report that I have submitted to the committee, and its suggestions. One of the suggestions is considering giving immigration to younger men and women, and that would kind of prevent many of those fake marriages that you were talking about. Most of the time, unfortunately, it is very controversial, I know, but the law for Canada is beyond the law for the husband, that the woman says yes to.
5:20 p.m.
Executive Director, Afghan Women's Organization
Yes, I absolutely agree. We do use mentors, actually, for abused women, and also for youth and for other generations. We found that to be very successful.
Actually, I wanted to also mention that it is also important for the kids growing up here to start in their childhood. We have a program that we call “Equality Rocks!”, to teach gender equality from the age of nine onwards. It's very effective to prevent abuse for when they grow up.
5:20 p.m.
Conservative
Joe Daniel Conservative Don Valley East, ON
Okay.
My next question is, we heard last week from a lot of settlement agencies that many of them actually encourage sharia law and polygamy. Settlement organizations do play an important role, and while the Liberals froze the settlement funding over 13 years ago, our government has tripled it. How can we ensure that this money is being used properly? Should there be more oversight on these organizations?
5:20 p.m.
Founder, Executive Director and Therapist, Greater Vancouver Counselling and Education Society for Families
The settlement program should look beyond offering people just information. Information itself as a pamphlet, or whatever it is, doesn't work. Many women have told me that once they arrived at the airport, they heard the officer saying, “Welcome to Canada”, and that was it. They were in the hands of a future abuser. No one told them that they could do this or that, or were able to call the police. Those booklets that you offer in the airport, usually those types of men hide it or they don't believe in it, because of course they know that here, women have rights.
You know that there are many men who talk about Canada as being a woman's country. They are actually blaming women for coming here to a woman-oriented country, now that they are asking for their rights and they are equal to other women asking for their rights. So basically information-giving should be more in terms of educating, offering them some kinds of tools and practices towards understanding what the issues are. That's why our programs are very successful. We offer them simple tools in understanding relationships and integration based on their own resources, and empower them to learn more about Canada.
5:20 p.m.
Conservative
Joe Daniel Conservative Don Valley East, ON
Okay. Are there any other comments?
My background is engineering, which is funny to be in politics from engineering, but one of the things we do in engineering is look for the root cause of the problem. We've heard the symptoms of the problem, which is abused women. Clearly the root cause is men, so making sure that the men are educated to be respectful of the laws on how they treat women. How can we ensure that men who sponsor vulnerable women receive the appropriate education and understand their roles and responsibilities here in Canada? Are there any suggestions on how we can actually make sure that they understand the penalties for some of these things?
5:25 p.m.
Crisis Intervention Counsellor, Herizon House Women's Shelter
I would say one of my recommendations is to give a booklet to the person who is coming to review basic human rights, women's rights. That should be given to both parties, to the one who is here as well as to the one who is overseas. This way at least they are aware of their rights and responsibilities.
5:25 p.m.
Executive Director, Afghan Women's Organization
Yes, that's why I mentioned that it's important to work with the men and the women. We also get men involved. Usually in our organization we mostly get some male volunteers, even if it's from faith groups, to talk to the men who could potentially be abusive, if you can find that out. It's very important to educate them, and to get somebody who speaks their language, is sensitive to their culture, and also somebody they can trust and could report to. That's why we have a pool of men volunteers to work with them when it's needed.
5:25 p.m.
Conservative
Joe Daniel Conservative Don Valley East, ON
In many cases, a lot of these women actually come from a culture where a lot of these things are accepted. How do you, in your work, convince them to change from their beliefs to Canadian values?
5:25 p.m.
Founder, Executive Director and Therapist, Greater Vancouver Counselling and Education Society for Families
Obviously, for many of these women, even though they have an internalized belief of oppression and abuse, once they are here they know something else is being offered here. They know Canada as a women's-rights country. They know that, and they are willing to learn. However, they are scared to leave their husbands behind, because they know many of these men harass women. For years to come, they have to deal with situations that are very unbelievable and hurtful.
Those women are being taught and actually attend the therapy sessions, and deal with the emotions. They understand they can change and learn the new values, and they are doing it very quickly. I don't have the study here, but there was a very interesting study done by Stockholm University many years ago, about how women are integrating faster than men. As I'm talking about this, many men would disagree. However, this is true.
5:25 p.m.
NDP
The Vice-Chair NDP Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe
Thank you. Time is over.
Now, Mr. Sandhu, you have the last two minutes.
5:25 p.m.
NDP
Rathika Sitsabaiesan NDP Scarborough—Rouge River, ON
I'll take those, actually.
Thank you, all of you, again.
I want to just switch gears a little. Let's talk about the success of these women when they come into this country.
Ms. Fakhri, you mentioned when spouses are sponsored here, that in order for them to succeed, be more independent, and reduce isolation, you had two suggestions. One was mandatory language classes after they arrive in Canada. This would not be a condition for sponsorship, but after they arrive they would have mandatory language and financial independence by having money in their own name. I'm wondering, Ms. Niazi or Ms. Poregbal, if you have any suggestions you would like to add about how to help the women succeed and integrate when they come to Canada.
5:25 p.m.
Founder, Executive Director and Therapist, Greater Vancouver Counselling and Education Society for Families
I would suggest—and it's in my brief as well—the mandatory.... Prior to coming to Canada if the embassies could provide that in their original country, some information sessions for the women to know what is going on, what is being offered....
5:25 p.m.
NDP
Rathika Sitsabaiesan NDP Scarborough—Rouge River, ON
So, her rights in Canada before she leaves her home country....
5:25 p.m.
Founder, Executive Director and Therapist, Greater Vancouver Counselling and Education Society for Families
Exactly.
5:25 p.m.
Executive Director, Afghan Women's Organization
I think it's very important to do an assessment of the woman, what are her needs—because a woman's need is unique to herself—
5:25 p.m.
Executive Director, Afghan Women's Organization
—and provide some resources appropriate to her needs.
5:25 p.m.
NDP
Rathika Sitsabaiesan NDP Scarborough—Rouge River, ON
Okay.
Now, quick answers, because we have very short time.
Regarding recognizing foreign credentials, a lot of these spouses are doctors, lawyers, whatever in their country, and they come here and have trouble finding work. Any suggestions for recognizing foreign credentials to help them succeed when they get here?