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

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the situation or fled. Although all of the exact reasons for the service providers’ inability to follow up areunknown, the high rate of individuals that are slipping through the cracks is perhaps an indication of the lackof swift emergency responses that are required in such uncertain situations.14ChallengesDespite the work being done by service providers on FM, lack of resources and understanding of FMpresented significant challenges that need to be overcome in order to assist FM clients. It must be notedthat difficulties in accessing services are amplified for youth in transitional ages. Service providers ratedlack of counselling services as the biggest obstacle in serving their FM clients. In 39% of the cases, serviceproviders had difficulty finding individual or group counselling, any mental health services, substance abuseprograms or suicide help lines that understood the uniqueness of FM situations. Exacerbating the problem,hospitals also often refuse to work with this population as the current policies require them to retain parentalconsent. 11Figure 10: Challenges Faced by Service ProvidersPERCENTAGE OF CASES4035302520151050Finding CounsellingFinding Legal SupportGetting Police SupportLack of Proper Risk AssessmentAccessing Canadian Border ServicesAccessing Federal Gov’t for AssistanceLack of Housing OptionsLack of Understanding from CASCHALLENGESLack of ResettlementRegressive Immigration PoliciesOther11 Forced marriages and gaps in services: interview with Jakki Buckeridge (2012).20
Lack of housing options was reported to be a problem in 37% of the cases. As FM is excluded from thedefinition of domestic violence, many women are unable to go to shelters dedicated to domestic violencevictims. The problem is compounded in cases of male victims since there are even less housing optionsavailable to them. Youth access to shelters is not only restricted due to current policies but is particularlyproblematic as youth shelters do not have the same privacy regulations – they generally require the youth toleave the shelter in the morning and not return until a particular time, forcing them to remain in communitiesor areas that are dangerous for them. Youth shelters also do not provide the same level of supports that areprovided in women’s shelters, effectively feeding into the isolation felt by youth who have chosen to leavetheir homes. 12 Finally, it is also unclear if FM would fall under the definition of “domestic violence” used tomake priority housing applications with subsidized housing providers. There has been no clarity on thisissue.In addition to the lack of housing, lack of access to provincial social assistance was reported to be amajor barrier. Many women were denied access to financial assistance because they are considered tobe dependent on the income of their families or husbands (the perpetrators of the FM). Access to federalgovernment for assistance was considered challenging in 16% of the cases while accessing CanadianBorder Services were reported to be problematic in 20% of the cases. This was reported to be a significantsource of frustration for service providers dealing with clients who were taken out of the country. One ofthe survey respondents even reported receiving assistance from the U.S. government when the Canadiangovernment was unable to assist. Accessing police support was also considered a challenge in 18% of thecases.Other significant findings were:··32% of the service providers reported challenges associated with a lack of proper risk assessmentavailable to determine the risk of FM to a client;··31% of the service providers reported an inability to access legal services; and··7 % of the service providers reported a lack of understanding from CAS about FM cases as a challengein assisting clients.Comments from the surveys also noted a lack of understanding about FM from school boards and theinability of schools to provide safe spaces for FM clients. Echoing the sentiments of other survey respondents,Buckeridge also stated that she refrains from using misunderstood terms like FM when dealing with certaingovernment agencies that seem to have little to no understanding of FM issues. 13 Buckeridge and severalattendees at SALCO’s Forced Marriage Conference (October 2012) noted that they were forced to presentFM cases in a “creative” way to secure governmental assistance due to that lack of understanding. 1412 Forced Marriages and Gaps in Services: Interview with Jakki Buckeridge (2012).13 Forced marriages and gaps in services: interview with Jakki Buckeridge (2012).14 Conference report: forced marriage conference (October 2012) (p. 3-4).21
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 14 and 15: CASESTUDYRicky was born and raised
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 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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