Forced marriages seen as a ‘Taboo’ in Canada by Muhammad Khan

Forced Marriages Seen as a ‘Taboo’ in Canada
By Muhammad Khan | For Ms. Walling’s blogspot | Posted: Jan 17, 2020

Photo taken by artist, Vassili Vladimirovich Pukiryov on Wikipidea to represent  forced marriage in the nineteenth century 

Forced marriages in our society is a topic that is kept as a secret and is rarely to be discussed. We talk about all sorts of things, ranging from World War III to an individual hating their school teacher. Unfortunately, Canadians have never shown interest in such sort of things, which is why we are dealing with these problems today. Neither does the Canadian Educational System talk about such topics, and they are kept as a ‘Taboo’ until an individual realizes themselves what the issue seems to be.  

Most Canadians tend to take choosing a partner for their marriage for granted. People should take it for granted, but people aren’t grateful that they get to choose their significant other. Where some people don’t even receive that right, which is quite common, and people tend to believe that it’s fake or it doesn’t exist because they’ve experienced it themselves. A report found that guardians, siblings, more distant family, grandparents, and religious leaders were altogether associated with driving people into forced marriages. 

Another female Samra Zafar, at the age of sixteen, she was informed by her mother that she'd be marrying a man who is twenty-eight years old and living in Canada. Against her consent, Zafar had to leave where she was living (United Arab Emirates) and went to Mississauga, Ontario, to give her marriage a chance. However, Samra lived her life and experienced all kinds of abuse that Samra received from her in-laws and raised two daughters along the way. Zafar even tried to obtain a University degree and succeeded; She is now speaking up against child marriages and forced marriages, Zafar went onto CTV news and shared her story to the people who don't know about the existence of forced marriages. This case is an excellent example of how education can make an individual share their experiences. In Samra Zafar's case, she succeeded and came out against the idea of forced marriages.   

For any change to come into our society, we as Canadians need to spread cognizance and make ourselves liable. To ensure to see results, this needs to happen in more than at least two different ways so that Forced marriages are non-existent in Canada or even in this universe. However, before we change anything, we need to understand that Forced marriages exist, and we cannot judge victims of Forced marriages based on their past that was chosen against their will. We also need to understand that males can also be victims of Forced marriages, but I wasn't able to find an article or a source that talked about a male being a victim. Secondly, we need to educate people through social media that Forced marriages to exist and speaking up for their justice is entirely correct, and freedom of speech is a right in Canada, which no one can take away from an individual. 

Photo Citation:“زواج بالإكراه.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 3 Jan. 2020, ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/زواج_بالإكراه.  

Work Cited: Puzic, Sonja. “Forced Marriage in Canada 'More Prevalent' than Thought: Ex-Child Bride.” CTVNews, CTV News, 22 June 2017, https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/forced-marriage-in-canada-more-prevalent-than-thought-ex-child-bride-1.3471441.