Caregivers’ Journeys: Coming Together to Address Issues with the Old and New Pathways

This February 4, 2018, the Migrant Mothers Project will host a community event in collaboration with a network of community groups and caregivers to share our findings from the Caregivers’ Journeys Study and discuss ongoing issues with the “old” and “new” Pathways.

CJCCE_UpdatedFinalPoster

The event will feature a panel of advocates and caregivers to discuss current conditions in the old live-in caregiver and new caregiver program, as well as how to work with community legal services and language assessment centres. The event will also provide up-to-date legal information about applying for Permanent Residence. Various resources, such as “Signs of Abuse & Exploitation for Migrant Caregivers” information sheets, a policy brief on the Caregiver Program, and a poster that summarizes the findings of the Caregivers’ Journeys study will be available to all who attend. There will also be resources from select agencies who serve caregivers at the event. Finally, we will discuss challenges for people in the new Caregiver Program and identify advocacy priorities through facilitated workshops, which include:

  • Signs of Abuse and Safety Planning for Caregivers
  • Family Reunification and Mental Health
  • Advocacy Strategy Session

We aim to inspire action and create a space for meaningful dialogue.

To close the event, members of the Caregiver Connections, Education, and Support Organization (CCESO) will hold a tribute for Coco Diaz, an esteemed advocate within the caregiver community.

Date: Sunday, February 4, 2018

Time: 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM (EST)

Location: Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, Room 320

246 Bloor St W Toronto, Ontario M5S 1V4 Canada

To register for the event and for more details, please follow this link to our Eventbrite page: https://goo.gl/PNfNps

Caregivers’ Journeys is a participatory action research project that examines the impact of changes to the Live-in-Caregiver program in 2014 and the creation of the “new” Caregiver Program. Through interviews with 33 caregivers living in Toronto and Calgary, we explored work conditions for migrant caregivers and the impact of long processing delays on caregivers who have applied for permanent residence and await to be reunified with their families.

DS_Safe Spaces_Women Gathering.v1

Some initial lessons from this research include:

  • While removing the “live-in” requirement allows some to live “a life of their own”, many caregivers continue to live with their employers to comply with employer’s wishes, but also due to high cost of setting up their own household on a low-income salary;
  • The Caregiver Program has created new barriers (education level, language requirements, the cap on PR, etc.) for caregivers to complete their 24 months of work and qualify for permanent residence;
  • Caregivers who are “released” by an employer or who need to change employers must wait on average of 8 months before they secure a new employer, for the employer to apply for the Labor Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) AND to apply for a new work permit;
  • The majority of Caregivers in our interviews face some form of abuse or exploitation: unpaid work hours, being denied food, emotional abuse, and sexual harassment
  • Caregivers delay seeking healthcare or experience serious gaps in health coverage during the initial three-month wait period and while waiting for work permits to be renewed;
  • Caregivers find support through informal networks, their faith community or social media (e.g. Facebook) to exchange legal, health, and employment information;
  • When Caregivers do seek social services, they encounter barriers to access because they must travel far distances and/or services only are offered during office hours when Caregivers are working.

In addition to our research activities we support ongoing advocacy efforts through:

  • Hosting representatives from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada for a community consultation with community partners and caregivers in June 2017
  • Supporting a petition to the House of Commons to end the backlog for caregivers’ applications for permanent residence in collaboration with Ontario Council of Agencies Service Immigrants, KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives, Kababayan Multicultural Centre, Migrante Ontario, among others.

For more information on the issue of family reunification for caregivers in Canada and to support our efforts to incite change, please follow this link to sign the petition: https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/petition-to-end-caregiver-pr-backlog-immediately

If you have any questions, please contact migrantmothersproject@gmail.com. We hope that you will join us on February 4th.

“There to Here: Sponsored Spouses’ Journeys”

The Migrant Mothers Project is currently conducting a study titled, “There to Here: Sponsored Spouses’ Journeys” as part of our ongoing research on ‘How Conditional Settlement Impacts Immigrant Women’. We are gathering stories from people who recently moved to Canada as a sponsored spouse, to understand their experiences getting settled and any challenges they may be facing related to their immigration status.

Oct 5 2017- SP SP Flyer

Our study falls on the heels of a major policy change in April 2017, when the Canadian Government repealed the Conditional Permanent Residence requirement for newly sponsored spouses and partners. The Migrant Mothers Project worked with advocacy groups around the country to repeal this policy due to the hardships the conditions caused for immigrants, especially those who were trapped in abusive relationships with their sponsor.

From Fall 2017 to Spring 2018, we who live in Toronto or Calgary, who immigrated after 2012 from South Asia (i.e. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives), and who were in a newer relationship with their spouse at the time of migration. We especially hope to talk with people who were initially granted “conditional permanent resident status” when they first arrived.

Interviews will be one-on-one and completely voluntary. Our researchers can converse in English, Urdu or Hindi and meet with folks at a location that is convenient to them.

Through this research, we will work with settlement services to improve supports for newly sponsored spouses and identify policy changes that can increase immigrants’ access safety in cases where they are abused or neglected by their sponsor.

Please contact us if you have any questions about our study at 416-946-5099 or email us at migrantmothersproject@gmail.com

For more information on the Canadian Government’s decision to repeal the Conditional Permanent Residence requirement, the Ontario Women’s Justice Network has recently distributed an article sharing important information regarding what the repeal may mean for sponsored spouses:

http://owjn.org/2017/05/government-ends-conditional-permanent-residence-for-sponsored-spousespartners/.

Migrant Mothers Project Welcomes Repeal of Conditional Permanent Residence

The Migrant Mothers Project (MMP) welcomes the announcement that the Canadian government has repealed Conditional Permanent Residence (CPR) for sponsored spouses and partners in its entirety. Since 2013, MMP and our community partners have worked to document the impact that conditional settlement policies have on the safety of migrant women. We have brought our research findings to the attention to the House Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration; Status of Women Canada; Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada; as well as in the media. We also supported community-based organizations that mobilized for an end to Conditional Permanent Residence. This policy reversal is the result of this successful mobilization across Canada.

As a research and community engagement project, the Migrant Mothers Project has documented how Conditional Permanent Residence and related policies exacerbate the vulnerability of migrant women to various forms of abuse. Conditional Permanent Residence, which required some sponsored spouses to co-habitate in a conjugal relationship with their sponsor for a period of two years, created a clear policy mechanism for sponsors to exert power and control over their spouses/partners. The option for sponsored spouses/partners to apply for an “Exception for Abuse and Neglect” created a meaningful path for victims of abuse to seek removal of the condition on their permanent residence. The implementation of this form of relief, however, was problematic. It required significant resources from community-based organizations to support victims to gather the necessary documentation, while many feared stigma, backlash, and uncertainty about their immigration status in seeking help. As a result of numerous barriers for immigrant victims of domestic violence, a relatively small number of people came forward to apply for the “Exception.”

Repealing Conditional Permanent Residence is an important step towards acknowledging the power imbalances that create vulnerability, especially for immigrant women, through Canada’s immigration policies. Over the next few months, it will be imperative for immigration officers to fully inform immigrant communities of this policy change. While the repeal of Conditional Permanent Residence has been a primary advocacy goal for the past few years, the threat of being abused by a sponsoring relative continues to impact vulnerable immigrants. Such power imbalances exist across a range of situations in the family sponsorship process, including: in-land sponsored spouses/partners who are waiting for their applications to be processed; the threat of being investigated for “misrepresentation”; and sponsorship agreements for sponsored spouses, children, parents, and grandparents that may tie victims of abuse to their abuser.

Going forward, we will continue to work with our community partners to highlight the need for cross-sector collaboration in advancing policies that justly promote and protect the rights and full inclusion of immigrants in Canada.

For more information:

Canada Gazette – May 3, 2017 – Regulations Amending the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (Repeal of Conditional Permanent Residence)

Conditional Permanent Residence: Failure in Policy and Practice – Canadian Council for Refugees

Unprotected, Unrecognized: Canadian Immigration Policy and Violence Against Women, 2008-2013 (Migrant Mothers Project)

Immigration Policy Developments to Watch in 2017

As we head into a new calendar year, here are a few immigration policies we’re watching out for in the Migrant Mothers Project:

1) A new lottery system has was introduced this week to select 10,000 parent/grandparent sponsorship applications (among the many more that will likely be submitted through IRCC’s new online system). Previously, IRCC operated on a first come first serve basis, which favoured people who lived closer to the Mississauga-based processing centre, or people who had more money to pay couriers to deliver the application on the first day applications are accepted. Sponsors who are successful in submitting their application and having Permanent Residence approved for their parents and grandparents must still have significant funds in the bank and sign on to a 20-year undertaking agreement. Making parent and grandparent reunification accessible to more Canadians is a top priority for 2017.

2) The Liberal government has continued to promise reductions in spousal sponsorship processing times. Last May 2016, IRCC shifted how they report processing times, from the visa office where the applications are being processed to the country where the sponsored immigrant resides. It’s hard to say how the average times have changed for each country, but since the previous year, processing times have been cut to an average 16 months for overseas applicants. Reducing processing times for overseas and in-land spousal applications remains a top priority for 2017.

3) In October 2017, IRCC announced their plans to repeal Conditional Permanent Residence for newly sponsored spouses and partners. The announcement acknowledged that conditional immigration status posed a barrier for sponsored spouses/partners in abusive relationships to seeking safety, a concern that outweighed the threat of ‘fraudulent’ marriages, which was the original basis for this policy. IRCC plans to repeal this measure in the spring of 2017. But why wait? Similar to the “4-in-4-out” rule, this regulation should be repealed immediately, so that thousands of sponsored spouses who are currently enduring the weight of a ‘condition’ on their status can find relief.

4) As of December 13, 2016, the IRCC eliminated the “4-in-4-out” rule that prevented temporary foreign workers in ‘low-skilled’ categories to renew their legal work status in Canada. Migrant workers and immigrant rights groups across Canada, who have fought this measure since it was first introduced in 2012, welcomed this policy change. The right to settle permanently in Canada and reunify with their families, however, are still far from reach for many migrant workers. All migrant workers should have access to permanent residence to ensure full recognition of their rights and protection from exploitation.

5) For all this talk about family reunification, temporary foreign workers continue to face numerous barriers or are flatly denied the ability to reunify with their families. Tens of thousands of people (most of whom are women with children) who completed Canada’s Live-in-Caregiver Program or Caregiver Program continue to wait several years for their permanent resident applications, for themselves and their oversea family members, to be processed. While IRCC is processing newer applicants in less than a year, many caregivers who submitted their applications between 2009 and 2012 remain in a painful limbo; required to renew their temporary permits on an annual basis, while sending messages of hope and love to their children that they may be reunified soon. Processing permanent resident applications for caregivers must be a top priority for 2017!

Migrant Mothers Project Addresses House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration

On November 1, 2016, Rupaleem Bhuyan (MMP’s principal investigator) and a youth (daughter of a live-in caregiver) addressed the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration to speak on the topic of Family Reunification. Each drawing from their experiences, they linked recent changes in immigration policies that have eroded access to family reunification for migrant workers to the hardship faced by many immigrant families. The youth, with support from Esel Palanqui from Thorncliffe Neighborhood Office, gave a moving testimony about her family’s experience of many years of separation and the challenges she faced to obtain permanent residence after her mother, who had completed the Live-In-Caregiver Program, fell ill and passed away from cancer. Based on the MMP’s work, Rupaleem made a number of recommendations to policymakers, including granting caregivers permanent residence upon arrival and swiftly addressing the backlog of permanent residence applications.

Speaking about family sponsorship, Rupaleem endorsed Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s plans to repeal conditional permanent residence (CPR), a regulation which currently requires sponsored spouses to live with their sponsor for 2 years. The proposed changes come after the work of advocates to highlight the policy’s impact on increasing the vulnerability of sponsored spouses, particularly women, to multiple forms of violence. Rupaleem also made recommendations to extend an existing exemption in cases of abuse and neglect to other sponsored family members, such as grandparents and children.

Looking ahead to 2017, the MMP research team will continue to work with our community partners to raise awareness around the impacts of upcoming policy changes on immigrant women. These changes include:

  • Repeal of the federal Live-in Caregiver Program (suspended since 2014), and its replacement by two pathways to permanent residence for caregivers: the Caring for Children Class and the Caring for People with High Medical Needs Class. More on the announcement here.
  • A reduction in the number of caregiver applications accepted from 22,000 in 2016 to 18,000 in 2017, in Canada’s new Immigration Levels Plan.
  • Repeal of Conditional Permanent Residence for sponsored spouses to take effect in 2017. Read the draft regulations here.

Read Rupaleem’s statement to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration.

Caregivers’ Journeys – Project Launch

On Sunday June 26, 2016, the Migrant Mothers Project will be launching a new study called Caregivers’ Journeys to investigate the impact that recent changes to Canada’s Caregiver Program have on access to permanent residency and family reunification. This study is a collaboration with the Ethno-Cultural Council of Calgary and is supported by a Research Advisory Committee of community and agency partners in both Alberta and Ontario.

Amidst growing concern about the economic and social conditions of migrants with precarious status, Caregivers’ Journeys is part of a larger project to better understand how conditional settlement impacts immigrant women. It aims to generate new knowledge about women’s experiences that can help inform new and better ways to support immigrants who are vulnerable to violence and insecurity. Read more about why this study is important here.

Since 2015, the community-university research group has been laying the groundwork for Caregivers’ Journeys through consultations with service providers and policy makers in Alberta and Ontario, building relationships with community members, and engaging diverse stakeholders through the project’s Research Advisory Committee. At this Sunday’s project launch event in Toronto, we invite current and past caregivers and their families to participate in discussions about how this research can benefit caregivers, and to learn more about services and supports in the community.

At the event, we will also talk about the next steps in Caregivers’ Journeys, including how caregivers can participate in the research project. To RSVP, please visit our registration page, or call us at 416-946-5099

For more details about Sunday’s event, check out our Facebook event.

Letter to Minister John McCallum – PR Applications Processing Times

Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office is circulating a letter asking the government to make the processing  of PR applications of Caregivers a priority. The long processing times of Caregivers’ PR applications  increase the precariousness of their immigration status in Canada, prolong family separation and can potentially have negative health impacts. Click here to read and sign the letter: http://goo.gl/forms/oDUyU1rS0e

 

Letter to Minister John McCallum copy 3

A Call to Repeal Conditional PR

The Migrant Mothers Project is circulating a letter to call for the Repeal of Conditional Permanent Residence for newly sponsored spouses and partners. Our letter, addressed to the new Minister of Immigration Refugee and Citizenship Canada, John McCallum, calls for a thorough examination of policies and practices that are creating longer periods of uncertainty for sponsored spouses and partners.

In 2012, the Conservative government introduced a new immigration status called “Conditional Permanent Residence” to crackdown on the so-called problem of “marriage fraud.” Prior, newly sponsored spouses or partners would receive permanent residence status as soon as their application was approved. People who are given Conditional PR must remain in a “conjugal” relationship with their spouse or partner and any suspicion that the relationship is not real can lead to the sponsored spouse losing their right to remain in Canada.

Advocates across Canada denounced the Conditional PR policy when it was first introduced in 2012. In October 2015, on the 3rd anniversary of the measure, the Canadian Council of Refugees reiterated their call to repeal the Conditional PR based on the detrimental impacts this measure has had on immigrants across Canada. Conditional PR is especially dangerous for women in domestic violence situations by reinforcing the ability of an abuser to exercise control over their spouse through immigration status. While an “Exception for Victims of Abuse and Neglect” is currently offered, research conducted by the Migrant Mothers Project indicates that this process has many flaws. Many women who are facing abuse encounter numerous barriers to accessing services. The threat of losing immigration status altogether forces these women to remain with their abusive partners out of fear of being deported from Canada.

To end the unnecessary hardship that is created by Conditional PR and address the vulnerability of sponsored spouses and partners in abusive relationships, we recommend the following:

  1. Repeal the Conditional PR measure and remove conditions that have been placed on all sponsored spouses and partners who have landed in Canada with conditions, since October 2012.
  2. Expand support for immigrant victims of abuse or neglect to access services and have a secure pathway to permanent residence.
  3. Reduce processing times for in-land and overseas sponsored spouses/partners, especially for regions where the sponsored spouse/partner requires a visa to enter Canada.
  4. Extend work authorization to in-land sponsored spouses/partners while they wait for their applications to be processed.

Our letter goes hand-in-hand with a policy brief that outlines the racialized and gendered impacts of this policy measure on newly sponsored spouses and partners. We encourage advocates and immigrant leaders across Canada to meet with your Member of Parliament to encourage them to repeal Conditional Permanent Residence and to develop stronger supports for immigrant and refugee women who experience violence.


 

Letter to the Minister of Canadian Citizenship and Immigration: http://goo.gl/forms/pHS8z3937Z

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Policy Brief for Conditional PR (Updated)  MMP Conditional PR Policy Brief Jan 14 2016

House of Commons Committees Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration

23 April 2015, CIMM-44

Rupaleem Bhuyan was invited to speak in the House of Commons Committees to talk about Bill S-7. The evidence (available here in the House of Commons Committees page) looks into further discussing the term barbaric, and what constitutes as barbaric cultural practices. Update: Since 15 June 2015, Parliament passed Bill S-7 to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the Civil Marriage Act and the Criminal Code.

New study to look at “How Conditional Settlement Impacts Immigrant Women”

This spring, 2015, the Migrant Mothers Project is launching a new three-year study that will examine “How conditional settlement impacts immigrant women”. This study builds upon previous research conducted by the Migrant Mothers Project and aims to inform the development of programs, policies and advocacy strategies to support immigrant women. With the rising concern for economic and social conditions facing immigrants with precarious immigration status, this research aims to develop an intersectional gendered lens that will help us develop ways to support immigrant women and influence public policy to better assist them in times of crisis and need.

In particular, the “Conditional Settlement” study will focus on two groups of immigrants that are overrepresented by women: a) sponsored spouses/partners and b) people who enter Canada through what was previously called the Live-In-Caregiver program.

In Canada, women represent 58% of the sponsored spouses and 96% of the Live-In Caregiver entries (Citizenship & immigration Canada, 2014). The legal and financial dependence that sponsored spouses/partners face have been amplified with the new Conditional Permanent Residence status, that applies to sponsored spouses/partners who have been in a relationship with their sponsor for two years or less and do not have a child in common.

Recent changes to the Live-in-Caregiver program in November 2014, have also created uncertainty about how domestic workers and caregivers in the new program will access permanent residence. In both cases, immigrant women with conditional status may be vulnerable to abuse and face an increased risk of becoming nonstatus or being deportation if they do not abide by the conditions of their stay.

The study’s main objectives are:

  • Exploring changes in immigration policy that impact the settlement of sponsored spouses;
  • Examine how changes to the Live-in-Caregiver program are impacting access to permanent residency and settlement of live-in-caregivers and domestic workers;
  • Understand how immigration enforcement (deportation and removal from Canada) impact immigrant women’ safety and access to support services.
  • Explore the impact of federal and  provincial policies on access to services for immigrant women in the provinces of Alberta and Ontario

During the first year, the main research activities will include:

  • Holding community consultations with service providers and policy makers in Alberta and Ontario;
  • Forming a Research Advisory Committee to guide the development of the study;
  • Conducting a scan of parliamentary debates and policy changes related to sponsored spouses and the live-in-caregiver program;

We look forward to sharing information that we gather about these policies and their impacts throughout the study. Please check out our website for regular updates or follow-us on Facebook.

The Migrant Mothers Project Team

MMP Report & Digital Stories Release

The Migrant Mothers Project (MMP) is pleased to release Unprotected, Unrecognized: Canadian Immigration Policy and Violence Against Women, 2008-2013 a report that examines how recent changes in immigration policy are negatively impacting immigrant women. The MMP is also launching, Till Immigration Tears Us Apart: Stories of Strength through Struggle, a collection of digital stories by migrant women and their advocates.

The Migrant Mothers Project is a collaborative research project led by Rupaleem Bhuyan at the University of Toronto in partnership with a network of community groups working to address violence against immigrant women.

Findings from Unprotected, Unrecognized illustrate how many groups of immigrant women are vulnerable to abuse from their spouse or employer, but have fewer options to seek safety without fearing detention or deportation. It details how sweeping federal policy changes are restricting family sponsorship and reunification, limiting refugee and immigrants’ access to health care and social assistance, while increasing the rate of detention and deportation of immigrants and refugees in Canada. Lastly, the report highlights how community and grassroots groups across Canada are advocating for broader protections for immigrant women.

The Till Immigration Tears Us Apart provides firsthand accounts on the struggles facing immigrant women who are non-status or who have a temporary or precarious immigration status.​  It illustrates how immigration policies impact migrant women’s efforts to support themselves and their families.

We extend our gratitude to women living with precarious immigration status, social and health service providers, grassroots activists, lawyers and educators, whose knowledges and wisdom inspired this report.

The report and the digital stories can both be found in our website: http://migrantmothersproject.com/

Featured @UofTNews,  http://bit.ly/1v9IP1k

We welcome your questions and thoughts. Contact us at migrantmothersproject@gmail.com

Sincerely yours,

Rupaleem Bhuyan

University of Toronto

 

 

 

 

 

Constant State of Change

During the past two weeks, there have been several major shifts and changes in Canadian immigration policy. The Migrant Mothers Project team is still making sense of these changes, but wanted to illustrate some of the policies here at this time.

Changes to the Live-In-Caregiver Program

The long anticipated changes to the Live-in-Caregiver program were announced by Minister Chris Alexander on October 31, 2014. The proposed changes are complex and have been met with mixed responses. Many support the removal of the “live-in” requirement, while some are skeptical to see that fewer Live-in-caregivers will have access to permanent residence. Salimah Valiani has posted a “Briefing note: An analysis of the recently reformed Live-in-Caregiver Program”. The regulations are due to come into effect on November 30, 2014.

A quick overview of the proposed changes include:

  • Live-in requirement is now optional. Live-in-caregivers will no longer be required to live with their employers while they are in the program.
  • The federal government will increase the number of permanent residents (up to 30,000) next year, who apply through the Live-in-Caregiver program. This is intended to clear up the ‘back-log’ of applications that have been pending. There is not commitment to maintain these levels moving forward.
  • CIC has introduced two new streams for caregivers: 1) child care workers and 2) health care aids. There will be a cap of 5,500 for both steams per year beginning in 2015. This is a sizable drop from the current levels of 25,000-30,000 new live-in-caregivers in recent years.
  • The new caregiver streams will be required to have higher levels of education and to have high test scores in English or French (this change mirrors changes to the Federal Skilled Worker Program and the Canadian Experience Class immigration program)

Interim Federal Health Care (Temporarily Reinstated)

Earlier this year, in July, the Federal Court ruled that cuts to Interim Federal Health (IFH) program for refugee claimants was unconstitutional not to mention “cruel”. This past week, the Federal Court denied the Federal Government’s appeal, thus requiring the government to reinstate part of the IFH. The federal government is apparently still fighting this ruling, but while they are exhausting all legal avenues they’ve rolled out a temporary plan.

 

Some of the reinstated benefits include:

  • Drug coverage for resettled refugees, refugee claimants
  • Pre-natal care
  • Basic drug coverage

“Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices”

Yes, that is the actual name of a bill tabled in the Senate, introduced by Chris Alexander. The bill seeks to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the Criminal Code, and the Marriage Act. These amendments would criminalize any one who officiates or takes part in a forced marriage; it creates a national standard for a minimum age to marry at 16, and increases the power of immigration officers to deny an immigration application or deport people who practice or “intend to practice” polygamy.

There are many loopholes in this law and the messaging which attaches forms of violence against women to “cultural” groups that can be handled through intimidating and deporting immigrants. This law does little to provide meaningful support or protection to victims of violence including victims of forced marriage or the so-called “honor’ killings. As the Canadian Council of Muslim Women have stated, the language of ‘honor’ is falsely applied to violence against women in immigrant communities, when in all cases of femicide, the murdered is motivated by a loss of his honor.

For more on this topic, the South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario has produced a comprehensive report on the problem of Forced Marriages in Canada. Although the Chris Alexander quoted statistics from SALCO’s report, they seem to have missed the heart of what victims are asking for, which is no criminalization’, since this would likely discourage victims from seeking any kind of help as this could put their loved ones in jeopardy under the proposed laws.

With so much change take place in Canadian policies, this is a time for discussion and community engagement; policy makers must engage the public and be held accountable to all forms of violence against women that are taking place in Canada, including those produced by Canadian social policies.