In Canada, the issue of fraudulent marriages frequently comes up in the South Asian community. Arranged marriages are often the norm within Hindu, Sikh, and Muslim communities back in India. The practice of arranged marriages, one needs to stress, is not the same thing as a forced marriage, even though there is always a danger that women may be coerced into an arranged marriage.
The logic upon which arranged marriages rest is that the close matching of a couple’s linguistic, educational, and religious background will make for a much more enduring marriage. Marriages in South Asia are considered to be a union not only between two individuals, but between two families as well. The choice of a proper bride and groom is of great importance for families, because it reflects directly upon their social standing in their larger community.
Marriages in India are usually required to be registered, but this practice is not always followed, particularly in small cities and in rural areas. Consequently, when there is no registration, there is no valid proof that the marriage took place, outside the oral testimony of witnesses to the marriage, who can be easily bribed or threatened. Other forms of proof of marriage include photographs or video records, which can be damaged, doctored, lost, or even erased.
Arranged marriages in South Asia usually involve some sort of monetary transaction between the two families. For example, in a Muslim marital context, an essential feature is the wedding dower, which is a predetermined amount of money given by the husband to his wife. In Hindu marriages, the financial transaction that occurs between both of the families is usually known as a dowry, which is defined according to Indian law as any property or valuable security that the bride has given or agreed to give, directly or indirectly, to the groom’s family. The payment of a dowry is illegal under Indian law. It's punishable by fines and imprisonment. But grooms and their families often pressure the brides on the eve of the marriage to pay dowries that can go as high as $20,000 to $30,000 Canadian. Brides and their families frequently agree to these amounts, even at the risk of going into debt, because they do not want to face the social stigma associated with a cancelled marriage.
Fraudulent arranged marriages are now becoming increasingly common within the South Asian community in Canada. We maintain at NOIVMWC that these marriages should be considered as an act of human trafficking.
There are two reasons for this. First, members of both sexes, men and women, enter into marriages purely for securing Canadian immigration status in order to attain the benefits associated with being a landed immigrant and eventually a Canadian citizen. Marriages are arranged between a Canadian and an Indian citizen based on the assumption that marriage to a Canadian citizen will result in a higher standard of living and that relatives living in India will be able to come to Canada at a future date. NOIVMWC is convinced that this can lead to many instances of men and women marrying expressly for the purpose of entering Canada.
The second reason that NOIVMWC considers fraudulent marriages to be acts of trafficking is that many these marriages are arranged for and by men who are either Canadian citizens or landed immigrants, who travel to India expressly for the purpose of getting married, and who may on the eve of the marriage demand exorbitant dowries from their brides and their families. Once the marriage is performed and consummated, the man usually returns to Canada, stating that he will sponsor his spouse’s entry into Canada as soon as possible, only to sever all contact with his wife upon arrival in Canada. Sometimes he will serve them with divorce papers. Sometimes he will disappear from sight. Since no formal registration of the marriage is required back in India, there's never any formal proof that a marriage has taken place, or that a dowry was given or obtained. Therefore it is impossible to prove that an act of extortion took place.
Even it were established before the Indian courts that the individual in question did engage in such an act of dowry extortion, that individual is able to evade justice in Canada because, as a Canadian citizen, that person has not committed an extraditable offence. What is common to both of these instances of fraudulent marriage is that Canadian laws are being manipulated to secure financial gain and that Canada is also being used as a safe haven for people who have broken Indian law.
It is difficult to determine the frequency with which fraudulent marriages occur within the South Asian community. Although the information that that NOIVMWC has is anecdotal, the frequency with which fraudulent marriages are occurring is enough cause for alarm. NOIVMWC can and would address this issue positively by conducting research on the many dimensions of this problem, by engaging in consultation with the various South Asian communities in, for example, Toronto or Vancouver. NOIVMWC, on the basis of this, would be able to provide training modules for immigration officers, settlement workers, and counsellors and provide appropriate policy advice to relevant government departments. The recent budget cuts, however, to Status of Women Canada and Social Development Canada have hampered NOIVMWC's ability to address this issue in a substantive way.
We realize this is a difficult issue, and that is why we also believe there must be a collaborative, proactive effort between CIC, Justice Canada, Foreign Affairs, Status of Women and Multiculturalism to resolve both these issues of fraudulent marriages.
NOIVMWC feels that the Government of Canada can and should take a number of immediate medium-term and long-term steps to prevent these types of marriages. These have been outlined in our brief. Among these are the following: requiring a certificate of registration for the marriage to be included as part of the sponsorship documents; ensuring that immigrant-serving agencies and prominent leaders in faith communities be aware of this requirement; being able to develop visitors' visas for women who may want to pursue their absconding husbands who are back in Canada; developing an extradition treaty with India to return men accused of abandoning their wives after collecting dowries; and developing better coordination between CIC, Justice, and bar associations.
This whole issue of fraudulent marriage, I think, does not necessarily reflect well on Canada for two reasons: number one, because we are becoming a safe haven for a number of individuals who are breaking Indian law; and two, because, we believe, it tarnishes Canada's image internationally as a defender of human rights, generally speaking, and of women's rights in particular.
NOIVMWC believes that the Standing Committee on the Status of Women is in a unique position to speak to government about these egregious practices and in so doing, we hope, restore the confidence of South Asian women and their families in it as a defender of their rights here in Canada and in the subcontinent.
Thank you.