National Post Article: Canadian Government Report Focuses On Honour Killings & Violence Against Women In The South Asian Community.
Update: Minister’s ‘honour killings’ misstep
Peter J. Thompson/National Post
Rona Ambrose, Minister of Public Works and Government Services and Minister for Status of Women spoke at Mississauga’s Punjabi Community Health Centre on the subj
Kathryn Blaze Carlson July 12, 2010 – 8:50 pm
Mississauga, Ont. — Hours after the Minister for the Status of Women said the federal government is looking into amending the Criminal Code to include so-called “honour killings,” a Justice department spokeswoman said that is not so.
Rona Ambrose also told a news conference in Mississauga yesterday that the government is considering immigration changes that could better ensure newcomers understand Canadian laws and values.
She suggested honour killing may become a separate charge in the Criminal Code.
“I’ll say that it’s something that we’re looking at,” Ms. Ambrose said, addressing reporters and about a dozen women and a few men from the community who gathered at the Punjabi Community Health Centre. “Nothing more than that at this time.”
However, Justice Department spokeswoman Pamela Stephens said last night that the government has no plans to add honour killings to the Criminal Code.
“An intentional killing is murder, regardless of the motive,” she said.
“The expression ‘honour killing’ is not listed in the Criminal Code nor is ‘domestic violence. Rather, the two are addressed through the existing offences in the code such as assault, criminal harassment, murder, and related aggravating factors.”
The Minister’s comments come on the heels of a new report focusing on the abuse of girls and women in Canada’s immigrant communities, particularly in the non-Westernized segment of the South Asian community, where the report said “honour/shame codes are rife.”
The report, released by the Frontier Centre for Public Policy and which documents 12 honour killings in Canada since 2002, outlines 14 federal government policy recommendations that would “blunt the effect” of “destructive cultural traditions.”
Ms. Ambrose said the government is “looking at all the recommendations,” and said Ottawa has already moved forward with some of the suggestions, including mandatory orientation sessions for newcomers that stress gender equality.
Also among the report’s recommendations are criminal record checks for men coming to Canada, background checks for male sponsors in order to determine how many times the man has been married and how the previous spouse is being financially supported and cultural training for immigration officials and civil servants, who are “often afraid of being deemed racist or bigoted.”
“Immigration officers need to be trained in how to find out what a person thinks,” said Aruna Papp, author of the report and a Toronto-based social worker who deals with domestic violence in the South Asian community. “If we know that a man is violent against women, then he should not be allowed into the country.”
Although honour killings — culturally motivated killings carried out by relatives in order to ”cleanse” the family name and restore the family’s so-called honour — remain relatively rare in Canada, several high-profile cases have recently drawn attention to the issue.
Last month, in a case that catapulted honour crimes into the international spotlight, a Mississauga father and brother were sentenced to life in prison for the murder of 16-year-old
Aqsa Parvez, who was found strangled in her family’s home in December 2007. Friends said Aqsa had been at odds with her family over her refusal to wear the hijab, the Islamic head scarf worn by some Muslim women.
“Let me be explicit: This type of violence–the most extreme of which is often known as honour killings — has no place in Canadian society,” said Ms. Ambrose, who is also Minister of Public Works and Government Services. “The government of Canada therefore condemns these acts unreservedly and absolutely.”
Yesterday’s news conference was not the first time Ottawa has pronounced its zero-tolerance stance on honour killings: Last fall, Ottawa released a revamped Citizenship Guide for newcomers to Canada which, for the first time, explicitly condemned “barbaric cultural practices” such as honour killings.
For Ms. Papp, a key priority is to ensure that immigration officers make a “culturally appropriate assessment” of a male sponsor’s relationship history and are equipped to determine whether the man has been violent in the past.
Ms. Papp met with Ms. Ambrose yesterday morning before the news conference, and said the minister told her all 14 recommendations are “on the table”–including one that would force a male sponsor to support the woman if the sponsorship dissolves.
“This is a good start, but there is a lot more to be done,” Ms. Papp said, adding thatpoliticians– especially those who represent ridings with a significant number of South Asian immigrants — must “ask more questions” about what is being done to prevent culturally driven crimes in their communities.
Ms. Ambrose–who said she would sign the international petition denouncing the threatened execution of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for the crime of adultery — called on members of the immigrant community to do their part in tackling these “heinous abuses.”
National Post, with files from Canwest News Service
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REPORT SUMMARY
Ottawa yesterday announced it is looking into 14 recommendations outlined in a new report released by the Frontier Centre for Public Policy. Here is a summary of the report’s recommendations, some of which have already been adopted:
1. Sponsored women should attend training sessions in their home country to learn about their rights and Canadian culture and values. Gender equality should be stressed.
2. Male sponsors should attend mandatory orientation sessions regarding Canadian values and sponsorship laws, with particular attention paid to gender equality.
3. The government should develop “culturally appropriate assessment procedures” for civil servants to assess relationship history.
4. Immigration officers should undergo “cultural competency training” in order to “analyze stories” put forward by immigrants.
5. “If the sponsorship dissolves and the new spouse is not able to support herself, a spousal allowance should be withdrawn from the income of the sponsoring spouse to guarantee financial support for the sponsored spouse.”
6. Prospective male sponsors should be investigated to check how many times they have been married, examine their pattern of sponsorship and document how the previous spouse is being financially supported.
7. Men should be checked for any criminal record in Canada and in their country of origin, with an eye to “violence against someone in the past.”
8. “Some women are sponsored as a spouse, quickly divorced, and then forced into marrying the first husband’s relative. Women in these situations should be identified and informed of their rights.”
9. Civil servants — who are “often afraid of being deemed racist or bigoted” — need training that will give them the confidence to ask the “pertinent questions.”
10. “The government needs to pay more attention to the Canadian South Asian media, where unregulated ‘ghost’ consultants advertise services related to immigration, sponsorship and marriage.”
11. There needs to be government-funded programs on local and national television and radio in various languages that educate women on gender equality and which “remind abusers that there will be consequences for abusing women.”
12. There needs to be shelters devoted to women abused by extended family members.
13. Men who are arrested for domestic violence should be ordered by the court to attend a counselling program. Program curriculum should be more “culturally appropriate.”
14. Leaders in South Asian communities must be “pressured” to speak out frequently and sincerely against the practice of abusing girls and women.
Globe & Mail Article: Confronting The Honour Killing Taboo In South Asian Canadian Communities.
Ann Hui
From Tuesday’s Globe and Mail Published on Monday, Jul. 12, 2010 10:35PM EDT Last updated on Thursday, Jul. 15, 2010 4:25PM EDT
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.
The Economic Times: Violence Against Women Rising In The South Asian Canadian Community.
Canada-bound female spouses from India need counselling14 Jul 2010, 1537 hrs IST,AGENCIES
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TORONTO: With rampant domestic violence, including honour killings, against women in Indian and other South Asian communities in Canada, a study here has recommended bold steps to confront the problem.
These steps include counselling sessions by Canadian missions for women in their native India and Pakistan before they land in Canada after marriages. In her study titled “Culturally driven violence against women” among south Asians here, Indo-Canadian social activist Aruna Papp says the fast-growing community has the highest domestic violence in Canada. “Since 2002, the murders of 12 women were identified as honour killings; three other murders identified as domestic violence also have the hallmarks of an honour killing,” she says, giving examples of young Sikh and Muslim women killed by their fathers and brothers to protect ‘family honour’. Since spouses coming from India and Pakistan bear the brunt of domestic violence, Papp says these sponsored women should be provided mandatory counselling sessions in their country of origin before they land here. “The session would be administered and staffed by Canadian citizens. The goal of this training would be to educate women about their rights and Canadian culture and values,” she says in her recommendations. This training will educate women how to approach help centres in Canada in case they are subjected to domestic violence. Papp has also recommended “mandatory orientation” for men in Canada sponsoring women to educate them about sponsorship rules and regulations. “Men, too, should be educated on the values and laws regarding gender equality.” With a record number of men and women entering into fake marriages to come to Canada, the study says, “Men making applications to sponsor a wife need to be investigated to check how many times they have been married, examine their pattern of sponsorship and document how the previous spouse is being financially supported.” But since Canadian immigration officers posted in India or elsewhere are not culturally trained to catch these individuals, the study has recommended that “cultural competency training for frontline personnel would ease the process for immigrants”. Papp has also urged the Canadian government to stamp out ‘ghost consultants’ in the South Asian community who run fake services for immigration, sponsorship and marriage. To draw attention of policy makers to the cases of honour killings, the report begins with the 1999 killing of five-year-old Farah Khan by her father and stepmother after the father claimed she was not his child. Among other cases, the report also refers to the honour killing of two young Sikh women – 17-year-old Amandeep Singh Atwal in 2003 by her father for living with her white boyfriend and 22-year-old Amandeep Kaur Dhillon last year by her father-in-law for allegedly seeing another man. |
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ABC News: Transgender Widow Nikki Araguz Has A Criminal History Will This Hurt Her Case For Benefits?
HOUSTON (KTRK) — We have new information in a widow’s battle over benefits following the death of her firefighter husband. A lawsuit first called into question the legality of her marriage because she, the widow, was born a man. And we’ve learned she does have a history of legal problems.
We first brought you the exclusive interview with Nikki Araguz on Monday. Her husband was killed in a fire earlier this month. She told Eyewitness News her husband was well aware of her operation, despite a lawsuit from his mother and ex-girlfriend that claims otherwise. This case has raised a lot of questions about how law enforcement classifies inmates, particularly here at the Harris County Jail, where the firefighter’s widow was booked seven times since the early 1990’s – sometimes as a man, others as a woman. But even when classified as a woman, she was apparently held in a male cell.
In a mug shot taken in 1996 of the person we now know as Nikki Araguz, although looking female at the time, she was booked into the jail at the time as a man with the name Justin Graham Purdue, the name she says was on her original birth certificate. “Unless we have reason to doubt what your gender is, we will go with what you appear to be,” said Christina Garza of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. The sheriff’s office says it determines gender classification based on what a person says and what they look like upon booking, but they told us each inmate is also screened by medical personnel. The classification we’re told will be changed if what’s found is not what was initially thought.
Since 1992, Justin Purdue, also known as Nikki Paige Purdue Mata, was booked seven times in the Harris Co. Jail – four times as a man and three as a woman. In 1992, as man, he was given probation for theft.
In 1994 as a man, there was another year of probation for theft.
In 1995, he was sentenced to 20 days in jail for theft.
In 1995, he was sentenced to four days in jail as a man for driving with a suspended license.
According to court documents, he legally changed his name to Nikki Paige Purdue in 1996. Then in 2000, she was booked as a woman for theft and given a year’s probation.
In 2002, she was booked as a woman also for theft and sentenced to 30 days.
And in 2004, a charge of failure to ID was dismissed.
However, it wasn’t until 2008 that Nikki Araguz says she had a sex change operation. So how does the sheriff’s office explain the two bookings as a woman before the operation? They can’t. They say there are no records specific enough to say. “I don’t have firsthand knowledge of the case, so I wouldn’t be able to tell you,” said Garza. Nikki Araguz told Eyewitness News first about the sex change Monday. “This was no secret to my husband, and I miss him terribly,” Araguz said. This is all significant because Nikki’s marriage to firefighter Thomas Araguz is being questioned now in a court of law. He died in a blaze near Boling on July 4. His mother and ex-wife claim Thomas Araguz didn’t know Nikki used to be a man, and as such say she is not legally entitled to any death benefits. A spokesperson for Nikki Araguz says, “whether or not she committed crimes in the past has no bearing on whether she should receive benefits.” We expect to learn more about this case Friday during a hearing in court.
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