Title of paper:
‘Changes to Canada’s Immigration Laws: Implications for Women in Abusive Relationships’
Abstract:
This paper examines the ways in which Canada's immigration laws operate to discourage women with precarious or no status in Canada from leaving abusive relationships. The first part of this paper discusses the factors that make immigrant women particularly vulnerable to domestic violence in contexts affected by immigration laws and how immigration laws act as a barrier to women leaving such situations. The second part considers factors that weigh in favour of amending these laws, specifically the constitutional provisions in sections 7 and 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and overarching policy considerations; proposals for reform to the law; and countervailing policy considerations that would weigh against changes to the current laws. The paper concludes by considering the amendments to the Canadian immigration and refugee regulations the Conservative government has said it will be implementing to ‘crack down on marriage fraud.’