Is the federal minister for the Status of Women for real when she offers her assessment of so-called honour crimes?
Canadians hear horrifying stories in the news of, for example, a young woman being murdered by family members because she has apparently brought dishonour upon them. Her behaviour, dress or who she associated with wasn’t in line with their cultural expectations.
Status of Women Minister Rona Ambrose – along with the Justice Department – are struggling with the concept of whether this is a crime that deserves special focus.
At a roundtable meeting with minority groups in Montreal, Ambrose couldn’t nail down her government’s position. In Ottawa just days before, she’d said the feds were “looking at” amending the Criminal Code to include so-called honour crimes, leading to speculation that a crackdown was coming.
Federal Justice officials at first rejected outright that changes were in store, then later said her comments reflected government policy.
But whatever that policy is grew murkier at the Montreal meeting as Ambrose offered vague answers as to whether Criminal Code changes were in the works for such acts.
“Murder is murder,” was one of her replies.
And so it is, but then she added that culture or religion should not be used as justification for murder in an attempt to get a lighter sentence.
Surely no one is suggesting culture or religion as justification. If anything, they should be looked at as aggravating factors in the crime and subsequently lead to harsher sentences.
Honour killings bear a similarity to hate crimes – perpetrated on someone of a visible minority. The aggravating factor is there was no other reason for victimizing the person.
What a culture might tacitly approve in another nation – where murder is murder but honour killing is something else – Canada needs to make clear is abhorrent. Stiffer sentencing generally helps apply that message.
