This week the Harper government announced the allocation of $200,000 to British Columbia non-profit “Mosaic”, an immigrant services organization, to implement an educational program designed to combat honour killings.
Mosaic will work with young men and boys in multicultural communities over a period of two years to help them understand the issues behind ethnic gender violence.
Minister of State for the Status of Women, Rona Ambrose, noted there have been 19 high-profile honour killings in Canada, but that threats and violence against women in multicultural communities are an everyday occurrence.
Jassi Sidhu is one of the nineteen who is still waiting for justice.
Last month an extradition hearing began in a British Columbia courtroom, almost 13 years after Ms. Sidhu was beaten, tortured and strangled to death in India, punishment for marrying a man she loved, not the older, wealthy man her family wanted her to marry.
Jassi met rickshaw driver, Mithu Sidhu in 1994 when she visited India with her family. They fell in love and their long-distance relationship culminated in a secret marriage ceremony in India in March of 1999.
She returned home to British Columbia dreaming of the day she and Mithu could be together. One day in 2000 family members discovered a marriage certificate in Jassi’s bedroom. They were furious. They offered her money and a new car if she would annul the marriage. She would not. They then forced her to sign annulment papers.
Jassi worked as an esthetician in a small salon in Port Coquitlam, but after her marriage came to light she was a prisoner in her home. One of her family members would escort her to and from her workplace. She was physically abused and threatened by family members, as was her husband in India.
She feared for her life and fled her home, borrowing money from a friend to fly to India to reunite with Mithu. Now she was free, but it was not to be.
On June 8, 2000 Jassi and Mithu were attacked by a group of men in the state of Punjab. Mithu survived the attack, but Jassi’s body was found in a canal. Mithu was arrested for rape and languished in prison for four years until he was released with no charges. The woman who accused him of sexual assault was connected to Jassi’s family in India.
Seven men were convicted of Jassi’s murder, men who had been in constant communication with Jassi’s mother Malkit Kaur Sidhu, and her wealthy uncle, Surjit Badesha before her death. They testified at trial that the killing was initiated by Jassi’s mother. On appeal, three of the convicted killers were acquitted and released.
Now begins the long wait for the release of the British Columbia Supreme Court decision on extradition. Experts in the field acknowledge that extradition to India is rarely granted because of shady Indian police practices, including the use of truth serum in investigations, and a corrupt judiciary.
Honour killings have become such a pressing issue in Canada that the Canadian citizenship study guide mentions it specifically, saying, “Canada’s openness and generosity do not extend to barbaric cultural practices that tolerate spousal abuse, “honour killings”, female genital mutilation, forced marriage or other gender-based violence.”
Will Jassi get the justice she deserves?
Lawdiva aka Georgialee Lang
Lawdiva's Blog 
The law can only go so far. Beyond the law, socially it must come to be seen as a great shame to ‘arrange’ or ‘force’ a marriage, or have ‘dowries’. These deep-seated ideas must be changed. We do not see much effort within cultural enclaves to internally denounce such crimes, and there has been insufficient effort to banish and extinguish such beliefs over the years. There has been plenty of warning in Canada over the years, for immigrant cultural groups to get to work and do their preventive work, which is their business to do.
I recall an honour killing my city of New Westminster that had high profile. In response, what did the cultural community do ? Obviously not enough, to denounce and prevent such barbarism.
Lewis and Santa Singh Tatlay were jointly convicted with the murder of Parmjeet K. Sidhu, Tatlay’s daughter, and the murder of Gurmail Singh Sidhu, her new husband. The instrument which caused the deaths was a wedding present electric kettle rigged with dynamite in such a manner as to explode when plugged into an electric outlet. The kettle was sent to the couple by mail to New Westminster. It exploded with tragic results on Oct. 23, 1972. The reason for the ‘honor killing’ was that Parmjeet did not marry the correct man based upon her parent’s decision. Since she did not obey her parents, her life was expendable.
The government has done what it can, but the most powerful change agent comes internally from these cultural communities, and apparently they have not done enough.
Paul Thanks for your input. I remember the 1972 kettle bombing as I was living in New West at the time. I agree that the communities whose culture advances honour killing as legitimate need to step up to the plate and do more…way more!
I also remember the kettle bombing as if it were yesterday. Gordy ( Gurmail ) was a friend of mine. Who I also worked with back then. He was selling cars in Surrey at a place called Variety Auto Sales. He was a great guy who everybody liked. At that time he told me stories about how his father in law was trying to kill him. He explained to me that one time his father in law came after him with a shotgun and that his wife had shamed the family when he married her. He was truly in love with his wife and had moved down from Kamloops because he feared for his life and his wife’s life. I remember saying at the time that you have to be imagining this because no father would kill his own daughter. He told me that he was telling the absolute truth and he would kill them both if he had the chance. This was back in 1972 and I had never heard of this before. Now If he was alive and told me I would take it seriously. I remember the day it happened. The RCMP never came around to question any of us who worked with him. I had to phone them and tell them what he told me and they basically brushed me off , not believing that that’s what happened or could have happened. I still remember Gordy very well to this day.
About 7 years ago I was out in Abbotsford and I was talking to a well spoken clean cut real estate sales person who told me he was Sikh. He started telling me about family values in his religion and how they are so much superior to other religions. I mentioned that a friend of mine and his wife lost their lives by being blown by in a kettle bomb by her father who was Sikh. Immediately he told me that that’s Santa Singh Tatley and he is honored and is a Guru in their place of worship. I couldn.t believe what I was hearing. This man should have never been let out of jail.What kind of a sick religion honors a man who killed his own daughter and son in law.
Mike Thanks for sharing your comments with my readers. A despicable tragedy made worse by the honour bestowed on the family patriarch.
The last part of your comment makes no sense. No honour of a guru is bestowed upon a person at our place of worship, and the religion does not honour him. People who dont know what he did may have respect for him but not the religion..get ur facts straight..
Bal I have no idea what you are talking about. There is nothing in this article that suggests that the perpetrator of an honour killing is revered in his faith community. I suggest you read it again.
Georgialee,
i think bals comment was directed at Mike P. and not at your article, perhaps YOU should (re) read his comment, as it mentions faith, etc.