After Aqsa Parvez was killed by her father and brother in 2008, and after Amandeep Kaur Dhillon was killed by her father-in-law last year, many tried to avoid the term "honour killings" out of political correctness, or fear of pointing fingers at any one ethnic or cultural group. But for social worker Aruna Papp, this was the wrong approach.
Immigrant communities, particularly South Asians, must "air our dirty laundry" in order to combat violence against women, says Ms. Papp, who specializes in domestic violence. She released a report for the Frontier Centre for Public Policy (a privately funded conservative think tank) entitled "Culturally Driven Violence against Women" at a news conference Monday, just down the road from the Mississauga grocery store where Ms. Dhillon was killed in 2009.
There have been 12 honour killings in Canada since 2002, said Ms. Papp, who defines them as "murders carried out in order to cleanse the family name and restore the family honour."
Though most South Asian men are not abusers, she said that aspects of the cultures, such as glorifying "self-sacrifice in girls and women," contribute to violence. Despite this, she said, most "shy away from challenging immigrant communities" for fear of being viewed as racist or stereotyping.
Rona Ambrose, Minister for the Status of Women, spoke at the event Monday, condemning honour killings and calling on women's groups and local communities to work together with the government to combat the "heinous abuses of power."
When asked if the government might create a special definition or enhanced sentencing in the Criminal Code around honour killings, Ms. Ambrose said that laws are already in place to address violence and murder. Still, she said, "it's something that we're looking at."
A spokesperson for Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, however, said that there currently are no plans in place to amend the Criminal Code in regard to honour killings.
Ms. Papp's report concludes with 14 policy recommendations that she said could help to deter future violence against women. Here are a few of her recommendations:
» All sponsored women should attend "training sessions" staffed by Canadians prior to coming to Canada where they would learn about their rights.
Jeffrey Reitz, a sociology professor at the University of Toronto who specializes in immigration issues, called this "patronizing," saying that honour killings aren't a problem of "educating immigrants," but rather, a problem of crime and violence in general.
» All male sponsors should be required to undergo a "mandatory orientation" to educate them on sponsorship regulations. Men in general, Ms. Papp writes, would have to be educated on gender equality and Canadian laws.
Ms. Ambrose said that there is already an orientation for immigrants, including education on gender equality, but agreed that there is still much to do.
Mr. Reitz rejected this recommendation, calling it "a form of racial profiling." The process of finding murderers, he said "is not to target entire ethnic groups."
» Civil servants, who often avoid asking questions about violence for fear of appearing racist, need to be trained so that they will have "the confidence to ask pertinent questions."
Mr. Reitz, again, expressed doubts about this recommendation, saying that measuring and proving assertions like this are "extremely difficult."
» There needs to be government-funded programming in ethnic media to educate abused women and their abusers alike.
Ms. Ambrose said that the government is "looking into" this recommendation.
Ann Hui