SALCO - Who, If, When to Marry -The Incidence of Forced Marriage in Ontario (Sep 2013)

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CASESTUDYRicky was born and raised in Canada.When he turned 20, his family decidedto go home (back to their country oforigin) for a vacation. Excited about hisfirst ever visit, Ricky was eager to meethis extended family and looked forwardto seeing the place where his parentsgrew up. Soon after landing, Ricky’sexcitement turned into horror whenhe realised that he was the intendedgroom in a wedding preparation thatwas underway. As it turned out, Ricky’sparents had seen him kissing anotherboy, which confirmed their suspicionregarding his sexual orientation. In orderto “correct” Ricky’s behaviour and avoidbeing shamed socially, they had quietlyarranged his marriage to a local girlselected by them. A panicked Ricky senta text message to his friend informinghim of the situation and pleaded forassistance. The friend contacted theDepartment of Foreign Affairs andInternational Trade in Canada whoadvised that Ricky should contact thelocal police in his area for protection.As Ricky’s activities were constantlymonitored by his family, he was not ableto leave the house alone and did nothave access to his passport or planeticket. Luckily, Ricky’s friend was ableto contact a local NGO, who assistedRicky in filing a complaint with the localpolice. Fortunately, Ricky had registeredwith the DFAIT on the advice of a friendwho had a similar experience. TheCanadian Consulate was able to easilyverify his information and arrange for anemergency passport and a return ticketto Canada. After landing in Canada,Ricky was able to find housing and othersupport services he needed with thehelp of a local service provider. Ricky isnow trying to repair his relationship withhis parents. He is hoping that they willcome to understand his choices.8
SURVEY RESULTS30 agencies reported having served 219 FM clients since the January of 2010. The vast majority of theagencies that responded were located in Ontario while 2 agencies were located in Quebec. The surveyswere completed for both confirmed and suspected cases. The inclusion of suspected cases was importantsince majority of the agencies did not have a definition of FM. The clients who did not label themselves asbeing forced into a marriage officially but did meet the definition of FM were also captured in the suspectedcases.Survey results were limited by the following factors: i) organizations often did not formally track FM cases;ii) lack of understanding of FM resulted in failure to identify cases as FM cases; and iii) lack of resourcesavailable to service providers limited their ability to complete surveys.Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade confirmed that they had provided assistance to34 individuals in FM situations from mid-2009 to May 2012. DFAIT was unable to complete surveys forconfidentiality reasons. DFAIT also advised that many cases have not been captured as FM cases becausemany of the consular officers are not aware of FM and placed FM cases in other categories. 11GenderThe survey data shows that the respondents dealt with 69 FM cases in 2010, 64 cases in 2011 and 77 casesin 2012 2 . The number of cases reported was consistent over the three-year period that we captured. Thesurvey established that women formed the overwhelming majority of those affected by FM (92%) while mencomprised only 6% of the cases reported in the survey, providing an empirical basis to the idea that FM isanother manifestation of gender based violence.A study conducted with young women in East London, UK, found that it was indeed more difficult for youngwomen to resist parental pressure into FM than young men. 3 While women may constitute the largestgroup of FM statistics, survey data also reflects that FM is not gender specific and occurs across genderboundaries. The results may also be skewed by a lack of outreach to male clients or a failure to classifymen as being in FM situations.TABLE 1: Gender of Individuals Facing Forced MarriageGenderNumber of CasesFemale 202Male 13Other (Transgender) 3Unknown 1TOTAL 2191 Personal correspondence between DFAIT representatives and SALCO (2012).2 9 survey respondents did not provide the year of intake but were included in the study as therespondents were asked to only include cases they had worked on since January 2010.3 UK initiatives on forced marriage: regulation, dialogue and exit (2004, p. 18). We realize that because this study wasconducted with youth in the UK, it may not be directly applicable to Canadian youth due to cultural differences. However,we feel that this point is transferable to the Canadian population due to the universality of the patriarchal culture.9
Page 1 and 2: South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario
Page 3 and 4: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSSALCO would like to
Page 5: TABLE OF CONTENTSIntroduction 1Hist
Page 9 and 10: HISTORY OF SALCO’SFORCED MARRIAGE
Page 11 and 12: FORCED MARRIAGE:LEGISLATION IN CANA
Page 16 and 17: 2 AgeThe survey found that the majo
Page 18 and 19: 4Citizenshipand Length of Time in C
Page 20 and 21: There was no measure included in th
Page 22 and 23: 9Perpetrators of Forced MarriageFro
Page 24 and 25: individual get a job (so the person
Page 26 and 27: the situation or fled. Although all
Page 28 and 29: Another significant challenge noted
Page 30 and 31: CASESTUDYEver since Nina turned 16,
Page 32 and 33: RISK ASSESMENTRecommendation #3: De
Page 34 and 35: Recommendation #8: Better protectio
Page 36 and 37: WORKS CITEDBuckeridge, J. (2012, Au
Page 38 and 39: 2% 1% 1%Figure 1: Age of Individual
Page 40 and 41: 15%15%2% 3%Figure 5: Level of Educa
Page 42 and 43: 13%1%4%11%Figure 9: Level of Educat
Page 44 and 45: INFORMATION AND CONSENT FORMThis is
Page 46 and 47: Level of education:High School Dipl
Page 48 and 49: APPENDIX CInterview Questions42
Page 50: APPENDIX DConference Report44

SALCO - Who, If, When to Marry -The Incidence of Forced Marriage in Ontario (Sep 2013)

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