Transcript Document

Intimate Partner Violence:
Working with New Canadians
Sarah Amies,
Lethbridge Family Services –
Immigrant Services
Funded by:
Presentation Overview
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IPV – what is it?
IPV in immigrant communities
Immigration status
Power and control tactics
Other forms of violence
Extending service
Cross cultural communication
IPV - what is it?
• Pattern of assaultive/coercive behaviours
designed to establish control
• Perpetrated by person who was/is/wants
involvement in intimate and/or dating
relationship
• Partners are same or opposite sex
IPV - what is it?
• Primarily crime against women
• Occurs throughout the world
• Cuts across social, economic, religious,
cultural lines
IPV in immigrant communities
No indication that immigrant women
experience higher levels of IPV than other
Canadian women
IPV in immigrant communities
• 2004 Statistics Canada General Society Survey
on victimization
– Visible minority women report lower 5 year rates of
spousal violence than non minority women
– Rates of spousal violence for visible minority women
declined 1999 – 2004; remained stable for other
women
– Since 1999 no difference between estimated range of
spousal violence for recent vs. longer term
immigrants
IPV in immigrant communities
• Some risk factors not as prevalent in
immigrant families
• Survey conducted in English and French
Research challenges
• Few studies focus exclusively on
immigrant/refugee populations
• Majority of literature is descriptive
• Aggregate results
• Sociocultural context ignored
• Limited comparability available
• High costs of multilingual research
projects
Research challenges
• IPV difficult to measure
• IPV generally occurs in private
• Reluctance to report due to shame, fear of
reprisal
• Statistics Canada 2004 survey
IPV in immigrant communities
• Immigrant women experience IPV in
unique ways
• Widespread, costly and complex social
problem
• Multiple and specific needs
IPV in immigrant communities
• Language proficiency
• Economic and social resources
• Social isolation
– Dominant male roles
– Religious doctrines
– Shame/fear
• Immigration status
IPV in immigrant communities
• Reporting difficulties:
– Language barrier
– Lack familiarity with social system
– Fear of authorities
– Immigration status
– Detrimental to collective community survival
– Shame and reprisal
Immigration Status
• Permanent resident/Canadian citizen
• Status not affected by decision to leave abusive
partner
• Sponsorship breakdown – same as above
• Lack of awareness of rights and services
Immigration Status
– Temporary or no status (e.g. expired
visitor/work visa; refugee claimant; in
progress inland spousal sponsorship
application; live in caregivers)
• At risk of being removed from Canada if:
– Sponsorship breaks down/withdrawn
– Leaves abusive partner
– Advised to obtain legal advice
Immigration Status
• If deportation threatened, application to
stay on Humanitarian and Compassionate
grounds possible if applicant meets CIC
criteria:
• Demonstrating experience of hardship/persecution
in home country
• Demonstrating levels of establishment in Canada
Power and control tactics
• Emotional abuse
• Economic abuse
• Sexual abuse
Power and control tactics
• Using coercion and threats
• Using children
• Using citizenship and residency privilege
Power and control tactics
• Intimidation
• Isolation
• Minimizing, Denying, Blaming
Muslim wheel of domestic violence
Emotional abuse
• Belittling/calling wife unfit Muslim mother
• Making fun of inadequate Islamic
knowledge
• Telling abused women they must be quiet,
docile, obedient to uphold family honor
• Lovemaking inferior to Canadians
Muslim wheel of domestic violence
• Using intimidation
• Grossly dirtying kitchen several times a
day
• Local Imam tells her abuse her fault
• Collecting, displaying weapons
• Apologizing to others for her behaviour
Muslim wheel of domestic violence
Coercion and threats
• Threatening to marry another wife
• Threatening “God ordained” wife beating
• Spread word she is adulteress
• Forcing her to drop charges to preserve
family honour
Muslim wheel of domestic violence
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Using children
Beaten to prevent becoming too Canadian
Custody from Islamic court
Child’s trauma excuse for IPV
Children encouraged to insult, disrespect
mother
• Children forced to lie about/trivialize abuse
Muslim wheel of domestic violence
• Using male privilege
• Dominance/inflexibility mandated by
Qu’ran
• Wife’s plans/goals considered too
Western, un-Islamic
• Muslim father’s “right” to abuse children
• Wife encouraged to fear husband
Other forms of violence
Child marriage
• Common in many developing countries
• Girls 12 – 16 years but as young as 3 or 4
• Parents’ decision
Other forms of violence
Child marriage
• Most young brides have little voice in their
own marriages
• Decisions about health, childbirth are not
theirs
• Pressure to prove fertility and lack of
education make it hard to protect oneself
Other forms of violence
Child marriage
If the current trends of child marriage
continue, more than 100 million girls will
be married as child brides in the next
decade
Other forms of violence
FGM/FGC
• Terms
– Female circumcision (FC)
– Female genital mutilation (FGM)
– Female genital cutting (FGC)
Other forms of violence
FGM/FGC
According to a joint WHO/UNICEF/UNFPA
statement the use of the word mutilation
reinforces the idea that this practice is a
violation towards women and girls
Other forms of violence
FGM/FGC
• Prevalence:
– Over 130 million women worldwide have been
affected by some form of FGC
– 2 million procedures/year
– Mainly practiced in African countries
– Spread to Europe, Australia, US, Canada
Other forms of violence
FGM/FGC
• Why?
– FGC has been practiced by a variety of
cultures throughout history
– Usually practiced by traditional practitioners or
lay persons
– Many complex, poorly understood reasons
Other forms of violence
FGM/FGC
• Why?
– Based on love and desire to protect
– Necessary rite of passage into womanhood
– Prerequisite for qualifying for wifehood
– Enhances male sexuality; curbs female
sexual desire; aesthetic, purifying, hygienic
benefits; prevents promiscuity and preserves
virginity
Other forms of violence
FGM/FGC
• Why?
– No religious significance
– Important part of gender identity
– But conducted in broader context of gender
discrimination
– Explanations do not justify practice
Other forms of violence
Honour Killing
• Ancient cultural practise
• Men murder female relatives in name of
family honour
• Forced or suspected sexual activity
outside the marriage
Other forms of violence
Honour Killing
• Cleanse family name and restore honour
• Man who refrains from “washing shame
with blood is a coward who is not worth
living, much less a man”
• Perpetrated unilaterally within the family
Other forms of violence
Honour Killing
• Statistically frequent
• Stems from culturally approved codes
around collective family honour and
shame
• Condoned/facilitated by kinship groups
and the community
Other forms of violence
Honour Killing
• In Canada:
• Since 2002, 12 women murdered and
identified as honour killings
Service needs
• Crisis oriented counseling
• Temporary shelter
• Education about justice system options
Service needs
• Direct (or referral to) legal services
• Supportive, ongoing advocacy
• Information about other services
• Creating and maintaining linkages
Community awareness/change
• Prepare survivors to become stronger
leaders
• Challenge – women do not want to be
associated with stigma
• Anonymity is key to safety
Community awareness/change
• Improve social and community norms
about IPV
• Long term prevention effort needs to raise
community awareness of and change
attitudes towards IPV
Mainstream service gaps
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First language abilities/resources
Cultural awareness/competence
Work in silos
Overcoming lack of client trust
Difficulty engaging some community
leaders
• Funding
Extending service
• Keep in mind
– Stress of immigration experience
– Don’t use the cookbook approach
– First point of contact is crucial
– Walk/dialogue with clients
– Family dynamic disruption
– Obtain details about culture, community,
family and other needs
Cross cultural communication
• Stereotyping is common and dangerous
• Different cultures result in different
behaviours of people
• Increasingly diverse populations demand
that service providers understand people
from different cultures and countries
Cross cultural communication:
getting started
• Direct experience is best way to begin
learning
• Initially differences feel like a threat
• Tend to overlook similarities
• More variation within a group than
between them
• Own cultural identities not apparent until
we interact with others
Cross cultural communication:
potential hot spots
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Opening and closing conversations
Taking turns during conversations
Interrupting
Use of silence
Appropriate topics of conversation
Use of humour
Body language
• More than 65% of social meaning can be
conveyed non verbally
• Humans have more than 700,000 forms of
body language
• Misunderstanding can cause long term
embarrassment
• The ultimate gesture!
Sources
• Aruna Pap, Culturally Driven Violence
Against Women, Policy Series, Frontier
Centre for Public Policy, July 2010
• CBC .ca “Immigrant Women hesitant to
report abuse: study”, Last updated March
8, 2004
• Community Legal Education Ontario
immigration and refugee fact sheet,
January 2009
Sources
• INSCAN International Settlement Canada,
Volume 24, Numbers 1-2, Summer-Fall
2010
• Intimate Partner Violence in Immigrant and
Refugee Communities, Family Violence
Prevention Plan, March 2009
• Muslim wheel of domestic violence, Dr.
Sharifa Alkhateeb, Adaptation of Power
and Control Wheel, Domestic Abuse
Project of Duluth, Minnesota
Sources
• Power and Control wheel, Domestic
Abuse Intervention Project, Duluth
Minnesota
• Qu’ran 4:34
• Stats Can 2004 General Social Survey on
victimization, Public Health Agency of
Canada website, March 2008
• The Vancouver Sun, May 2, 2007