The aftermath of the Shafia trial has left violence prevention organizations wondering, 'what now?' Centres providing resources and services for women across the country took in the news of the verdict with critical eyes, wondering if it could possibly be considered a wake-up call, or just serve as another sad reminder of many women's unfortunate realities.
It took a jury 15 hours to find Mohammad Shafia, 58, his wife Tooba Yahya, 42, and their son Hamed, 21, each guilty of four counts of first-degree murder in the killings of Shafia's first wife and three daughters last weekend. Rona Amir Mohammad, 52, Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17, and Geeti, 13, were all found drowned and submerged in a vehicle in a Kingston, Ont., canal in June 2009.
In a multicultural country like Canada, a case like this raises important questions about identity. For some, it's been a question of pointing fingers at the Muslim community, while others focused on the violence against these four women. Alia Hogben, the executive director of the Canadian Council for Muslim Women, claims she was receiving racist emails within two days of the Shafia verdict. Hogben had appeared on several news broadcasts, saying that the focus should have been on the violence against women, and not these so-called 'honour' killings. The emails pointedly called out the cultural connection with the crimes, but Hogden notes that these reactions miss the point as well.
"It's about teaching girls about multiple identities and making sure you didn't have to give up one to be the other," Hogben says, adding that one of the biggest struggles for Muslim women is the battle between having a Canadian and cultural identity.
Focusing on cultural communities is one step, but for Angela Marie MacDougall, the executive director at the Battered Women's Support Services (BWSS) in Vancouver, Canadians need to realize how common violence against women in all communities actually is.
Last year, BWSS dealt with over 10,000 cases just in Vancouver. MacDougall says it's remarkable for the Shafia verdict to not only be present in the justice system but also reach a verdict, given that only eight to 10 per cent of violence against women cases go to trial.
The only way to change this is to make sure the younger generation understands their roles. Teval Dinner works as a youth programs manager at the White Ribbon Campaign, an organization focused on educating men about violence against women. Last year, he spoke to over 6,000 students throughout Toronto about gender and violence.
Dinner's experience has shown him that kids understand far more than people expect. "Young people say 'we get what you're saying, and you need to work with our parents.'" Realistically, having his staff members go into homes to talk about gender is out of the question, though he'd like to pursue that avenue in the future. For now, the one piece of advice Dinner has for parents and youth is to find encouraging role models, educators and community leaders who stress gender equality in a positive light.
The Shafia verdict is one example of how a case labelled an "honour killing" reached the Canadian court system. Here are others examples of men and women in Canada, and from around the world, who have faced violence but eventually, sought justice.
