Honour killings bear important distinctions: expert

Mohammad Shafia, front, Tooba Yahya, centre and Hamed Shafia arrive at the Frontenac County courthouse in Kingston, Ont., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2011.

MONTREAL - Three important factors separate so-called honour killings from other crimes, and these factors need to be recognized to better protect future victims, says an expert.

Memorial University of Newfoundland psychiatry professor Dr. Amin Muhammed was called on by Canada's Department of Justice to study the crimes in the spring of 2009, mere months before the Shafia murders.

After studying 11 reported cases in Canada since 1999, his 35-page report concluded that these crimes are distinct from other forms of domestic violence for three reasons:

1. They are planned in advance

2. There is family complicity

3. Perpetrators often don't face negative stigma

His findings, recently obtained by CTV Montreal through an Access to Information request, were sent to the justice department in 2010 to improve its understanding and prosecution of honour cases in Canada. They were then included the Shafia murder trial.

Sociology student Saima Ishaq said the term "honour killing" in itself is controversial, however.

The Pakistani-born Master's student wrote her thesis on honour killings, and argues the cases should not be seen or referred to by the controversial term, but simply as murders of women and girls.

"It's like any other community. Violence against women exists across all cultures, they're just given different names," said Ishaq.

The three factors that separate these crimes from others, however, need to be understood and utilized by those who can protect potential victims, said Muhammad in his report.

The sentiment is echoed by Wendy Thomson, director of McGill School of Social Work.

"(We need) understanding of the particular needs of those communities and not standing back. Not assuming that it's their problem – part of it's our issue," she said.

Youth protection group Batshaw Youth Services had opened files on the Shafia daughters after they complained of mistreatment by their father, but dealing with cultural issues proved to be out of the ordinary, said Madeleine Berard, director of youth protection for the agency.

"This kind of event is so out of our realm of usual youth protection," she said. "Did we know that this was going to go the extreme it went to? Absolutely not. Could it have been foreseen it? I'm not sure. I wish that we could have."

Between Batshaw and its French counterpart, Centre Jeunesse Montreal, officials investigations were launched twice, but both times the case was closed after the girls recanted.

Berard said the group plans to re-evaluate their policies and must now consider honour crimes as a possible outcome.

"Because this kind of crime is now coming to our door, we now need to take that into account in our analysis," she said.

Thomson said she wonders if more could have been done to ease the teenaged girls' difficult lives.

"Are we expecting too much of young girls in this situation? The agencies did what they need to do, but it required the girls to be able to take that step and have the courage to follow it through," she said.

Raheel Raza, a Muslim Canadian author and activist who has written about the need for more equality between the sexes in Muslim communities, believes better communication and outreach may have changed the outcome for the Shafia girls.

"It's an us-and-them issue. If we had treated this as a Canadian problem, that this is happening right here in Canada, and abuse against women is not accepted in Canada, then perhaps it would have been a different story," she said.