Opinion ‘We need to start collecting data on fraud marriages’

How did you get into politics?

I remember watching images of the violence in 1984 in India. I wrote a letter to Indira Gandhi and like any other 10-year-old,I advocated for peace and said,why don’t you just sit down and talk. A few weeks later I received a handwritten note from her,inviting me to come and meet her. We were en route to India when she was assassinated. When she wrote me back,I learnt that it doesn’t matter how young or old you are,or where you live — if you have an idea,anything is possible. I later started volunteering with my local MP,and worked my way up.

What is it like being a minority woman politician in Canada?

When I was first elected in 2004,it was very different. I was blessed when I ran in 2004 in the sense that the then prime minister was very supportive of me and gave me the nomination. But I still had to win the election. But getting elected is just one part. Once you’re in office,you have to work hard to prove yourself. In Ottawa,my colleagues would socialise and I would stay in my office reading,returning phone calls and being hands on with my constituents.

Are you planning to run again?

Of course,though in 2011 our party was decimated — our leader,Michael Ignatieff,lost. During the run-up there was a campaign to draft me as a candidate to lead the party but the timing wasn’t right — I was too young. I met Michael and became national co-chair of his campaign. But politics and policy are two different things. When you have an academic,intellectual perspective,you have great policy ideas,but you also have to see how those policies connect. If you can’t make that connection,there’s a problem.

You’re in India to launch an NGO. Tell us about the work that you want to do.

We’ve launched a charity,Dreams For You,focused on the issue of “fraud” marriages. Men come from abroad,they marry young women in villages and the man’s family requests a lavish wedding. After the wedding,the groom stays sometimes for a week,sometimes for months. Sometimes they even have children. Then they leave,ostensibly to sponsor the visa,and cut off all contact. We hope to help empower these women. We don’t want to give these women fish,as we say in Canada,we want to give them the skills and tools to empower themselves.

Will the charity identify people or will you wait for them to approach you?

Because I’ve been working on this issue for many years,different stakeholders already know me. But we hope we will also be able to conduct a campaign through the media and elected officials to let those affected know that there is help available. We want to take a proactive approach so that before these women actually get married,their families research the groom,his family and history. Some men do this as a business and we want people to get their marriages registered so that there is information available if a man has been married previously. We’ve also been advocating the creation of an NRI wing,which Punjab has — probably the only one in the country.

How extensive is this practice?

In 2004,when I first got elected,we had different people come forward with their issues. When I came to Punjab in 2008,I wanted to meet some of the women whose relatives had approached me. I thought it would be a meeting of 15-20 women,but I walked into this community hall and there were hundreds of people. I meet people who say it’s a big problem in Hyderabad,in Uttar Pradesh,in Kerala,so I think it exists throughout India. Punjab always seems to resonate because so much work has been done there. But one of the initiatives I would like to see the charity undertake over the next year is to actually start collecting data. Right now,we just don’t know. Some women have come forward out of fear,or even hope that their marriage might still work out,to register a case.

What sort of skills training are you looking to do?

First,we want to provide proper counselling,to make women aware of what their options are,what rights they have. Second,give them access to legal assistance. Some of these women don’t even have enough money to put food on the table,paying for a lawyer is out of the question. Once they build strength,we’ll start skilling them.

RUBY DHALLA