Citizenship and Immigration Committee on March 31st, 2015

[Gillian Blackell]

Because there isn't an actual legal category and it's not a legal term, this will depend on your definition and how you are examining the case law. We took a fairly conservative approach to the case law and it had to actually have something on the record either raised by the crown, raised by the defence, or in the victim impact statements where the terms “family honour” or “shame” were related directly to it, so it's fairly narrow just to be on the safe side. Again, it's very subjective.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Madam Blanchette-Lamothe.

[Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe, NDP, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

First, I would like to come back to something that Ms. Tsai said a little earlier.

Ms. Tsai, you spoke about consultations that were held in order to draft Bill S-7. Could anyone who attended these consultations testify? If not, who sent out the invitations? How were people chosen to participate in these round tables or consultations?

[Maureen Tsai]

They were not open to the public. I believe that invitations were extended to stakeholder organizations that offered services related to early and forced marriages, and polygamy.

[Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe, NDP, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Was everyone who offers those services invited?

[Maureen Tsai]

I saw the list. I think about 20 representatives were invited to each meeting.

[Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe, NDP, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Who selected these people?

[Maureen Tsai]

I can't answer that question.

[Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe, NDP, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

No problem. I understand.

Were the discussions in these meetings distributed? Was the content of the discussions available to the public?

[Maureen Tsai]

The discussions were not made available. I don't know if we now have the authority to distribute them.

[Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe, NDP, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Thank you very much.

I know that you can only answer what your duties permit. I simply want to say that this committee did a study where witnesses were selected by various political parties and where the content was made public. Even though several witnesses recommended abolishing or seriously modifying the conditional permanent residence, it was not taken into account.

I'm wondering if the content of those meetings was selected to advance a political agenda or if it was considered as a whole. I know this isn't at all up to you to comment on this. Thank you for your answers.

I have a question about what's been done in other countries. I don't know which one of you will be able to answer.

Were practices in other countries, such as Denmark and the United Kingdom, studied when Bill S-7 was drafted?

[Gillian Blackell]

Thank you for your question.

We looked at the forced marriage practices of a number of countries similar to Canada. As you know, in the last decade, at least 10 European countries have introduced forced marriage offences. Most of then have set out sentences of two to seven years imprisonment. We looked at the practices in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Sweden, Australia, France, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Austria and Norway. We looked at the outcome of these practices to date, because it's something recent for many countries, and we don't yet know what the outcome has been.

We know that charges have been laid in Denmark and that there have been some arrests. We don't currently know what the outcome of these arrests has been. I would like to point out that the goal of criminal charges isn't just to go to trial. It really is important to know that criminal law has an important social role to play. It makes it possible to set limits for socially acceptable behaviour. It's important to indicate where the line is.

It has a deterrent effect. It can give victims a way of…

[Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe, NDP, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

I have a question about that.

Do you have any studies showing that minimum sentences, for example, have a deterrent effect on the actions?

[Gillian Blackell]

This bill does not set out minimum sentences.

[Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe, NDP, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Do you have any studies that show that sentences, like those in Bill S-7, have a deterrent and preventive effect?

[Gillian Blackell]

You're talking about maximum sentences. What's important is that sentences correspond to the seriousness of the actions. If we look at…

[Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe, NDP, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

But do they have a deterrent effect? If you have any studies on that, you could send them to us.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Mr. Shory.

[Devinder Shory, Conservative, Calgary Northeast, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the witnesses.

I want to start with this because this conditional permanent resident provision is one that the opposition raises all the time. It seems like they're trying to send the message that abused women in that kind of situation are fearful to not get out. They are fearful that they may lose their status if they come out and report it.

Of course, this is a very sensitive issue. All parties and all members are united in that we do not believe that there should be any family violence in those circumstances. My understanding is that some guidelines have been developed to assist officers in processing those kinds of applications, where they can go with exceptions based on abuse or neglect, and they can handle the sensitive information related to that. Can you elaborate on that?

[Maureen Tsai]

Yes, indeed, you are correct.

The department has developed guidelines to assist officers in processing requests for exemptions from conditional permanent residents based on abuse or neglect and also to assist in handling any sensitive information related to this case. Essentially this allows spouses in abusive situations to come forward without fear of jeopardizing their permanent resident status in Canada.

[Devinder Shory, Conservative, Calgary Northeast, AB]

Thank you for that clarification.

I want to come back to the Civil Marriage Act too. I believe you will be responding to this. I want to talk about this free and enlightened consent provision, which will be added to the Civil Marriage Act. I was surprised, because I had thought it was already there.

When we add these words into the Civil Marriage Act, how will this amendment assist law enforcers? How can this affect those who are forced into marriage?

[Lisa Hitch]

Thank you for the questions.

Unlike some countries, Canada does not have a single statute that codifies all of the federal aspects of marriage, marriage of course being divided constitutionally between the federal parliament that has jurisdiction over the legal capacity to marry or who can marry who and the provinces and territories that have capacity over the solemnization of marriage, licensing, registration, and other things like that.

The Civil Marriage Act, when it was first passed, was passed for a particular purpose, and that was to provide equal access to civil marriage to same-sex partners. Over time the Civil Marriage Act is becoming a codification of all of the federal aspects of marriage. The amendment would add two aspects, which are currently only within the law for the province of Quebec. The statement that you must give free and enlightened consent exists in the common law, so it's very clear in the rest of Canada but it is not in a statute anywhere that you can point to.

Having it in a statute you can point to will make it somewhat easier, as the U.K. experience has shown. Having a statute in the United Kingdom that says you can't force a child into marriage has allowed children there to say to their parents, “Look, it's in the law that you can't do this to me”. In the same way, this will provide that for children in Canada.

[Devinder Shory, Conservative, Calgary Northeast, AB]

Thank you.

You kind of covered my second question regarding peer countries, so thank you.

I want to come back to you, Ms. Tsai, because when we talk about early and forced marriage, I believe education is very important. When someone chooses to come to Canada, they are given some literature. I want you to share with us whether this Welcome to Canada guide or Discover Canada guide says anything about this barbaric practice of early and forced marriage, etc., in order to educate the newcomers.

[Maureen Tsai]

Certainly both our citizenship study guide, the Discover Canada publication, and the orientation guide, Welcome to Canada, have been updated to reflect the fact that Canada's openness and generosity do not extend to harmful cultural practices such as forced marriage or other forms of gender-based violence.

We also have a wealth of information on the CIC website, which is available to newcomers to provide them general information on life in Canada, including information related to family violence, family law, and human rights.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Thank you.

Mr. Leung.