Thank you very much.
Honourable Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, honourable members of Parliament, good morning. My name is Tahir Gora. I am the director general of Canadian Thinkers' Forum, which is a not-for-profit organization and a think tank that deals with study reports on complexities of multiculturalism; growing Islamic radicalization in Canada; the new rise of anti-Semitism; and polygamy, forced marriages, and women abuse issues in South Asian and Middle Eastern diaspora.
Minister Chris Alexander’s proposed Bill S-7, the zero tolerance for barbaric cultural practices act, is very relevant to our studies in regard to polygamy, forced marriages, and women abuse issues in South Asian and Middle Eastern diaspora.
Bill S-7, an act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the Civil Marriage Act and the Criminal Code and to make consequential amendments to other acts, seems to address our concerns in regard to issues of polygamy, forced marriages, and women abuse in Canadian South Asian and Middle Eastern communities particularly. Unfortunately, there is no valid authentic data available regarding such issues. However, some of the incidents in the greater Toronto area reported to our group suggest endorsing the government's proposed tough legislation against polygamy, forced marriages, and women abuse issues.
Here are a few examples of such cases we heard. We have been notified of a few cases in which some people were allegedly involved in polygamy associated with fraudulent immigration, misuse of welfare money, and polygamy itself. Some cases have been reported to us in which some men are sponsoring women from Pakistan, Somalia, and Egypt as their sisters, but marry them as a second wife as soon as they arrive here. Of course, such marriages are not registered, but are facilitated by some Islamic clerics in Canada.
For instance, Imam Aly Hindy of the Toronto Salaheddin Islamic Centre still seems to believe in breaking Canadian law, and has officiated or blessed dozens of polygamous marriages for men he knew were already married to more wives. Once reported in the media, Imam Hindy said, “If the laws of the country conflict with Islamic law, if one goes against the other, then I am going to follow Islamic law, simple as that.” However, modern interpretation of Islam clearly indicates that the permission of polygamy in Islam was only valid in the context of the sixth century's tribal conflicts of medieval societies. That permission is no longer valid in rethinking the process of today's Islam, but literalists such as Imam Hindy still follow these traditions.
We also know about some situations in which some men are having multiple wives but are not declaring them as wives, as they can't. They are collecting welfare money and child benefit tax returns through such practices.
Similarly, forced marriages cases are widespread. Hundreds of cases of forced marriages are reported among Canadians every year in which parents or other close relatives take their children back home and force them to marry there. Some of the forced marriages are happening right here in Canada. Apart from those reported forced marriages cases, there are hundreds of unreported forced marriages incidents associated with Canadians. Unfortunately, such cases are mainly associated with South Asian and Middle Eastern communities. Those incidents of polygamy and forced marriages eventually result in domestic violence, and sometimes in honour killing.
Canada's Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander tabled this bill, called the zero tolerance for barbaric cultural practices act, in Parliament last November. Critics criticized the name of the bill, calling it a pretty loaded one.
However, our group believes in calling a spade a spade. Violence against women is an absolutely barbaric act. It must be addressed strongly. Forced marriages, polygamy, and honour killings happen every day around the globe under the guise of cultural practices. Should those cultural practices not be condemned? Calling a spade a spade should not be a political issue in a country like Canada where human rights guarantee equal rights to men and women.
Polygamy is practised in Canada by some of the Muslim and Mormon community members. Cases of polygamy in the Mormon community are already under fire and scrutiny. Polygamy cases and issues in Canadian Muslim communities are widespread and mostly under the rug.
Minister Alexander's bill proposes the following: creating a new inadmissibility under IRPA that would render permanent residents and temporary residents inadmissible if they practice polygamy in Canada; strengthening Canadian marriage laws by amending the Civil Marriage Act to codify the existing legal requirements at the national level for free and enlightened consent, and establishing a new national minimum age for marriage of 16; helping to protect potential victims of early or forced marriages by creating a new specific court-ordered peace bond to be used where there are grounds to fear that a person would commit a forced or early marriage offence, including the mandatory surrendering of a passport to prevent a child from being taken out of the country to facilitate a forced marriage; criminalizing certain conduct related to early and forced marriage ceremonies in the Criminal Code, including the act of removing a child from Canada for the purpose of such marriages; limiting the defence of provocation, so that it would not apply in so-called honour killings and many spousal homicides; and including consequential amendments to the Prisons and Reformatories Act and the Youth Criminal Justice Act to include the aforementioned peace bond.
Our study findings are completely aligned with proposed Bill S-7. There is dire need of a widespread community awareness campaign by our government against those barbaric practices through Canadian South Asian and Middle Eastern media.
Our group is also working on the following measures: trying to establish a Muslim women support centre; working to establish a helpline and a centre where potential and actual victims of polygamy, forced marriages, and domestic abuse can contact; working on building a support system and training programs to handle issues of forced marriages, polygamy, gender segregation; working to launch our own surveys and incident data centre for forced marriages, polygamy, and honour killing cases; and working on awareness campaigns, including seminars and conferences, to curb incidents of forced marriages, polygamy, honour killing, and gender segregation.
Thank you very much.