Most coverage around the Ahluwalia v. Ahluwalia case is focused on the Supreme Court verdict, but South Asian academics, legal advocates and support organizations point to a much deeper problem of victim isolation and policy gaps that put into question what the new tort can achieve.
Lali Pawa, former executive director of South Asian Legal Clinic BC who has 20 years of legal advocacy experience, said that around 80 per cent of the cases they receive are of domestic violence and child support, showing how widespread this issue is. She said that while most of the victims are women, recently more cases where men are victims have also been coming up.
According to Statistics Canada data, 80 per cent of intimate partner violence (IPV) cases go unreported.
Factors like extreme social isolation, misinformation about support facilities, financial dependence on the spouse, the future of the children and complexity of the legal system make it unlikely for women to leave abusive relationships.
Dr. Wendy Aujla, an applied sociologist and assistant professor of criminal justice at Athabasca University who studies intimate partner violence with a focus on South Asian communities in Canada, said that the gender-based violence prevention strategy is too vague and ineffective.
“It talks about we need to do more for racialized women – so broad. What does that actually look like?” said Dr. Aujla.
“The first is prevention and education and the second one is supporting survivors and then the third one is creating a responsive criminal justice system. But the problem with … that framework is it is a very mainstream Western lens.”
In 2019, Kamaljit Lehal helped establish an expedited process for victims of violence, after 10 years of advocacy. Despite that, the information about support is rare and abusive partners can send victims back to their country of origin.
“So when many of these women are threatened that they may not be able to stay in this country, sometimes passports are withheld and other really pivotal documents,”said Jessie Kaur Lehail, CEO and co-founder of Kaur Collective, a national non-profit focused on Sikh and South Asian women’s health equity, IPV and human trafficking.
Victims are extremely isolated
Like in Kuldeep Ahluwalia’s case, Aujla said other IPV cases can involve victims whose “phone is constantly being monitored and whereabouts and when you’re leaving the house.”
The IPV advocacy experts NCM spoke to point out that abuse from in-laws and extended family is also common in the South Asian community, which can isolate the victims further.
There is also a taboo about fleeing marriage in South Asian communities and finding resources outside the house.
“Women I spoke to were so afraid of going to a shelter because they were told by their abusers that’s where prostitutes go,” said Aujla.
Kuldeep, who never formally looked for resources, first found support through her family doctor.
“Maybe it’s at faith spaces, at cultural sites, it’s at grocery stores, at doctor’s offices, so that we know where to look for the signs and signals, but also that they are provided with education at the places that they would be frequenting,” said Lehail.
Lack of support from gurudwaras and libraries
In 2021, Aujla published a paper arguing that disclosure of domestic violence by South Asian women in Canada could lead to continued or increased violence.
As an alternative, community members hope for a larger conversation.
Pawa said gurudwaras do not offer substantial support unlike mosques and churches that provide spaces for these conversations. Aujla also pointed to the difficulty in getting gurudwaras to put up educational messaging.
Aujla also tried getting libraries in Edmonton to carry educational resources.
“Their approach is ‘we’re not a service provider.’ We’re a library. So if we start holding resources for domestic violence, we’ve got to do the houseless population.”
Younger women face higher risk
StatCan reported that two-thirds of homicides between 2011 and 2021 were committed by intimate partners and 28 per cent by a family member.
“If a woman is coming to your door asking for help do not say why are you here, you do not say why are you here and then make a phone call to their family and say they were here today and that puts them at more risk and they might never be able to come out for help and that’s when you see those cases escalate so quickly into murder. And then they are like ‘she did not reach for help ever,’” said Aujla.
Young women are at much higher risk according to Statistics Canada and this implies added adds risks for international students.
There is also a 2.5 per cent higher rate of homicide in rural areas. Aujla says that for immigrant women going to rural areas right after arriving in the country, there is even less information regarding social support.
Children are a major concern
Kuldeep stayed in the marriage because she considered that to be better for her children.
Raji Mangat, a lawyer and board member at SALAL Sexual Violence Support Centre, added that many women have a legitimate fear of their children being taken away.
“So that’s another concern for many women – especially newcomer women and certainly Indigenous women whose children are disproportionately represented in government care – being taken from their parents, and that’s super scary. It’s really hard to imagine something that would be more challenging for someone than having their children taken from them,” said Mangat.
Lehail said women should know that the social system is built to help them and shelter spaces also have childcare resources.
Legal System can be lopsided
Lali Pawa says that dependency on the male spouse is common in South Asian cultures, which makes women less likely to leave and seek legal help. For those who do seek help, lack of funds becomes an impediment in seeking justice.
When victims are self-represented, the judges might not be able to see important information. It can also make the legal process more daunting for the victim, Mangat adds. Further, she says having to face the abuser in court could also increase chances of harm.
“Often you’ll have a situation where the male spouse might be represented by a lawyer. And the female spouse is representing herself and that, of course, creates another power dynamic because of all this knowledge of the system that the person representing themselves does not have.”
While immigrant and racialized women are more in need of financial assistance, the new tort remedy also doesn’t take into account immigrant- and culturally-specific factors that come into play when imposing damages.
“You can get a judgement of a million dollars but are you going to get a million dollars? The courts don’t help you collect these funds,” Pawa said.
Most importantly, the violence prevention strategy fails to hold the perpetrators accountable by focusing solely on reaching victims.
“One of the flaws with that strategy is you can keep putting so many resources towards victims but how are we managing these offenders? How do we make sure they don’t keep doing this?” said Aujla.
Aadya Arora is a Vancouver-based journalist interested in covering immigration, labour and women's stories as well as exploring Canadian nation-building practices.
