EDMONTON – There have been at least 13 honour killings in Canada in just over a decade, according to one expert. While there haven’t been any such cases in Edmonton, honour violence still happens here, and is being fought by the city’s Indo-Canadian Women’s Association. Recognized as a national leader on the issue, the organization is now getting some financial support from the federal government.
On Tuesday, Rona Ambrose, Minister for the Status of Women presented the group with a grant of just under $200,000 grant, which will go towards a project that works to prevent “violence against women and girls in the name of so-called ‘honour,'” said Ambrose.
“This funding is going to support a 24-month project to help end gender-based violence in our community here in Edmonton,” she added. “The target population is women and girls from diverse ethno-cultural communities in Edmonton.”
The project will look at ways to streamline services so women affected by honour violence can access help more easily, possibly through a web site or an app.
“People are typically tech-savvy so young girls can get the info without hurting themselves in the process or making themselves vulnerable,” said Sabrina Atwal with the Indo Canadian Women’s Association.
Atwal gave an example of one 15 year-old girl who found herself in a difficult situation after her family found out she had a boyfriend.
“She was eventually not able to see him, not able to go to school, because she was dishonouring the family…now she doesn’t have a home – she’s running away, and staying on couches. All because her family won’t accept her behaviours.”
“On the news you’ll hear about the most extreme cases,” Atwal added, “but there are so many women that are at home, that are prisoners in their own home, that are suffering in silence. So we really hope to break that barrier, that gap in services, so they can approach the services.”
The hope is for victims to come forward and break the silence before it’s too late.
“And making women feel safe about coming forward, and creating the safe spaces, which this project is all about,” Ambrose said. “And tackling it with the right cultural sensitivities because these are cultural practices that go back hundreds of years even in second and third generation immigrant families.”
“These are engrained in cultural practices, but they are discriminatory to women and girls so we do need to tackle them.”
With files from Laurel Clark, Global News
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