Indo-Canadians Struggle to Understand, Respond to, Honor Killings

June 26, 2005

Source: Macleans/CP

http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/news/shownews.jsp?content=n062604A

On June 26, 2005 the Canadian Press reported, "Indo-Canadian community activists say it's time that families like the Atwals [where the father murdered his daughter because she was secretly dating a Caucasian man] who are caught in a cultural crossfire with their Canadian-born children realize they should seek help.

And they believe social agencies need to be culturally sensitive to the needs of people in crisis.

But community activists acknowledge that families with long-held beliefs from another era will need to change their attitudes about their grown children's relationships - something that will take time... Atwal, like the Sikhs who support him, has an old-world mentality that no longer exists even in much of India except for tiny villages, [Raymond] Raj, [president of the Kitimat Multicultural Society] said.

Many Indo-Canadian families come to accept the fact that their kids will meet people of different backgrounds at school and elsewhere, he said."