Thank you very much. I'm so pleased to be here.
This is a great honour for me to bring forth actual voices and the stories of women whom I have worked with. I listen to women in my role as a counsellor. I came to keenly understand many of the issues and challenges associated with immigrant women who are experiencing domestic violence in Canada.
I want to personally say thank you to Honourable Mr. Chris Alexander, the Immigration Minister, and those who are involved in the study committee for having us here.
I would like to begin with the intention and hope that the Harvard principle of lessons learned will keep another person from meeting the fate that was met by the four females from the Shafia family in 2009 in Kingston, Ontario, and Ms. Nasira Fazli in 2013 in Ajax, Ontario, as well as many other women who are and continue to become victims of domestic violence.
I have learned that the issue of domestic violence associated with immigrant women has many causes, some of which are either unrecognized or simply unknown. I wish to highlight the following major factors that predispose immigrant women to domestic violence.
First, women are involved in an arranged marriage as a result of forced unions.
Second, women are uninformed about their rights and cultural norms in Canada.
Third, women are financially dependent on their abuser—or their spouse, I would say.
I should emphasize that the first point is deemed to be the most complicated and perhaps has the greatest impact on increasing the risk of domestic violence against immigrant women. In particular women typically raised in Canada are often encouraged by their own family members to enter into an arranged marriage. Women who share their stories recount tales of agreeing to this sort of union in order to satisfy their parents' wishes.
The perception is that this cultural practice preserves the cultural and ancestral lineage amidst a diaspora and war. This kind of marriage is also accepted by the family and the community because it is thought that the sponsor is making an altruistic decision to give an opportunity for a better life to the relative. Unfortunately these arranged marriages often quickly turn to forced marriages because women are oblivious to the exact nature of the union. Although a variety of scenarios exists, I would like to address one notable example where the woman is sponsoring the husband.
In situations where the woman has sponsored her partner from back home, after the arranged marriage he arrives in Canada to find her as an established and financially independent woman fully integrated into Canadian society. The husband may undergo cultural shock because he's not familiar with the differences in cultural values between his new bride and his own expectation. He may present well on the surface, but his mentality is heavily influenced by his own patriarchal cultural beliefs.
A few questions come to mind. Has he been culturally educated, prepared, and assimilated? Is he ready to adapt to a Canadian lifestyle? Is he ready to accept the shift switch for his wife to drive, to work, to be fully independent, and to do things without asking for his permission?
I propose the following recommendations to help address some of the above noted challenges.
First, an information booklet on fundamental rights and freedoms, in particular women's rights, should be distributed to applicants of the sponsorship program as a mandatory requirement for review prior to approval for entry into Canada. The interview process may be used as an appropriate step in the sponsorship program to test knowledge on the content of the information booklet, which should be offered in a variety of languages. I would like to personally offer guidance in developing the booklet.
Second, immigrant women who lack sufficiency may be dangerously dependent on their husbands for financial support. The repercussions for the woman of this type of financial dependency may include reduced self-confidence, increased isolation, and psychological, mental, and social health problems.
Concerning the financial issue I mentioned, I believe that when a woman is sponsored by her husband and is coming to Canada, she should receive some source of financial help on a monthly basis in her own account, whether the money is coming from the person who has sponsored her or from government, because from my experience, what I notice among women I work with is that a woman may stay in Canada for more than two and three years and not know how to use public transit, and she may never have had a bank account in her own name. That adds to her isolation. It adds to her need to ask the husband every day for $5 to go to do something.
If a woman receives this money, or if it becomes mandatory for the person who has sponsored to deposit the money to a trust or to a Canadian account for the duration of two years, at least a minimum amount equal to the money that social services pays to an individual for her basic needs and the money automatically goes to the woman's account, that assists a woman to have at least some independence.
The third recommendation is that language classes after the woman arrives in Canada should be compulsory, so that a woman cannot be prevented by her family or the husband from attending classes.
Fourth, after she arrives in Canada, we need to assist her in integrating and connect her with settlement workers.
Some of these provisions are already in place; however, more work needs to be done. Ideally, appointments with settlement workers should be arranged without the presence of the husband, and the meetings would be enhanced if the worker were a woman. I believe it should be mandatory, for the duration of two years, for the woman to have regular contact with a settlement agency.
If we Canadians believe that Canada is the world leader in promotion and protection of women and women's rights and of gender equality, what do we need to do to bring this talk to a walk?
We should provide opportunities for immigrant women by creating a system to protect women's rights and gender equality. In order to create the system, we need to fill in the gaps that exist, because these gaps create barriers for women to practise their basic human rights. By empowering a woman we give her the opportunity to fully access personal power, authority, and influence, and to use this strength when dealing with family members who are pressuring her.
