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

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CASESTUDYEver since Nina turned 16, her familyhad been joking about getting hermarried as soon as possible. When shestarted talking about going to universityafter finishing high school, her parentssuggested taking a year off and exploringher options. This seemed odd to Ninaconsidering her parents had alwaysvalued her education highly. As herhigh school graduation approached,Nina began to dread the summer. Shesuspected that she would be forced intoa marriage with a boy chosen by theelders in her family. Nina had seen thishappen several times before – all of herolder cousins had been married by theend of the summer they graduated highschool. Even her older sister had gottenmarried in a similar hurried mannerthree years ago. When Nina overheardher mother talking on the phone aboutwedding preparation and saw her fatherperusing dating websites, she beganto get worried. Determined to avoid thesame fate as the other young women inher family, she booked an appointmentwith her high school guidance counselorand divulged her fears to her. Theguidance counselor consulted withSALCO. SALCO helped Nina create asafety plan that she could be carefullyexecuted in case of an emergency andconnected her with a youth worker. Theday after Nina finished her last exam,her mother told her that an old friendof her father’s that they had not seen inover a decade would be coming to visitwith his son and asked Nina if she wouldbe able to keep him company duringthe visit. Understanding the meaning ofthis subtle introduction, Nina contactedSALCO, divulged her fears and informedthem that she had decided to executeher emergency plan. SALCO connectedher with a housing worker who foundtemporary housing for her. Nina left thenight before her family’s guests were dueto arrive.24
POLICY RECOMMENDATIONSThe recommendations made below reflect the results of SALCO’s survey, the open-ended interviewsconducted with Canadian experts on FM, and the feedback garnered from SALCO Forced Marriageconference held on October 3, 2012. It is clear that in order to overcome the challenges that serviceproviders currently face, FM must be addressed at a policy and practice level.EDUCATION / TRAININGRecommendation #1: Implement a national public awareness campaign.Engaging different generations through a national campaign on FM would not only raise awareness butalso create a dialogue around the issue and build public and community accountability. Awareness andeducation would pressure perpetrators of FM to revisit antiquated beliefs about forcing marriage. Increasedawareness of FM also would alleviate some of the stigma and isolation felt by survivors by eliminatingshame and guilt associated with FM. Survey results and other feedback reveal a definite lack of awarenessand understanding of FM, and challenges associated with being unaware of the current resources availableto FM victims.A national awareness campaign would be best conducted by the federal government, who has both theability and national scope to ensure a successful education / awareness strategy.Recommendation #2: Provide Education and Training to service providersincluding, but not limited to, teachers, guidance counsellors, healthprofessionals, social workers and police.The warning signs exhibited by an individual facing FM are often missed by the front-line stakeholders whosee those clients (example: social workers, police, guidance counsellors, health care professionals, CASworkers, doctors, teachers, etc.). There continues to be a lack of understanding of what FM is and how toaddress these cases.Education and training for front-line stakeholders would provide a better understanding of FM, better prepareprofessionals to detect the warning signs of FM, and assist clients earlier in their FM cases (example: beforethey are removed from Canada). 1 Education and training would also allow stakeholders to understand theresources that are available cross-sectorally. Survey results have revealed that stakeholders that work withyoung people require more knowledge on FM.SALCO should create a webinar that can be accessed throughout the country to educate and train stakeholderson FM, with consideration that training must reflect the intersectionalities of gender, race and culture.1 The toolkit for service providers created by SALCO provides general guidelines on how to deal with FM cases.25
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 26 and 27: the situation or fled. Although all
Page 28 and 29: Another significant challenge noted
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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