HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT IMMIGRANT WOMEN AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
WENDY CHAN
FERNWOOD PUBLISHING HALIFAX & WINNIPEG
Copyright © 2020 Wendy Chan All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Editing: Erin Seatter Cover design: Jess Koroscil eBook: tikaebooks.com Printed and bound in Canada Published by Fernwood Publishing 32 Oceanvista Lane, Black Point, Nova Scotia, B0J 1B0 and 748 Broadway Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3G 0X3 www.fernwoodpublishing.ca Fernwood Publishing Company Limited gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Canada, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism under the Manitoba Publishers Marketing Assistance Program and the Province of Manitoba, through the Book Publishing Tax Credit, for our publishing program. We are pleased to work in partnership with the Province of Nova Scotia to develop and promote our creative industries for the benefit of all Nova Scotians.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Title: Hiding in plain sight : immigrant women and domestic violence / Wendy Chan. Names: Chan, Wendy, 1966- author. Description: Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20200156888 | Canadiana (ebook) 20200156896 | ISBN 9781773631882 (softcover) | ISBN 9781773631899 (EPUB) | ISBN 9781773631905 (Kindle) Subjects: LCSH: Women immigrants—Abuse of—Canada. | LCSH: Women immigrants—Services for—Canada. | LCSH: Abused women—Services for—Canada. | LCSH: Family violence—Canada. Classification: LCC HV6626.23.C3 C43 2020 | DDC 362.82/920869120971—dc23
CONTENTS Acknowledgements / vii 1.
Introduction / 1 What Is Domestic Violence? / 4 Structure of the Book / 6
2.
Understanding Domestic Violence in BC / 8 Domestic Violence Policy, Legislation and Responses / 9 Immigration Policies and Domestic Violence / 17 Immigrant Women and Domestic Violence / 20 Conclusion / 26
3.
Domestic Violence, Intersectionality and Project Methodology / 27 Domestic Violence through the Lens of Intersectionality / 27 Project Methodology / 32 Overview of Service Provisions in BC / 34 Characteristics of Clients and Communities / 40 Conclusion / 42
4.
Barriers to Accessing Services for Immigrant Women / 43 Social and Economic Barriers / 43 Legal Barriers / 52 Immigration, Settlement and Cultural Barriers / 60 Conclusion / 69
5.
Challenges in Service Delivery / 70 Organizational Challenges / 70 Collaboration/Communication Efforts / 85 Conclusion / 93
6.
The Dangers of Inaction for Multicultural Communities / 94 Cultural Differences and Domestic Violence / 95 The Right to Communicate — Access to Translators and Interpreters / 99 Immigration Status as a Risk Factor / 101 Conclusion / 105
7.
Conclusion / 107
References / 112 Appendix / 122 Index / 124
For Garvin
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
T
his research project was funded by the Department of Justice through the Justice Partnership and Innovation Program. It would not have been possible without their financial support and their recognition of this important topic. Thanks in particular to David Kerr for shepherding this project through the administrative requirements. I would also like to acknowledge Nicole Molinari, the research assistant on this project. Her assistance with all stages of the project — from collecting and collating secondary materials, to conducting and transcribing the interviews, to developing rich organizational maps of the interview data — played an important role in its success. Thanks also to Margaret Jackson for her support and expertise. This project would not have been possible without the cooperation of the many service providers across British Columbia who agreed to be interviewed and freely gave their time. Their experiences and insight into the issue of immigrant women and domestic violence have been invaluable for helping us understanding the complex issues that abused immigrant women have and how to best help them. Finally, I would like to thank all my friends and family who supported me throughout the tenure of this project. Their collective wisdom and perspectives remind me how important this topic remains.
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
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oncerns around domestic violence in Canada rarely consider an immigrant woman, particularly an immigrant woman of colour, as the target of violence or the face of policy reforms. Yet a recent online news search using the phrases “immigrant women” and “domestic violence” brings into sharp relief the magnitude of the problem and the glacially slow progress made in supporting immigrant women experiencing domestic violence in their relationships. Headlines such as “Finding a Way Out of Domestic Violence for Immigrant Women” (Wood 2014) or “Indigenous Peoples and Immigrants More at Risk of Domestic Violence in Canada, Study Says” (cbc News 2018) speak volumes about how much progress has been made to combat this enduring social problem. The tragic consequences are that three-quarters (76 percent) of people killed as a result of domestic abuse are women, and more than half of domestic homicide victims in Canada are Indigenous, immigrants or refugees living in rural or remote areas of the country (cbc News 2018). Despite decades of research, community projects, education and outreach and the fiscal resources provided for these activities, systemic inequalities persist and shape our realities such that we continue to live in a society where victims of domestic violence suffer — often silently, terrified of seeking help or unaware of how to do so. In Canada, immigrant women have been an overlooked population in conversations about domestic violence and in the development of support services, and they remain an afterthought for policymakers and legislators. Rarely are abused immigrant women’s challenges given centre stage or prioritized in decisions about resource allocation. Consequently, services that are available to immigrant women in the province of British Columbia (BC) are, at best, piecemeal, scattered and unevenly available depending on one’s geographic location. Urban centres tend to have a 1
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broader range of more accessible resources to support immigrant women, whereas remote and rural regions offer a more limited range of services. Scholarly research on immigrant women and domestic violence highlights and reinforces the complex array of issues that immigrant women must contend with, adding weight to a long-standing claim by community activists and service providers that not enough has been done to support abused immigrant women in Canada. Immigrant women in BC and in Canada more generally comprise a significant portion of the country’s population. It is rare to find any nonIndigenous Canadian community without an immigrant population, and in BC, a province that receives a very high proportion of immigrants, racial and ethnic diversity is commonplace. Immigrant women account for approximately one-fifth of Canada’s female population, making up 52 percent of the total immigrant population, and they are more likely to be university educated when compared to Canadian-born women (27.7 percent vs 19.2 percent; Hudon 2015). Upon immigrating to Canada, they experience numerous barriers to settlement. Employment, particularly high-paying, stable forms of employment, is difficult to secure, and many immigrant women find themselves in precarious employment situations due to deskilling, non-recognition of foreign credentials, low language skills and discrimination (Bhuyan and Schmidt 2018). Not having a social network and being the primary caregiver for their children also hinders their ability to enter the paid labour market (Bhuyan and Schmidt 2018). Guruge, Khanlou and Gastaldo (2010) found that immigrant women are more vulnerable to abuse and that this is tied to the stresses associated with pre- and post-migration experiences. Prior trauma leading to forced migration as well as settlement challenges directly impacts the likelihood of intermarital conflict and domestic violence (Guruge, Khanlou and Gastaldo 2010; Hyman, Guruge and Mason 2008). Over the years, immigration policies have shifted towards a more neoliberal approach; immigrants are expected to be self-sufficient and able to “hit the ground running” once they arrive in Canada. Many researchers acknowledge that the funding and availability of settlement services for new immigrants has not kept up with demand, and access to vital services such as language classes has increasingly moved towards a fee-based model (Zhu 2016). The expectation that immigrant women independently overcome the many obstacles encountered during the settlement process
Introduction 3
is not only unrealistic but tantamount to creating a context where failure is inevitable. The stresses associated with settlement and acculturation have been shown to negatively impact immigrant women’s overall wellbeing, particularly mental health (MacDonnell et al. 2012). Under these circumstances, when violence enters into family dynamics, immigrant women are more vulnerable, as they are less likely to have the social and economic resources to escape the abuse. This book examines the service barriers that abused immigrant women encounter in BC when they are seeking services and support in the immigration, criminal justice and family justice systems. Qualitative interviews were conducted with service providers in four BC communities to ascertain the key challenges confronted by abused immigrant women trying to access services as well as the challenges that service organizations face in trying to meet the needs of these women. The main argument in this book is that immigrant women experience multiple, complex issues when they suffer abuse, and as a result, a comprehensive and holistic response is required to meet their needs. Immigrant women are at greater risk of not only experiencing violence but also encountering barriers to accessing services and support. Some of the key concerns that abused immigrant women face are a lack of familiarity with services, linguistically and culturally appropriate services and intervention strategies within their communities, portability of services and coordination of services. As a result, the outcomes and solutions provided for many abused immigrant women are often compromised and unsatisfactory. Many immigrant women in BC stay in abusive relationships, essentially hiding in plain sight, despite the extraordinary efforts of many service providers. Failing to adequately protect immigrant women can have implications for public health, public safety, human rights and criminal justice. While the topic of domestic violence has received much attention, immigrant women have largely remained invisible in debates, discussions and research. Prior to the Christian Lee case, where a six-year-old boy, his mother and other family members were murdered by his father in 2009 (Turpel-Lafond 2009), hardly any initiatives in BC were targeted at abused immigrant women, and the absence of scholarly research in this area ensured that immigrant women would remain marginalized in conversations about how to support women experiencing domestic
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violence. That this project is one of a handful of scholarly studies to date examining service barriers for abused immigrant women in BC points to the lack of attention given to violence against immigrant women. A key aim of this book is to highlight the unmet needs of abused immigrant women in BC while remaining cognizant that among this group of women there is greater heterogeneity than homogeneity. Thus, it is important to remain sensitive to the racial and gender differences that may arise from individuals occupying different social locations of identity (e.g., South Asian women vs. Japanese women). This book fills a significant gap in our knowledge of domestic violence in Canada and how we can improve service delivery for abused immigrant women navigating the immigration, criminal justice and family law systems.
WHAT IS DOMESTIC VIOLENCE? According to the BC government’s 2010 Violence Against Women in Relationships (vawir) policy, domestic violence is defined as physical or sexual assault, or the threat of physical or sexual assault against a current or former intimate partner whether or not they are legally married or living together at the time of the assault or threat. Domestic violence includes offences other than physical or sexual assault, such as criminal harassment, threatening, or mischief, where there is a reasonable basis to conclude that the act was done to, or did in fact cause, fear, trauma, suffering or loss to the intimate partner. Intimate partner relationships include heterosexual and same-sex relationships. (BC Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General, Ministry of Attorney General and Ministry of Children and Family Development 2010: 1) As a social problem in Canada, domestic violence continues to affect hundreds of thousands of people, leaving behind a broad range of physical, psychological and emotional effects for victims and for children who witness the violence (Burczyck and Conroy 2018). A 2016 report said that approximately 4 percent (760,000) of Canadians 15 years or older had experienced some form of domestic violence in the last five years (Taylor 2016). No sector of society is immune to this form of violence. News stories of doctors (McLaughlin 2019) and celebrities (Harvey-Jenner 2018)
Introduction 5
victimized by domestic violence, which often end tragically, highlight the extent of the problem in our society. Women make up the majority of victims, with almost 80 percent of police-reported incidents of domestic abuse in Canada involving a female victim (Burczyck and Conroy 2018). It is the most common form of violence against women, and researchers estimate that 29 percent of Canadian women will experience domestic violence in their lifetime (Eshpeter 2019). This rate increases for Indigenous women, immigrant women, young women, people with disabilities and people who identify as lgbtq+, because they are more socially and economically vulnerable and hence more likely to experience abuse in their relationships (Taylor 2016; cbc News 2018). More severe forms of violence, such as being choked, threatened, assaulted with a weapon or sexually assaulted, are primarily experienced by women (Burczyck and Conroy 2018). Domestic violence, however, is not just a problem in Canada, but a major public health issue on a global scale (Manjoo 2014) whose impact is far-reaching, affecting immediate and extended family members, friends and community members. Some commentators have gone so far as to suggest it is a “war on women” (Vallee 2007) or an “epidemic,” given the scale of the problem (DeKeseredy 2010). As DeKeseredy (2010: 561) aptly observes, “male-to-female physical, sexual, psychological and other forms of violence … seem to be deeply entrenched in the world’s population.” It is also widely acknowledged that the majority of domestic violence incidences go unreported (Barrett and St. Pierre 2011). The low rates of reporting have made it very difficult to fully ascertain the scope of the problem. The more vulnerable the individual, due to factors such as immigration status, ethnicity, income, age, sexual orientation or disability, the less likely they are to call the police or seek help (Barrett and St. Pierre 2011). Canada has made some progress towards developing and refining policies and practices to manage the problem, but the lack of resources dedicated to tackling domestic violence has been a chronic complaint by advocates and frontline workers (cnwsth 2016). It is within this context that this book seeks to understand how immigrant women in BC navigate the service landscape in their communities in order to find support and safety from abuse.
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STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK This book is organized into five substantive chapters. Chapter 2 provides an overview of responses to domestic violence in BC through an examination of key policies and legislation in the areas of criminal justice and family law. This is followed by an examination of how current immigration policies create vulnerabilities for immigrant women. The final section of the chapter offers a review of the scholarly literature on immigrant women and domestic violence, focusing specifically on the unique challenges and issues experienced by abused immigrant women. Bringing together these different areas of discussion is vital for understanding the context in which immigrant women live and move. Chapter 3 sets the theoretical framework for understanding the experiences of immigrant women and the ways in which service providers interact with them. Exploring the issue of domestic violence through the lens of intersectionality makes it possible to recognize the many differences, inequalities and interactions that shape the lives of immigrant women. Following this is an overview of the methodology and methods used in carrying out the research. The goal of this qualitative project was to conduct in-depth interviews with a broad range of service providers in various regions of the province to gain a wide spectrum of perspectives on service delivery for immigrant women. Chapters 4 and 5 draw directly on the interviews with service providers to reveal the key themes and issues around supporting abused immigrant women. Chapter 4 examines the barriers that immigrant women encounter in accessing services while Chapter 5 focuses on the challenges of service delivery in four regions of BC. The interview participants highlight how some issues are similar for all immigrant women and service providers but other challenges are geographically specific, such as access to an immigration lawyer, and therefore those offering services and resources need to be cognizant of these differences. Chapter 6 offers a close examination of how our ideas about cultural difference have shaped responses to domestic violence for immigrant women. Many layers of cultural norms and dynamics impact the decisionmaking process for abused immigrant women. A lack of understanding about context has arguably led to stereotyping and mistaken assumptions. This has impacted the allocation of resources for services such as
Introduction 7
translation and interpretation. Furthermore, some authors have suggested that immigration status should be considered a major risk factor when seeking to understand the dynamics of domestic violence for immigrant women. This is based on the belief that a woman’s status as an immigrant deeply impacts and influences her overall experience of domestic violence. The concluding chapter reinforces the key themes of the book and the many challenges that come with working in the field of domestic violence services. It is remarkable that the participants in this study remain optimistic and committed to their work, recognizing how critical it is for closing the service gaps for immigrant women in their communities. As frontline workers, their services and advocacy form a vital safety net to ensure that help will be available should immigrant women seek it.
