The headline on the story is, ‘Barbaric’ rituals a no-no, feds warn, and here I am completely underwhelmed. Of course it’s true that in Canada we have laws against “barbaric cultural practices that tolerate spousal abuse, ‘honour killings,’ female genital mutilation or other gender-based violence”. And yes, I suppose warning people who want to come and live here that such practices are against the law is fine.
But golly.
A few things bug me. First, do you really think that people who think it’s completely OK to cut off a young girl’s clitoris and labia with a pair of scissors or an old razor blade, scrape off some of the remaining tissue for good measure, and sow the resulting mess back together so tight that the girl may not urinate properly until the day her husband unceremoniously re-opens her wound – do you really think those people who have this done to their own daughters will look at the Canadian government’s guidelines for immigrants and say, gosh, honey, we better change our ways, pronto? Says here it’s a big no-no?
Me, neither. So I worry that those words in the document will allow too many of us to feel a warm and fuzzy sense of security and go back to sleep.
And another thing: Female genital mutilation is recognized by every civilized country for the outrageous violation of a person’s most basic human rights, and we treat it with white gloves? We gently warn would-be immigrants that we don’t like it here?
That’s all?
by 
Are you saying you don’t like Chinese food?
Well, actually…
…there IS a point to telling immigrants right upfront and without any qualifications to ‘soften’ things that women are equal to men and that no women-specific-violent cultural practices are permitted under Canadian law.
What is that point?
No more claims of ‘ignorance’!
When a person violates his daughter or abuses his wife, he can no longer claim that he thought that under Canadian multicultural policies, he was entitled to practice his culture’s specific inhumane traditions about the treatment of women.
Ignorance of the law ought not be a defense – but, far too often, it HAS BEEN!
No longer is that possible.
Every immigrant is required to read the study guide and pass a test based on it before they can earn their Canadian citizenship. I had to! A judge asked me questions based on the guide I got when I came here – and would have been justified in denying me my citizenship had I failed the verbal quiz.
And so it should be!
So, with ‘gender equality’ specifically included in the guide – and violence against women, no matter how deeply entrenched in traditions, specifically spelled out as being against Canadian law, no immigrant who breaks these laws can claim they were not aware their ‘traditions’ would trump the criminal code!
It may not prevent violence against immigrant women. But, it will make it easier to punish those who commit it! Which, in the long run, will protect immigrant women to Canada.