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Working Document

More Than a Crime:
A Report on the Lack of Public Legal Information Materials for Immigrant Women Who Are Subject to Wife Assault

Joanne Godin

March 1994

The present study was funded by the Research and Statistics Division, Department of Justice Canada. The views expressed herein are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Department of Justice Canada.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1.0 INTRODUCTION

This report was commissioned by the Department of Justice Canada as part of its Public Legal Education and Information (PLEI) program. Through PLEI, the Department promotes equal access to information about the law and the legal system among all Canadians. This report examines the legal information needs of immigrant women who are victims of wife assault " members of society who, it is believed, are in need of PLEI and for whom little legal information seems to be available. The report's findings are based on a literature review of materials on the subject of wife assault, especially the assault of immigrant women by their partners, and on telephone interviews with service providers, federal and provincial government representatives, and PLEI practitioners across the country. The research was conducted in late 1992 and early 1993.

1.1 PLEI Working Group on Wife Assault

In 1992, the Department of Justice Canada invited representatives of the federal departments of Employment and Immigration, Multiculturalism and Citizenship, Secretary of State, Health and Welfare, and Status of Women, to work together to produce PLEI materials for women who are victims or survivors of wife assault. The PLEI Working Group on Wife Assault, composed of these representatives, held its initial meeting in October of 1992. It is expected that the Working Group will address the needs of immigrant women, women with disabilities, and aboriginal women. The group's initial efforts are focused on information for immigrant women.

1.2 Organization of the Report

This report begins with an overview of the Department of Justice's public legal education and information mandate. It then describes the situation facing many immigrant women who are victims/survivors of wife assault, considers their legal information needs, and suggests strategies to meet these needs, based on the findings of the literature review. The next section of the report presents an outline for a possible pamphlet for immigrant women, which could be published in the languages of ethnocultural communities having large numbers of recent immigrants. The final section of the report constitutes an annotated review of public legal education and information materials and other literature on wife assault. The review concentrates on information relating to the concerns of immigrant women, although an attempt was made to be comprehensive by including other documents that could be of assistance to researchers preparing PLEI documents for this group of women.

1.3 Department of Justice Canada PLEI Mandate

The Department of Justice Canada has a responsibility to inform members of the public about the laws that affect them. In its 1990 PLEI Planning Document, the Department stated that it has

The Department of Justice Canada fulfils this responsibility by operating a six-part PLEI program, as follows:

The Department provides financial support for one sole-purpose PLEI organization in each province and territory, as designated by the Attorney General or Minister of Justice in each jurisdiction. The two levels of government and the recipient organizations collaborate to plan the program for this $1.4 million fund.

In 1992-1993, the Department's work to coordinate the development and production of PLEI materials by the federal government has included the preparation of a strategy paper on wife assault (which was the genesis of this initiative), the production of the present report, and the establishment of the Working Group. In addition, the Department has been asked to advise Multiculturalism and Citizenship Canada (MCC) on citizenship materials for new Canadians. It is also working with other departments to address issues of concern to immigrants, and to collaborate on public legal education and information projects for this segment of the population.

The Department undertakes empirical research and operational studies, often with the provinces or territories or with a PLEI organization. Recently, it has studied a number of initiatives at the federal level, including PLEI activities, information sharing, data collection and the use of plain language. It has studied the possible role and operation of PLEI Net, a cross-Canada electronic information network on PLEI and related subjects. It has also conducted focus group studies of the PLEI needs of immigrants and new Canadians.

Through project funding, the Department enables PLEI organizations and others to experiment with approaches for PLEI, to meet the needs of particular groups, and to develop PLEI activities on priority justice issues.

The Department has established a national network of PLEI organizations, including three working groups. The National Information-Sharing Working Group developed PLEI Net, as well as a PLEI data collection instrument and the PLEI MIS database.

nationally on a future agenda for PLEI. All of the Department's major policies that have a PLEI component have benefitted from the annual consultations and planning exercises conducted within the PLEI network across Canada.

The National Victims Resource Centre (NVRC) operates a 1-800 telephone service throughout the country to respond to enquiries about the criminal justice system as it relates to victims of crime. Working with PLEI Net, the NVRC provides a national communications link for victims, victim services, and governments.

1.4 Why is PLEI on Wife Assault Important

All women who are victims/survivors of wife assault need information on their rights and responsibilities under the law. They may want to consider the repercussions of calling the police, and they need to understand the terms of Canada's assault laws, the ways in which the operation of the justice system may or may not protect them from further abuse, and the implications of a separation under family law. They may be concerned about the custody of their children, the division of matrimonial property, their property and other rights if their union is common-law, and the ability of the police to restrain the actions of the spouse.

In addition to these legal information needs, all victims/survivors need to know about related matters, such as shelters for themselves and their children, how to proceed when leaving the home so that they can be safe, and the possibilities of removing the spouse from the home.

1.5 Why Is PLEI on Wife Assault Important for Immigrant Women?

In addition to all of the foregoing information, immigrant women have additional, important legal information needs " and it is more difficult for immigrant women to gain access to legal information than it is for many others in Canada.

An immigrant woman must consider many important legal issues as she decides whether to leave or remain in an abusive relationship. In addition to questions about assault laws, family law, divorce and child custody, she may have to consider her immigration status, her sponsorship relationship, her eligibility for social assistance if the relationship breaks down, and the possibility that she or her husband will be deported.

1.5.1 Landed Immigrant Status

A woman who is a landed immigrant is said to be protected from deportation if her sponsorship relationship breaks down, and not to be in danger of losing her status as a landed immigrant. However, many women do not know this. Abusive spouses may threaten them with deportation or loss of landed immigrant status if Employment and Immigration Canada (EIC) discovers that they have left their relationship or if they report abuse. According to the 1992 Report of the British Columbia Task Force on Family Violence:

To complicate matters, the few PLEI documents that describe " even to a limited extent " the legal status of immigrant women who are victims/survivors of wife assault have tended to state categorically that women who are landed immigrants will not be deported if their sponsorship arrangement breaks down. However, Ontario officials have expressed regret that they included such reassurances in documentation produced for immigrant women " they advise that they know of some instances where women were deported despite having landed immigrant status.

1.5.2 Sponsorship Breakdown

Sponsored immigrants may face a problem in obtaining social assistance if the sponsorship arrangement breaks down. The British Columbia Task Force report quotes a draft 1991 report by Etherington et al. as saying that in situations of abuse where a women wants to apply for social assistance, "Sponsored women immigrants must prove that the sponsorship relationship has broken down before they can receive assistance." This may discourage women from applying for welfare or, at least, delay access to the benefits. The woman may be asked to provide confirmation of sponsorship breakdown from EIC.

In interviews for this report, officials of Public Legal Education and Information Services of New Brunswick stated that immigration officers have been asked to confirm the breakdown of a woman's sponsorship relationship before she would be eligible for social assistance. The woman therefore would have to provide proof of abuse to EIC, perhaps through a police report. In a 1990 report, MacLeod and Shin state that EIC treats sponsorship breakdown as a fact, not something that is subject to discretionary assessment. And a literature review by Education Wife Assault (EWA) on "The Specific Problems of Battered Immigrant Women" states, "Recently, immigration officials have been instructed to consider abuse as sufficient grounds for sponsorship breakdown."

EWA also states that women can make special application for permanent residency if their sponsorship relationship breaks down, but that many women are not aware of this possibility. For this purpose, EWA says that EIC officials have substantial discretion in deciding what constitutes marriage breakdown, a power that EWA says can be misused.

Further research is needed on proving sponsorship breakdown, EIC and social assistance practices, and alternatives available to women in these situations, in order to advise immigrant women of current practices.

1.5.3 Waiting for Sponsorship Status

A paper produced by Status of Women Canada explains the usual practice whereby men sponsor their spouses for entry to Canada. It is a valuable description of the problems that are inherent in a lengthy process that makes immigrant women very vulnerable:

The British Columbia Task Force report reiterates this dangerous situation, and workers in an Ottawa shelter for immigrant women report it as a common problem.

1.5.4 Language Skills

It is evident that women who emigrate to Canada from countries where neither English nor French is used will have difficulty gaining access to services and materials in their adoptive country. Even if a woman's first-language skills are excellent, it will take time for her to learn a new language and feel comfortable asking for assistance. While learning a second language is difficult under the best of circumstances, the situation of many immigrant women can make the challenge insurmountable.

According to the aforementioned Status of Women paper, Canada's rules, and the terms of benefits available to immigrants who wish to learn English or French as a second language in ESL or FSL classes, make it impossible for many women to take such classes. ³ While sponsored refugees are eligible for a training allowance and child care while they attend the free classes, sponsored immigrants are not. Most sponsored immigrants are, of course, women.

The importance of these terms is clear when one considers that many immigrant women need to work " usually at low-paying jobs where their lack of English or French is not a serious impediment " to support their families in Canada. They are unable to work at any skilled jobs for which they may be qualified.

Material written in their first language, and cultural interpretation services to help them deal with the justice and social service systems, are key needs of immigrant women. This fact is echoed in all reports on PLEI needs in cases of wife assault.

1.5.5 Lack of Information

Virtually all reports on the situation faced by immigrant women who are subject to wife assault call for more legal information for the women. Some of the comments are as follows:

The Comparative Justice Systems Project, sponsored by the Department of Justice Canada and the British Columbia Attorney General, repeatedly calls for PLEI materials for immigrant communities. Its report addressed the legal information needs of the Canadian Chinese, Indo and Latino communities on family violence and other legal issues.

All reports recognize the need to adapt materials to the communities' languages, as do government and nongovernment workers contacted for this study. Support for a federal initiative to develop PLEI for immigrant women who are subject to wife assault was universal. One community worker offered to participate in any consultative group working on development of materials; she also invited the Department of Justice Canada to attend the first showing of a new video on wife assault. Shelter workers in Ottawa and Montreal were enthusiastic about the possibility of legal information becoming available. The Ontario government lamented the lack of information and welcomed the initiative, as did the National Organization of Immigrant and Visible Minority Women. That organization is willing to share the results of its current research on the subject, which should be available soon.

1.6 Beyond Law

PLEI materials written for immigrant women must be sensitive to many other concerns. Interviews with shelter workers and others in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto elicited a number of considerations, highlighting the need for PLEI material that is sensitive to the particular circumstances of women from various countries of origin.

1.6.1 The Family

The primacy of the family and a deep concern for the welfare of the children " usually considered to be best protected within the nuclear and extended family " is a fundamental value for people from many cultures. Although this would be a major consideration for any woman, representatives of Montreal's Greek and Chinese communities, Vancouver's Indo-Canadian community, and Filipino communities across the country, stated that in their communities it is a particularly significant cultural value that may keep women in abusive relationships.

During its consultations to develop the new pamphlet for immigrant women who are subject to wife assault, PLEI Services of New Brunswick found that this concern made it important to emphasize to women that remaining in an abusive relationship could be more harmful for their children. They also pointed out that, if there is any potential danger to the children, Children's Aid Society workers are obligated to remove them to safety.

Many people are reluctant to bring in "outsiders" to resolve what is seen as a "private family matter". The video No Small Matter illustrates this attitude in Vancouver's Punjabi community. It demonstrates both the power and the peril of bringing in the extended family to help resolve issues of violence. The video also points out the legal aspects of abuse, and underlines the religion's belief that the two sexes are equal, and its opposition to violence in the home.

1.6.2 The Community

Although leaving the family is traumatic for a woman, she and her children can be further victimized if members of their ethnocultural community regard her action as a betrayal of their values. If a woman is further isolated culturally and linguistically from the services and information she needs, she may be forced to return to the abusive situation or may be unable to support herself and her children. Rejection by the community can be even more devastating if the woman is eported to her country of origin and the ostracism escalates to attacks.

1.6.3 The Police

Although the police are part of the legal system, their role in the context of this report is more complex. Many reports state that immigrant women may be reluctant to call the police in Canada because the police in their country of origin were seen as agents of an oppressive state. They may consider that the police are susceptible to bribery, and therefore servants of the rich and powerful, and they may fear them as a repressive and brutal force. For example:

• The Education Wife Assault paper quotes a 1985 Ontario study by Ruitort and Small: "Many immigrant women have come to associate the police as a repressive, brutal force to be avoided because of their experience with the police in their country of origin."
• The Ontario Women's Directorate fact sheet, "Wife Assault: The Criminal Justice System", states that "many refugee and immigrant women fear the police because in their countries of origin the police are a repressive force".
• The Status of Women report states that many immigrant women do not see the police as being capable of supporting or protecting them. The women also fear that racist attitudes among police officers may cause them to deal harshly with their spouses.

The report on the Comparative Justice Systems Project undertaken by the Department of Justice Canada and the British Columbia Attorney General brings a different perspective to this issue. The focus group discussions with representatives of ethnocultural minority communities in British Columbia " men and women of all ages meeting in stratified and mixed groups " brought out mixed impressions of the police in Canada. Participants had been in Canada for varying lengths of time and some sessions were held in their first languages. Focus group participants came from the following countries of origin: Burma, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Chile, El Salvador, Fiji, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and India.

Although participants from India and China were quick to affirm corruption and abuse on the part of many members of the police forces in their countries of origin, they thought the police in Canada were basically fair and honest. Where negative attitudes were expressed, they tended to come from men rather than from women. Some women expressed reluctance to call the police because of their unwillingness to speak outside the family. Participants generally expressed the view that the police were not tough enough in Canada, and were not visible enough on the streets and in their communities.

Participants from Latin America expressed greater fear and mistrust of the police, likening Canadian police to those in their countries of origin. These participants also expressed a strong belief that the police hold racist attitudes against persons of Latin American origin " seeing all men as drug dealers, for example.

Virtually all participants from all ethnocultural groups expressed a reluctance to report "minor" crimes to the police. This tended more to reflect their fear and their ignorance of the legal system. Many feared retaliation by the offenders if they appeared as witnesses; they did not believe that the police could protect them from vengeful acts. There was a universal call from participants for information on the law and the legal system in their first languages.

A high degree of racism was reported in the focus group discussions. Participants believed that they would be treated differently by the police, especially because of language barriers. They called for greater numbers of police officers representing ethnocultural and visible minority communities, and for cultural sensitization of police. In matters of wife assault, men believed that the police and the laws favour women, and that the police would not understand cultural preferences to keep matters within the family.

Many people working in shelters and other community services believe that women of colour and many immigrant women fear calling the police because they believe that their spouses might be brutalized by the police, and ultimately dealt with much more harshly in the legal system. These concerns must be addressed sensitively in any PLEI materials for immigrant women who are victims of assault.

1.7.1 Basic Information for Women

Information obtained from PLEI organizations across Canada, from provincial and federal government departments and from other sources confirms that very little public legal education and information is available for immigrant women who are subject to wife assault. In fact, only PLEI Services of New Brunswick has developed a written document on wife assault expressly for immigrant women. That booklet is in draft form and is undergoing revisions based on consultations with ethnocultural minority communities in the province.

Clearly, much more public legal information is needed: basic, plainly written material on wife assault and immigration matters, in many languages. This could take the form of a pamphlet or small booklet.

1.7.2 Basic Introduction to the Legal System

All immigrants need a basic introduction to Canada's laws and legal system " perhaps a booklet, accompanied by a video presentation. Although the focus in this paper is on the needs of immigrant women, the importance of communicating information about the law and the legal system to men cannot be overlooked. Indo-Canadian participants in the Justice / British Columbia Attorney General study repeatedly emphasized that one cannot send one message to women and a different message to men: "Written material can backfire if men are threatened by what they read." "You want to be sure that no matter what information you offer it is to everyone. Do not isolate information to women or you will alienate men."

Addressing legal information to both women and men should not be detrimental to women. Men need to know that Canadian law does not consider wife assault to be "just a family matter": they need to be aware that the law may deal harshly with the offence. Although one could argue that it is risky and potentially dangerous to inform men that women awaiting sponsorship are in a vulnerable position, it can be assumed that men know this already. The individual who comes to Canada first is far more likely to be aware of the laws. At any rate, a woman in such a position needs to be advised that, if she can wait, she should seek legal counsel before taking action.

1.7.3 Literacy

Other comments from the Justice/British Columbia report are also helpful: "Don't be afraid to be direct with the writing. It is information that women need." "Keep in mind plain language; don't use legal language."

Although first-language literacy is not a problem for many immigrant women, some come from cultures with predominantly oral traditions. Men and women from such countries may have low literacy skills. First-language materials for these groups should be sensitive to literacy skills. All materials should avoid "legalese". Many Canadians have a very low level of understanding of the legal system. Immigrants have the added challenge of understanding a system that may be very different from their previous experience.

1.7.4 Videos

Videos can be effective for communicating information to people with low literacy skills. No Small Matter and Bitter Love are videos that effectively portray the reality of wife assault and the options available to women in ethnocultural minority communities. Both videos are at their best in conveying attitudes about wife assault, the impact on family members, and the gravity of police involvement. Another video, Wife Assault, by Peg Campbell, the British Columbia Attorney General and the Justice Institute of British Columbia, demonstrates how involving the police and the justice system can strengthen a woman's self-esteem, and emphasize to an abusive husband that his behaviour is more than just a "problem". It is also effective, as are all videos, in walking people through the processes " in this case, of calling the police, appearing in court, going to a shelter, and so forth.

Videos have limitations, however. Because so much information needs to be conveyed and because so much of it is not dramatic in nature, videos tend to use a lot of "talking heads". People, usually experts or community leaders, lecture the viewing audience about the provisions of the law, or the reasons that abuse escalates, or the reasons why women choose to stay in abusive situations. While some talkers command attention and convey information effectively, others are far less successful. In the videos mentioned above, and in others, the least successful portions are usually those that involve a lawyer, a bureaucrat, or a community leader talking about the law, the system, or the principles behind them. Workers from shelters, and others who are able to discuss the human aspect of the situation " the cycle of abuse explained by using everyday situations in the home, for example " are far more interesting.

The level of interest that a video is able to sustain is important: interest promotes understanding. If the viewer is engaged by the figure on the screen, she will be better able to absorb the message. PLEI is not useful if it is not retained. Brochures and booklets may be less flashy than videos and may not, in fact, be interesting enough to capture a person's attention completely. But it is much easier to subsequently refer to a piece of written material to clarify a point. If resources are limited, the price and utility of videos must be weighed carefully.

1.7.5 Meeting Community Needs

One size does not fit all among immigrant communities. Each community has distinct needs. The Department of Justice Canada and the PLEI Working Group on Wife Assault need to define what they mean by "immigrant women". Many ethnocultural communities are well established in Canada. Workers in Greek Orthodox Family Services in Toronto and Le Bouclier d'Athena in Montreal point out that information on immigration matters is not needed for women of Greek origin because immigration has this information must take account of traditional views of the family and of the role of women. Should this community be ignored because its members have been in Canada for some time?

The Ontario Women's Directorate emphasizes that materials cannot be developed in a generic way and translated into other languages. The Directorate was advised by members of Toronto's African community that translating its brochure would be useless. It was futile to talk about bringing the police into the situation. The Directorate is therefore funding community groups to develop materials that meet their needs and to prepare them in their first languages.

The Ontario Citizenship ministry, however, says that there is a problem of quality control in contracting with communities to produce first-language materials. Ministry representatives fear that legal information could be misconstrued in the transition to another language.

The federal government's 1989 consultation on family violence with national, nongovernment organizations called for awareness programs to be ". . . developed in each community to meet its own cultural, linguistic, and literacy reality . . . ". The consultation also called for a complementary mass-media, high-profile campaign like the anti-smoking and drinking-and-driving campaigns. Whether or not such a broad initiative is possible, the message about the importance of developing materials in the community is clear. The consultation report also recommended that effective information materials, such as Fresh Start, produced by the YWCA, be translated and made available to members of ethnocultural minority communities.

1.7.6 Information for Service Providers

The need to inform service providers about the needs and concerns of immigrant women who are subject to wife assault was implicit in many of the documents reviewed. PLEI Services of New Brunswick states that "immigration officers could benefit from better information sources to explain legal options to immigrant women who are abused".

Two excellent information sources are available to service providers. Community Legal Education Ontario has produced Assaulted Women: A Manual for Advocates, a thorough review of legal issues for assaulted women. The binder includes the most extensive discussion available of issues facing immigrant women. The information is complex, however, because it is intended for legal personnel. It would be a very valuable resource for research on the issue. Immigrant and Visible Minority Women Against Abuse has produced Towards Equal Access: A Handbook for Service Providers, a valuable book that is destined for a wider audience. The language is more accessible and it does an excellent job of presenting the situation of immigrant women coping with wife assault, but it is less thorough in its treatment of the legal issues.

Information on cultural concerns could be of use to the police, shelter workers, health care providers and others. Although cultural awareness and sensitivity are usually developed through workshops, it may be useful to have a generic document for service providers that would describe cultural factors and beliefs that may have a bearing on how or whether a woman presents herself for assistance, what she may see as her options, and how information can be conveyed to her so that she is not offended. Many professions have developed protocols and guides for dealing with victims/survivors and perpetrators of wife assault; these groups may be receptive to additional tools to assist them in their work.

1.8 To Sum Up

There is no question that PLEI materials are needed for service providers, and especially for immigrant women who are victims/survivors of wife assault. Materials are needed in immigrant women's first languages, and must use plain-language terminology. The Department of Justice Canada and the PLEI Working Group on Wife Assault could consider many approaches in meeting this need, depending on the resources available and the amount of consultation with ethnocultural and immigrant communities that can be carried out. There is support for this work: many people are willing to give time and energy to the effort. Much information is available in reports, but more research is needed.

2 Department of Justice Canada. Planning Document: Public Legal Education and Information (Ottawa: Department of Justice Canada), p.7.

3 The researcher was able to review only a photocopy of the Status of Women paper, which was not dated and did not denote authorship. It is difficult to state, therefore, whether this information needs updating.

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