BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//132.216.98.100//NONSGML kigkonsult.se iCalcreator 2.20.4// BEGIN:VEVENT UID:20260522T071617EDT-86402fzU6h@132.216.98.100 DTSTAMP:20260522T111617Z DESCRIPTION:Please register for this event by chrlp.law [at] mcgill.ca (ema iling the Centre here).\n\nThe event is co-sponsored by the Centre for Hum an Rights and Legal Pluralism and the Law Commission of Canada.\n\n\nCases of forced marriage (FM) in Canada occur across religions\, ethnicities\, and races\, and can be traced back to Confederation. Their prevalence gain ed public attention in 2008 following several high-profile cases and advoc acy work done by the South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario. In 2015 Canada g rouped FM\, polygamy\, and so-called “honour killings” under the Zero Tole rance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act. The law added new criminal offe nces to the Criminal Code\, including forced marriage\, marriage under the age of 16\, as well as the offence of officiating or solemnizing a marria ge knowing that it is “in contravention of federal law.” Alongside amendme nts that centre on criminal sanctions and immigration control\, the Civil Marriage Act was also amended to set\, for the first time\, a national min imum age for marriage (of 16 years) and a legal requirement of “free and e nlightened consent of two persons to be the spouse of each other.”\n\nThe 2015 legislation was part of a series of laws that marked Canada’s move to wards ‘crimigration’ similarly to other Global North states. Not only that identifying the source of FM\, polygamy\, or femicide outside the country is factually incorrect\, it legitimizes an approach that treats them as “ immigrants’ problems” and encourages policies that either focus on policin g newcomers or turn a blind eye\, while the survivor’s interests and needs are not at the centre of concern. In 2018\, under the Liberal government\ , the Act lost its divisive ‘Zero Tolerance’ title\, but otherwise the law remained intact.\n\nA decade later the public interest in the phenomena t hat the law purported to prevent has subsided. Meanwhile\, women and girls continue to be forced into marriage and femicide remains prevalent. The s ymposium brings together participants from community and women’s organizat ions\, government agencies\, and the academia to share critical perspectiv es and explore new directions and possibilities for addressing gendered vi olence and preventing intergenerational harm – inspired by Canada’s histor y\, diverse legal traditions\, and unique pluralism in the domain of marri age laws.\n\n\nPreliminary Program:\n\n\n Gathering and Refreshments - 8:30 -9:00\n\n \n  \n \n\n Opening Remarks - 9:00-9:30\n\n \n Shauna Van Praagh\, Pre sident\, the Law Commission of Canada\n\n Nandini Ramanujam\, Director of H uman Rights Programs\, CHRLP\n \n\n Crimigration\, Marginalization\, and Res istance - 9:30-11:30\n\n \n Chair: Lynda Clarke\, Concordia University\, Dep artment of Religions and Cultures\n\n Deepa Mattoo\, Chief Executive Office r of YWCA Toronto and Miriam Zucker\, 91ɬ Law – A Decade Since the Zero Tolerance Act: Recontextualizing Forced Marriage as a Form of Coercive Co ntrol and Reinvigorating Alternatives to Penal Approaches\n\n Dr. Salina Ab ji\, Sociologist & Research Consultant – “Honour”-Based Violence and the P olitics of Culture in Canada\n\n Hoori Hamboyan\, Senior Advisor\, Office o f the Federal Ombudsperson for Victims of Crime – Access to Justice for Su rvivors of Gender-Based Violence\n\n Q & A\n \n\n Lunch Break - 11:30-12:30\n \n \n  \n \n\n Building Bridges and Models of Shared Responsibility - 12:30-2: 15\n\n \n **Content warning** Please note that this session includes some se nsitive or triggering content\n\n Chair: Miriam Zucker\, SSHRC Post Doctora l Fellow\, 91ɬ Faculty of Law\n\n 12:30-12:45 – Overview of r esources for sexual violence response and support at the Student Wellness Hub by Gabrielle Petrucci\, Local Wellness Advisor - Law\n\n 12:30-1:00 – R ev. Dr. Anne Marie Hunter\, Senior Advisor\, Safe Havens Interfaith Partne rship Against Domestic Violence and Elder Abuse – Where Faith and Safety M eet: Working with Faith and Spiritual Communities to Increase Safety and A ccess to Services\n\n 1:00-2:00 – Workshop on restorative & transformative justice models and DEI trauma-informed lawyering \n\n Lead participants: \n \n Nneka MacGregor\, Co-founder and Executive Director of the Women’s Centr e for Social Justice\n\n Kate Crozier\, Executive Director of Community Jus tice Initiatives\n\n Sabha Sajjad-Hazai\, Senior family law lawyer in priva te practice and former legal counsel and program lead for the Canadian Mus lim Women’s Legal Centre Project\n \n\n Coffee Break - 2:15-2:30\n\n \n  \n \n \n Legal Pluralism and Dialogue: Beyond the Public/Private Divide - 2:30-4: 15\n\n \n Chair: Michel Morin\, Université de Montréal Faculty of Law\n\n Nat asha Bakht\, University of Ottawa Faculty of Law – Religious Barriers\, Le gal Pluralism\, and Equality: Rethinking State Responses to “Cultural Viol ence”\n\n Marie Manikis\, 91ɬ Faculty of Law - Rethinking Pro secutorial Discretion and State Accountability in the Criminal Legal Proce ss\n\n Kirsten Anker\, 91ɬ Faculty of Law – Indigenous peace- making: dispute resolution that confounds the public/private divide\n\n Q & A\n \n\n Concluding Remarks - 4:15-4:30\n\n \n Miriam Zucker\, SSHRC Post Doc toral Fellow\, 91ɬ Faculty of Law\n \n\n\n \n\n\nSpeaker Biog raphies:\n\n\n Lynda Clarke\, Concordia University\, Department of Religion s and Cultures\n\n \n Professor Lynda Clarke joined the Department of Religi ons and Cultures at Concordia University after having held positions in th e Department of Religion at Bard College and the Department of Asian and M iddle East Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research interes ts include Shiism\, law and gender\, and Islam in the West\, in connection with which she has engaged with issues related to the use of Muslim law i n Canada.\n \n\n Miriam Zucker\, SSHRC Post Doctoral Fellow\, 91ɬ Univers ity Faculty of Law\n\n \n Dr. Miriam Zucker received her SJD from the Univer sity of Toronto and holds a Master of Laws degree (LLM\, Public and Intern ational Law specialization) and a Bachelor of Laws degree (LLB). Her work on the intersections of gendered violence and state violence among Indigen ous and racialized communities has been disseminated through public presen tations and publications in scholarly journals and has been recognized wit h the Audre Rapoport Prize for Scholarship on Gender and Human Rights. Her current research\, supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Resear ch Council of Canada (SSHRC)\, examines Canada’s legal response to forced marriage under the Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act (201 5) and its impact on survivors\, individuals at risk\, and their families. \n \n\n Deepa Mattoo\, Chief Executive Officer of YWCA Toronto\n\n \n Deepa Ma ttoo is an award-winning lawyer\, intersectional feminist\, and social jus tice advocate who currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of YWCA Toronto. With a career spanning over 28 years\, her work is defined by a c ommitment to advancing equity\, anti-oppression\, and the rights of surviv ors of gender-based violence.\n \n\n Dr. Salina Abji\, Sociologist & Researc h Consultant \n\n \n Salina Abji has a Ph.D. in Sociology from the Universit y of Toronto and a Master’s degree (MSt.) in Women’s Studies from Oxford U niversity. Her SSHRC-funded postdoctoral fellowship at Carleton University examined Canada's immigration detention system\, focusing on experiences of detention and anti-border activism among GBV survivors. She has publish ed research on citizenship and migration\, gender-based violence\, and soc ial justice activism in scholarly journals like Citizenship Studies\, Sign s\, Social Politics\, and Studies in Social Justice. As a research and eva luation consultant\, Salina has worked with national and provincial settle ment and GBV organizations to build capacity for trauma-informed\, interse ctional\, and culturally-responsive approaches to service provision. In 20 21\, she was awarded a Trailblazers in Social Justice award from the South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario (SALCO) for her research and activism addre ssing structural racism and gender-based violence affecting Ontario’s dive rse South Asian communities.\n \n\n Hoori Hamboyan\, Senior Advisor\, Office of the Federal Ombudsperson for Victims of Crime\n\n \n Hoori Hamboyan has a background in social work and law and is currently a senior advisor at t he Office of the Federal Ombudsperson for Victims of Crime. She was the le ad investigator for the office’s systemic investigation on the experiences of survivors of sexual violence and the criminal justice system. Prior to working with the OFOVC\, she was chair of the federal interdepartmental w orking group on harmful practices for many years. Before joining the feder al civil service\, she was a child protection social worker and worked in grassroots refugee rights advocacy and counselling with survivors of sexua l violence and armed conflict.\n \n\n Rev. Dr. Anne Marie Hunter\, Senior Ad visor\, Safe Havens Interfaith Partnership Against Domestic Violence and E lder Abuse\n\n \n Anne Marie Hunter is an ordained United Methodist pastor w ho has worked extensively in the field of domestic violence and elder abus e since 1984. Hunter holds a Master of Divinity from Harvard Divinity Scho ol and a Ph.D. in Religion and Society from Drew University. Hunter has wo rked for two domestic violence service agencies and served as the pastor o f East Saugus United Methodist Church in Massachusetts. In 1991\, Hunter a nd a circle of friends founded Safe Havens Interfaith Partnership Against Domestic Violence and Elder Abuse\, a religiously diverse nonprofit organi zation that works locally and nationally to strengthen partnerships betwee n diverse faith communities and frontline workers to provide support servi ces to domestic and sexual violence survivors.\n \n\n Nneka MacGregor\, Co-f ounder and Executive Director of the Women’s Centre for Social Justice\n\n \n Nneka MacGregor\, LL.B. is co-founder and Executive Director of the Wome n’s Centre for Social Justice (WomenatthecentrE). A Black Intersectional a bolitionist feminist\, international speaker\, and Transformative Accounta bility/Justice practitioner\, Nneka is an expert advisory panel member of the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability and found er of the Black Femicide Canada Council. Her research focuses on sexual vi olence\, and the intersection of strangulation\, Traumatic Brain Injury an d GBV. She received the 2019 PINK Concussions Award and the 2020 YWCA Wome n of Distinction Social Justice Award and one of two 2024 Activists-in-Res idence (AiR) at the University of Guelph\, in Ontario\, Canada.\n \n\n Kate Crozier\, Executive Director of Community Justice Initiatives (CJI)\n\n \n P rior to working at CJI\, Kate spent most of her career working with women impacted by violence. Along the way she had the opportunity to work with c riminalized youth\, unhoused women\, as well as men impacted by sexual har m – all of which helped her understand how people whose needs are not met often become criminalized. Kate has spent 20 years working to address the impacts of gender-based violence\, through a mix of feminist anti-violence and restorative justice work. Both of these fields have fed her interest in tackling both personal and systemic issues through non-carceral pathway s. Through her different roles in the CJI Kate has come to highly value th e de-professionalization of restorative justice work\, and she is proud of the CJI's legacy of equipping community members to facilitate mediations\ , groups\, and circles.\n \n\n Sabha Sajjad-Hazai\, senior family law lawyer in private practice \n\n \n Sabha Sajjad-Hazai launched Canada’s first fait h-based legal clinic pilot project supporting survivors of gender-based vi olence in diverse Muslim communities navigating the family law system in O ntario. She has spent more than two decades advancing access to justice in itiatives focused on Muslim women’s legal rights in Canada. She frequently speaks and teaches on the future of law\, exploring how technology and ar tificial intelligence can expand access to legal services for underserved communities. She is a faculty member with The Advocates’ Society and a dep uty judge in Central West Region Ontario. She also contributes to professi onal development programming through the Law Society of Ontario and mentor s emerging lawyers at Toronto Metropolitan University Lincoln Alexander Sc hool of Law.\n \n\n Michel Morin\, Université de Montréal Faculty of Law\n\n \n Michel Morin is a Full Professor at the Faculty of Law of the Université de Montréal. His research focuses on Comparative Legal History of public and private law and the evolution of Aboriginal Peoples’ rights. His book\ , co-authored with Arnaud Decroix and David Gilles 'Les tribunaux et l'arb itrage en Nouvelle-France et au Québec de 1740 à 1784' (Courts and Arbitra tion in New France and Quebec\, 1740-1784)\, was awarded the Rodolphe Four nier 2013 prize (ex aequo) by the Fédération des sociétés d'histoire du Qu ébec (Federation of Historical Societies of Quebec) and the Chamber of Not aries. In 2023\, Professor Morin was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Soci ety of Canada.\n \n\n Natasha Bakht\, University of Ottawa Faculty of Law\n \n \n Natasha Bakht is a professor in the Faculty of Law at the University o f Ottawa whose research focuses on the intersection of religious freedom a nd women’s equality. She has written extensively in the area of religious arbitration. Her research on the niqab analyzes the unwarranted popular pa nic concerning Muslim women who cover their faces and explores systemic ba rriers to inclusion perpetuated by Canada’s legal and political system. He r book In Your Face: Law Justice and Niqab-Wearing Women in Canada was lis ted in the Hill Times 100 Best Books of 2020 and received the 2020-2021 Hu guenot Society of Canada Award. Prof Bakht is the President of the Canadia n Association for the Study of Islam and Muslims. She is also an award-win ning dancer and choreographer\, trained in Bharata Natyam and specializing in Indian contemporary dance.\n \n\n Marie Manikis\, 91ɬ Facu lty of Law\n\n \n Marie Manikis is an Associate Professor and William Dawson Chair at the Faculty of Law\, 91ɬ. She is also a Research A ssociate at the Centre for Criminology\, University of Oxford and at the I nternational Centre for Comparative Criminology\, University of Montreal. Her research is interdisciplinary and comparative and analyses prosecutori al discretion\, state accountability\, as well as victim and community par ticipation across criminal legal processes. She is the author of Victims a s Agents of State Accountability (Oxford University Press\, 2026) and has published in leading journals. Her award-winning scholarship has been cite d by several courts\, and she regularly advises governmental and non-gover nmental bodies in Canada and the United Kingdom.\n \n\n Kirsten Anker\, McGi ll University Faculty of Law\n\n \n Kirsten Anker is Associate Professor at 91ɬ Faculty of Law\, teaching property\, equity & trusts\, legal theory and Aboriginal law/Indigenous legal traditions. She has published researc h on a legal pluralist framework for the co-existence of state and Indigen ous legal orders\, the integration of Indigenous legal traditions in forma l legal education\, and ecological jurisprudence.\n \n\n\n \n DTSTART:20260608T123000Z DTEND:20260608T203000Z LOCATION:Room 101\, Chancellor Day Hall\, CA\, QC\, Montreal\, H3A 1W9\, 36 44 rue Peel SUMMARY:What Have We Learned a Decade Since the Zero Tolerance Act? Reimagi ning Law as a Shared Pursuit of Justice URL:/law/channels/event/what-have-we-learned-decade-ze ro-tolerance-act-reimagining-law-shared-pursuit-justice-372968 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR