It was out of tragedy that the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was born. On March 21, 1966, police officers under South Africa\u2019s Apartheid rule opened fire on an unarmed group of protesters, killing 69 men, women, and children, and injuring 180 more. The Sharpeville massacre serves as a reminder of the effects of polarized and racialized communities \u2014 a climate that has many critics of a new piece of proposed legislation in Canada concerned.<\/p>\n In commemoration of the day, the Centre for Indo-Canadian Studies hosted a panel on the proposed Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act (Bill S-7), which discussed the political, social, and racial implications of the legislation.<\/p>\n The act includes amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, Civil Marriage Act, and Criminal Code.<\/p>\n Institutional barriers<\/b><\/p>\n Kamaljit Lehal, a Vancouver-based lawyer with a specialization in immigration law, spoke first on why the proposed act and included amendments in Bill S-7 do more harm than good for the people it is meant to support.<\/p>\n While the purpose of the laws is to protect girls and women, Lehal argued that criminalization will further compromise women\u2019s safety. The proposed changes would allow anyone involved in a forced marriage to be criminally charged. Lehal discussed how this might create barriers for young girls seeking help.<\/p>\n \u201cFor example, if a young girl is feeling coerced into marrying someone [and her] parents can be subject to criminal charges, is she likely to risk them being charged criminally?\u201d<\/p>\n Lehal spoke from her experience with the law, noting that the proposed act is entirely unnecessary.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we look at the existing laws, we have at least 20 provisions of the Criminal Code that can be and have been used to deal effectively with these issues.\u201d<\/p>\n Laws against polygamy, genital mutilation, forced marriage, and honour killings are already in place and have been for years. Lehal says that judiciaries are well aware of the issues and that cultural beliefs can\u2019t be, and have not been used to justify crime in court. So if the laws aren\u2019t necessary, why are changes being made?<\/p>\n According to Lehal, it comes down to a matter of politics. In her experience with the law, Lehal says she has seen a gradual erosion of rights and liberty.<\/p>\n \u201cThe laws have become more and more strict and there is this us-and-them attitude that has been underlying it, a divide between who are the real Canadians versus those who are immigrants.\u201d<\/p>\n The marketability of racism<\/b><\/p>\n Hamish Telford, department head of political science, spoke about the scare tactics that are ruling the unofficial beginnings of Harper\u2019s federal campaign. Drawing on examples of Conservative propaganda, Telford explained that bills like Bill S-7 are determined by marketability.<\/p>\n As Lehal said earlier in the day: \u201cThere is a political agenda to cultivate racial intolerance in a climate that appears to have an appetite for it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPlaying on emotions, repeating a catchy phrase will seal an idea in the mind of the unknowing and uncaring public,\u201d Telford said, warning of the negative effects on the general public of such a subtly racist, \u201cus versus them\u201d bill.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Its purpose is simply to scare the voter into submission, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cPart of what\u2019s going on here is not just shopping for votes, but shopping for campaign contributions.\u201d<\/p>\n Telford\u2019s advice? \u201cDon\u2019t give in to the fear \u2026 in Canada, you\u2019re way more likely to be killed by a moose than a terrorist. I actually checked the data here, and it\u2019s true.\u201d<\/p>\n A divisive bill<\/b><\/p>\n Criminology instructor Tamara O\u2019Doherty spoke about the effects of criminalization on marginalized populations.<\/p>\n O\u2019Doherty said the reason the bill may pass without much fanfare is that on a surface level, people agree with it.<\/p>\n \u201cWe do have to acknowledge that part of the reason we hear the silence, why people aren\u2019t reacting to this, is because they\u2019re now in a position and going, \u2018Hey, I actually agree that child marriage under 16 is not okay.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Apart from its superficiality, as Lehal pointed out, everything outlined in the bill is already a criminal offense. O\u2019Doherty spoke to our \u201coverreliance\u201d on the justice system, suggesting criminalization is not the best tool for long-term social change.<\/p>\n O\u2019Doherty gave an impassioned speech on Canada\u2019s hypocrisy, and the ineffectuality of criminalization.<\/p>\n \u201c1983 is the year then that women receive the right, under criminal law, to say no to sex with their husbands. 1983. Has that somehow gotten rid of sexual violence? Domestic violence within a relationship? Has that actually affected real social change?\u201d<\/p>\n She reminded the audience of the 1200 missing and murdered indigenous women ignored by the federal government; about the fact that we actually have to use the term \u201crape culture\u201d; about the university students chanting about underage sex and creating Facebook pages for the purposes of discussing rape and sexual violence against their female peers.<\/p>\n \u201cThe idea that Canada has zero tolerance for violence against women \u2026 makes me roll my eyes. It\u2019s fabulously ironic in an academic sense, and incredibly sad and frustrating in an activism sense.\u201d<\/p>\n UFV instructor Adrienne Chan, who moderated the event, spoke to the importance of our involvement in these issues.<\/p>\n \u201cThe context of the act is very important for us to consider,\u201d Chan said. \u201cSince the middle ages, Western society has been attempting to civilize and assimilate groups of people based on different cultures.\u201d <\/b>The Sharpeville massacre stands as a representation of this mindset of cultural superiority.<\/p>\n \u201cWho decides what is right and what is wrong?\u201d she asks.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Nadine Moedt (The Cascade\/Photos) It was out of tragedy that the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was born. On March 21, 1966, police officers under South Africa\u2019s Apartheid rule opened fire on an unarmed group of protesters, killing 69 men, women, and children, and injuring 180 more. The Sharpeville massacre … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/sasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/sasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/sasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/sasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/sasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/sasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1047\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/sasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/sasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/sasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Lawyer](\"http:\/\/ufvcascade.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/DSC_0570.jpg\")
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