While some are complaining that Canada’s new citizenship guide plays up the military, the royal family, and hockey and downplays environmentalism and the arts, it also takes a much stronger line on the issue of women’s equality in Canadian society. According to the National Post (see the full story here) Canada’s revamped citizenship guide warns newcomers that “barbaric cultural practices” such as honour killings will not be tolerated, marking a stronger tone against importing beliefs that clash with Canadian values.
“In Canada, men and women are equal under the law,” the document says. “Canada’s openness and generosity do not extend to barbaric cultural practices that tolerate spousal abuse, ‘honour killings,’ female genital mutilation or other gender-based violence. Those guilty of these crimes are severely punished under Canada’s criminal laws.”
Some might worry that suggestion that such crimes stem from imported values may offend some ethnic communities.
Farzana Hassan, spokeswoman for the Muslim Canadian Congress, is quoted in the Post article as saying there is nothing controversial about the statement in the new guide, adding that it is a long-overdue step toward tackling a cultural practice that does not jibe with Canadian values.
“We cannot ignore this in the name of multiculturalism,” she said.
The full text of the new guide, Discover Canada: The Rights and Responsibilities of Canadian Citizenship, is here.
Those guilty of these crimes are severely punished under Canada’s criminal laws.
If only that were true. The examples of leniency on spousal abuse and the rape of women and children are legion. I guess it’s OK as long as there’s no reference to a “foreign” culture. Home grown misogyny? A-OK!
They definitely need to get tougher on those who rape women and children. Several countries are now castrating the men who are convicted of such offenses. Maybe Canada will do the same sometime in the near future.
Some time back there was a move to institute Shari’a family law courts in Canada which was scotched by the protests of Canadian Muslim women. Good for Canada!
Some might worry that suggestion that such crimes stem from imported values may offend some ethnic communities.
Yeah, I think I might worry about what the word ‘barbaric’ is doing. Possibly painting a picture of “we lack these barbaric practices because we have a better, more sophisticated culture.” (Isn’t that what the word ‘barbaric’ is always doing?)
DavidC – your comment led me to check the OED, which has “barbaric” = “not civilized”.
There’s a definite othering issue going on with the use of ‘barbaric.’ “Gender-based violence” is bad in whatever context it occurs, let’s not use loaded terms which imply a superiority of some cultures over others.
And civilized:
having a high state of culture and development both social and technological; “terrorist acts that shocked the civilized world”
marked by refinement in taste and manners; “cultivated speech”; “cultured Bostonians”; “cultured tastes”; “a genteel old lady”; “polite society”
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
So this is what I have a problem with, making it about a high state of culture and social development. Of course, an (imaginary!) culture that does not accept violence against women is, in some sense, in a higher state of social development (in exactly that one sense, not more). But I think the choice to make it about the culture itself says something, something that bothers me.
Well you have to start somewhere. The language is not perfect but at least it’s not wishy washy feel goodish.
Also, beyond gender, it’s a common fact that foreigners are always held to a higher standard than the local home grown citizens, it’s unfair and based on fear of the stranger but in this case the intention is good. Plus when you think about it, the sad fact is that we dont hold ourselves to the same idealized standard.
Well you have to start somewhere. The language is not perfect but at least it’s not wishy washy feel goodish.
Yes, violence against women matters. And is bad. I think so too.
Kuri, I’m curious about how familiar you are with rape and domestic abuse laws in Canada. Sure, our media periodically portrays a handful of people who “get away with murder” as some overwhelming social burden, but I’ve found that our lawmakers lean toward “proactive” on domestic issues, and are quite reasonable about rape victims’ dignity during the court process.
I myself was charged with a level one assault after defending myself against a male assailant. The charges against me were dropped with very little strain on my dignity. As much as I gripe about classism and elitism in this part of the world, I can at least say that I feel safe hitchhiking to school, or cramming for an exam late at night in a coffee shop in the urban centre I call home.
Yes, the “proactive” child abuse laws apply to Canadian and foreign born alike. Did you know that in the province of Ontario, child protection authorities can apprehend a child for being “at risk of emotional harm”? The risk model includes witnessing domestic violence, even if the courts are unable to determine whether or not the child has been abused.
I do agree that the word “barbaric” is loaded, though. More specific terminology describing specific harmful acts would be in order here. All cultures hold powerful convictions concerning acts of murder, and we can’t “paint all Muslims with the same paintball gun” as it were (see Toronto 18). Islam touches 25% of the world’s population, and many of them are just as outraged by “honour killings” and FGM as non-Muslims. The words “barbaric cultural practices” are just too vague, and reek of the xenophobic history that Canadians claim to be ashamed of.
Xena, I’m an Albertan and I know the following: sex workers are assaulted and murdered routinely with little follow up from the police. Google “Highway of Tears” and do a little reading about what takes place up north and in the west. Or check out the Tisdale rape case where the judge recommended very low sentences to the rapists of a 12 girl from the Yellow Quill nation because, as he said, you know how “those people” (meaning aboriginals) can be. It’s fair to say that rape is not dealt with in a lenient manner, in particular when the victims are aboriginal. That is, if anyone even bothers to put much effort into investigating and prosecuting in the first place.
Citizenship is a tough occupation which obliges the citizen to make his own informed opinion and stand by it.Nurses2canada is a professional recruitment agency catering to the nurses who want to migrate and work in Canada.
Kuri: Pardon my late response; I’m “up to there” in a HUGE archaeology paper.
I can’t argue with what you’re saying. My mom’s from Moose Factory Island. She told me about coming “down south”, and how she wouldn’t speak for 3 months because she thought she sounded like a “bush Indian”, even though her appearance allowed her (I hate this term, but I’ll use it because it’s concise and familiar) to “pass”.
I’m well aware of what’s happening on the “Highway of Tears”. I forget sometimes that my “whitewashed” appearance may have more to do with the way a judge or three perceive my violent reactions to creeps than any kind of “fairness” in our criminal justice system. If I presented with a phenotype that were closer to “red”, I probably would have served a prison sentence by now.
I have, and am still considering a minor in First Nations studies. The flipside of our “proactive” child protection laws is that they give doctors and social workers too much power to persecute innocent people over classist and/or racist interpretations of “risk”. What was originally intended as a legal mechanism to counter domestic violence becomes– as I’ve noted in response to other posts– a resurrection of the old Residential School system.
Yet another point of shame that Canadians pay lip service to, yet fail to correct with adequate legal and social policy changes, is the traditional view of the conquerors to the conquered. Far too many in positions of power in this country still view our First Nations people as “foreigners” with “barbaric cultural practices” that need “correction”.
I wonder when our lawmakers will wake up and see how many “fingers are pointing back at them” when they attempt to codify concepts like “don’t be barbaric” into law.
BTW, I do agree that attempting to prosecute a rapist or woman beater is an process with completely unpredictable results. For this reason, I still stand by my prior commentaries advocating female vigilante-ism. Unfortunately, it’s such a deeply satisfying act that if all women did it, thousands of therapists would likely be put out of work ;)