Citizenship and Immigration Committee on March 31st, 2015

[Maureen Tsai]

The federal government creates laws, including the Criminal Code and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. If I understand correctly, prosecution under the Criminal Code is the responsibility of the provinces. In terms of the immigration law, yes, Joanne is absolutely right, the IRPA would only apply to foreign nationals and permanent residents.

[Jasbir Sandhu, NDP, Surrey North, BC]

I still don't understand. If we have a criminal law in place that applies to everybody in Canada, what was the need for us to have this additional law enforcement through immigration? That's fine.

Mr. Chair, do I have any...questions?

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

I think that Mr. Menegakis does.

[Jasbir Sandhu, NDP, Surrey North, BC]

Do I have any—

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

I'm sorry, you don't. You're out of time. I'm sorry, I misinterpreted what you said.

Mr. Menegakis.

[Costas Menegakis, Conservative, Richmond Hill, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to our officials for appearing before us today.

Perhaps I can add, as part of a response to some of the questioning we've heard here today, concerning why this bill and why this bill now, I think we should highlight, in order for all members to know, that there have been approximately 25 Canadian criminal cases of honour-based violence, killings, and non-fatal crimes since 1995, with 21 of these crimes occurring within the last 10 years. That is 25 cases of this type of violence in the past 10 years, but on this side of the House, the government believes that one case of this type of violence is too much.

We did consult across the country, and we consulted with groups and organizations that are dealing with people every single day, dealing with this specific type of problem. Overwhelmingly, we heard about the need for legislation to be put in place that will protect women and girls against such barbaric cultural practices. I say this with a fair amount of emphasis and passion. It is cultural to some people that if their child of 14 years does not abide by a decision they made the day the child was born, the child should be somehow harmed—killed, stoned, discredited, thrown out, discarded. To them it's a cultural practice.

It doesn't speak to any specific community of people. We have a very dynamic and vibrant multicultural community in Canada, people who come from all parts of the world. We are speaking specifically about those who will perpetrate such barbaric acts on women, and particularly young women and girls.

Clearly our message is this: we will not tolerate spousal abuse of any kind—honour killings, gender-based violence, you name it. We're taking steps to strengthen our laws to ensure that no young girl or woman in Canada becomes a victim of early or forced marriage, polygamy, so called honour-based violence, or any form of harmful cultural practice. It's not the Canadian way. We don't do that in Canada. We need to have laws in place to ensure that these women, these girls have a right to speak out and that they have a right to be protected.

As my first question, having said that, I'd like to ask you to comment on the peace bond process and on how the peace bond will work.

[Gillian Blackell]

Thank you.

As the minister mentioned earlier, when you apply for a peace bond—a peace bond is a preventive court order, although it is in the Criminal Code—and a peace bond is taken out against the defendant, it does not constitute a criminal charge. That defendant would not have a criminal record. It is only if that defendant breaches the peace bond that he or she is subject to a criminal charge and potentially a criminal record. It is a preventive measure, which is extremely useful wherever there are reasonable grounds to fear that an offence will be committed.

We examined the general peace bond provisions and they didn't seem sufficient to address this particular issue, because it is extremely unusual to say that we want somebody to stop making arrangements for a marriage. It was really to focus on stopping those individuals from making the marriage take place, from basically pursuing the preparations and ensuring that the marriage ceremony takes place. In order to focus on that, we have to focus on the specific ceremony itself.

Having an offence based on the marriage ceremony, focused on the unique harm that is related to the marriage ceremony itself—which is basically a violation of that individual's human right to decide when and whom and whether to marry anybody, with all of the potential and almost inevitable violence that falls from that.... By focusing on that particular crystallization of harm, the peace bonds allow us to prevent the harm.

The experience in the U.K. with its forced marriage civil protection orders indicates that these are very effective in stopping families from forcing their children to marry. Most families are doing it because they believe it's in their child's best interest. When they realize, one, that it's illegal and that it's harmful, and two, that if they go ahead with this they will have the shame of having committed a criminal offence, that realization has a very strong dissuasive power.

This is the Canadian equivalent at the federal level of the U.K. civil forced marriage protection orders, because in the Canadian context civil protection orders would fall within the jurisdiction of the provinces and territories.

Once the application is made, there are a number of conditions that can be issued against the defendant, including the requirement to surrender passports and other travel documents, limits on their movements or from leaving the jurisdiction, etc.

[Costas Menegakis, Conservative, Richmond Hill, ON]

What are some of the penalties? If someone has knowledge of this going on or assists in a barbaric act, what are some of the things we can do with a peace-bond power to penalize those who would perpetrate or participate in such activities?

[Gillian Blackell]

If a peace bond is taken out against the defendant and the defendant breaches that peace bond, they are currently susceptible to a term of imprisonment of up to two years. This will be changed with Bill C-26, I think it is, which would increase the maximum to four years of imprisonment.

In terms of the new proposed offence of forced marriage, the maximum is five years' imprisonment. Again, that is a maximum. Of course, it would depend upon the discretion of the judiciary, depending on the particular circumstances of the case.

[Costas Menegakis, Conservative, Richmond Hill, ON]

Thank you.

In the 2013 Speech from the Throne—we heard a little about this earlier—the government recognized that millions of women and girls worldwide continue to be brutalized by violence, including the inhumane practice of early and forced marriage. The proposed changes in this particular bill, Bill S-7, the zero tolerance for barbaric cultural practices act, will help ensure that these harmful cultural practices do not occur on Canadian soil.

Let me say in my last 20 seconds that I would strongly urge and implore all members of this committee to speak to their caucuses and to their leaders to ensure that we expeditiously pass this legislation at the end of the day, because what we will be doing, Mr. Chair, is protecting women and girls.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Thank you very much, Mr. Menegakis.

I'd like to thank members from the Department of Justice and the Department of Citizenship and Immigration for visiting with us today and helping us start our hearings on this bill. Thank you very much for coming.

This meeting is adjourned.