Thank you.
Mr. Chair and honourable members of the committee, my name is Shahin Mehdizadeh. I was born in Iran and left that country during the revolution in the late seventies. I lived in India for five years before immigrating to Canada in 1984. I have been a member of the RCMP for over 25 years, serving in several communities in four provinces, performing my duties in many disciplines of policing.
Today, Mr. Chair, I do not speak to this committee on behalf of the RCMP. I speak as an immigrant and a Canadian citizen, and Mr. Chair, although I am not wearing my blue serge, I will provide testimony based on the experience and knowledge I have gathered through my years as a police officer.
My goal is to provide you with some of the efforts from the policing community, non-government organizations, and most important, our citizens in support of making this country more secure for female immigrants. I will also provide my observations on some gaps. This may assist the committee.
As an immigrant, I can advise that the first few years for anyone immigrating to Canada are the most challenging and risky years. New immigrants are exposed to an environment that might be somewhat foreign to them and they need to make adjustments in a short time to fit in. These adjustments can be much harder for some compared to others.
Inasmuch as the new immigrants experience a sense of joy and accomplishment, they are also filled with other feelings such as fear and uncertainty, which naturally add to their level of stress. In the case of female immigrants, due to potential gaps in their language and other skills, they may tend to hide and choose to stay only with their own cultural groups and family as that's their comfort zone. These women may also choose to accept mistreatment by their spouses as they feel they have no other choice.
Newcomers to this country go to great lengths to achieve this goal. Conditions in some regions of the world are such that immigrating to Canada, even if it means being mistreated, outweighs what some of these women had before. In some cases the notion of leaving their families is not supported by their own relatives and friends as it may bring shame to them. That's why at times the only support offered from their close relatives is to keep relationships together at all cost.
As the honourable members of this committee have heard, there have been many cases of homicide in Canada where the family's honour has been ruled as the motive behind those despicable acts of violence. The latest of these cases, the Shafia case, attracted extensive media attention. l took part in that investigation and supported the lead agency, Kingston Police Force.
This has been the saddest case l have ever had to work on. It opened my eyes to the gaps and the need to bring more cultural awareness to the police and other supporting agencies in Canada. Increased awareness could provide them with a better vantage point when faced with situations, and allow them to execute their duties more effectively. After all, everyone's common goal is to provide security and protection to all our citizens.
Following the trial I led an initiative whereby the RCMP, in partnership with the Department of Justice, developed online introductory training on honour-based violence and forced marriages. This training is in its final audit stage and will be made available in both official languages to all RCMP officers through the RCMP's internal web-based training. This course will also be made available to other police departments through the Canadian Police Knowledge Network.
I am also aware of the other efforts being taken to develop training, one being a similar type of training on honour-based violence and forced marriage at the Ontario Police College.
I am hoping that providing more awareness to the front-line police officers on this issue will provide them with the ability to recognize and assess risks to female immigrants more effectively when responding to situations of alleged family violence and forced marriage. More importantly, an understanding of these issues will provide them with the tools to activate support systems and keep the victims safe.
Many other government departments and agencies, both federal and provincial, such as status of women, immigration, and justice have been very active in bringing more awareness to their employees and others on the topic.
In regard to the other organizations, I can advise the committee of efforts by the Alberta crime prevention program to develop some training on honour-based violence and forced marriages for members of different support agencies, such as nurses, social services, and teachers. I am very excited about this initiative, and hope that once the training has been developed it can be shared with similar agencies in other provinces.
Awareness is the key to helping these victims, as such crimes are grossly unreported. In most cases, the only way to detect them is through having trained individuals looking through a wider lens and knowing how to communicate effectively with the victims. These organizations' roles are critical in increasing the overall safety of women in Canada, including our immigrants.
On the third front, I am aware of several influential women's groups in Canada who are holding information sessions and conferences to discuss this important topic and bring more awareness to community members. In my opinion, this is where the real positive change can come about, which can ultimately provide a safer environment for women in Canada and within our immigration system. Such efforts will have to be supported by our organization.
Ultimately, the goal is to prevent the crimes before they are committed, as by the time the police are called to respond, it may already be too late for the victims.
All of these efforts promote a common theme, and that is to have individuals who are victims of any sort of abuse know their rights, but more important, to know what to do when they are or feel they might be victimized in the future. More education to our newcomers in this area will be extremely useful. However, language barriers make it very difficult to provide necessary information to everyone.
This gap also makes it difficult for victims to step forward and ask for help. Of course, there are many other reasons for a victim to refuse to come forward, such as fear of family, shame, and financial dependency on the abuser. There may also be fear and/or lack of trust in authorities.
Different agencies continue their efforts to build more trusting relationships with immigrants. After all, that's what we do in Canada. The key is to continue tirelessly with these efforts and to ensure that we are there for the victims when they do reach out for help. That takes a lot of collaboration and teamwork between different agencies, and I stress the “s” in agencies, as one can't do it alone.
Over the years, organizations have become much better in this area. However, there is always room for improvement. The United Kingdom has been studying the topic of forced marriages for several years and has developed many useful processes and subject matter experts in many different organizations, to combat the issue of forced marriage and honour-based violence. A closer look at the efforts in the United Kingdom might be useful to see how we can adopt some of these measures here in Canada.
Mr. Chair, and honourable members of the committee, in conclusion, I would like to thank you for allowing me to participate in your committee's important study of strengthening the security of vulnerable female immigrants in Canada. I hope the information I've provided and the responses I may have to your questions will be of some assistance.
Thank you.