Canada's government is considering legislation that will ban migrants who practice polygamy from emigrating to the country, Canada's Immigration Minister Chris Alexander said on Wednesday, deeming the custom as a "barbaric cultural practice."
The Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act was introduced by the Canadian Senate on Wednesday following a decade of so-called "honor" killings involving immigrant families from the Middle East and South Asia, Voice of America reported.
"We are strengthening our laws to protect Canadians and newcomers to Canada from barbaric cultural practices," Alexander said in an online statement.
"We are sending a strong message to those in Canada and those who wish to come to Canada that we will not tolerate cultural traditions in Canada that deprive individuals of their human rights."
The sweeping changes to Canada's immigration act would also prohibit "forced marriages, set a minimum age for marriage at 16 and limit possible defenses in honor killings and many spousal murders," he added.
Most honor killings are performed in the name of protecting a family's pride, which is usually seen as being tampered when relationships are secretly formed outside of one's caste or religion, Al-Arabiya reported.
If the bill gets passed by the parliament, temporary and permanent residents who practice polygamy in Canada can face deportation by authorities without a criminal conviction. At least hundreds of immigration cases could be affected by the provision in this law, Alexander said.
In a 14-year-old case, a Canadian woman was allegedly killed in India by her mother and uncle for secretly marrying a poor rickshaw driver. The suspects were ordered to be extradited to India to face prosecution for murder and conspiracy to commit murder in May.
In another case, the father and brother of a 16-year-old girl pleaded guilty in 2010 to murdering her for disobeying her father, including refusing to wear a hijab. The family had immigrated from Pakistan, according to Agence France-Presse.
