PRESS RELEASE
The following summary of a fraud marriage story illustrates 4 important points:
(1) There is a desire in a number of immigrants to retain cultural purity. Immigrant parents try to achieve this goal for their children by seeking spouses in the immigrant parent's country of origin. This is a very common practice in Canada and in European immigrant-receiving countries. For the immigrant group, this action often means bringing in people who are unfamiliar with the immigrant-receiving country. As a result, it often results in continued lack of integration with the host population.
(2) Fraud marriage is not an isolated practice. A large number of immigrants enter Canada every year as sponsored spouses. Some of this pactice is legitimate, but the law is abused in two ways: (A) Foreigners pay some Canadians to pretend they are marrying a Canadian. At an appropriate time, the so-called “marriage” ends. (B) Other Canadians genuinely enter a marriage agreement with a foreigner. In these cases, it is the foreigner who has done the pretending. In reality, the foreigner was interested only in obtaining Permanent Resident status. In both (A) and (B) cases, the minute the foreigner sets foot on Canadian soil, the foreigner has Permanent Resident status and is eligible to obtain Canadian citizenship in 3 years. In many cases, foreigners who have come as sponsored spouses literally disappear at the airport and the Canadians are left aghast at how they have been duped. The most galling of all realities is that little, if anything, is done to apprehend and to deport the foreigners either in situation (A) or (B) or to penalize the Canadians involved in the abuse in (A).
(3) Sponsoring a spouse is a practice which is grossly abused by predators from other countries. According to several oprganizations trying to stop fraudulent marriages, there are literally thousands of Canadian citizens who have been victims of foreigners who, with malice aforethought, have used a Canadian spouse to enter Canada. Subsequently, these people have brought in their real spouses, their own parents, and as many other relatives who qualify for sponsorship. These new arrivals then sponsor others and the process goes on ad infinitum. It is a significant part of the process called “chain migration”.
(4) As the following story illustrates, the prey are not only naive and innocent Canadians, but also the country itself. It shows that these people do serious emotional injury to the people they prey on, but also that they are a criminal class whose aim is to abuse Canada's immigration and legal systems as much as possible. Emboldened by how easy it was to get away with abuse of their spouses, these foreigners probably go on to other similar abuse. The extent of that abuse has not yet been uncovered.
THE STORY:
The relationship between H, the groom and S, the bride, began in late November of 2002. The groom was a Canadian citizen of East Indian background and in his early 20's. His parents wanted him to enter an arranged marriage with a woman from India. They made inquiries and heard about a supposedly well-to-do family in Gujurat, India who had a daughter interested in such a marriage.
From the very beginning, the groom (referred to as H) had suspicions about the sincerity of the bride (S) . At their first meeting, S talked mostly about herself and her desire to go to either Canada or the U.S. However, she also told H that she thought he was overweight. When he told her that he was a Hare Krishna member and interested in developing spiritually, she became distant. When she noticed that he looked wary, she sugar-coated her mistake by commenting that it was a wife's duty to assist her husband in his spiritual quest and that she would do all she could to fulfill that obligation. After consideration, he decided that she was not the person he wanted. Soon, he and his parents returned to Canada.
This story would have ended there, but the woman's family did not give up easily. For a period of several weeks, S.'s father in India phoned H's house in Canada every few days and told him and his parents that S really wanted to marry H. The father passed the phone to the future bride, S., and had her proclaim that she loved H. Naive, soft and impressionable, H. began to doubt his original decision. Sensing this, the woman played on his feelings. Knowing that H's parents were aging, she said that if she were in Canada, she would gladly help to look after them. Feeling under intense pressure, he relented and decided to go back to India in February of 2003.
However, S's inappropriate behaviour continued. She and her family pretended to be cultured, but she talked bluntly about sex, embarrassing H and anyone else around. S would often get angry at H and then apologize profusely. After an argument with H, she would often break into very animated French conversation with her mother. H did not understand what they were talking about. Later, when she did speak with H, she talked mostly about satisfying selfish goals such as wanting to sponsor her family to come to Canada. She told him she wanted to get out of India, and that Indian people, particularly the men, disgusted her.
H was put off by these comments, but he was determined to please his father.
Soon, H and S were engaged. Undoubtedly sensing that she was getting closer to her goal, S's behaviour changed even more. When H's parents were around, she was sweet and friendly to them but when they were out of earshot, she would be very cold to him, refusing to talk to him. On a trip to the Taj Mahal, she walked around by herself. He excused this behaviour by telling himself that she must be feeling depressed about leaving her family behind. When H's sister and husband visited India, S. became very reserved. Later, H would find out that she reacted in this way because the family of H's brother-in-law knew her past behaviour and she feared that they would say something to H. When H's own brother arrived, S seemed love-struck. She told H that the brother looked like a movie star. She seemed infatuated with him, and fawned over him. But she later would say she loved H and wanted to get on with their marriage.
In early March, 2003, H and S were married. Prior to this event, several relatives and acquaintances of S had approached H and told him that S was using him and that S's family were bad people. He dismissed the comments, thinking these people were jealous. Also prior to the wedding, H's father was approached by a number of men who demanded money from him. Later, H learned that these men had been told to do this by S's father—adding to the parents' serious doubts about the marriage.
S became more and more anxious to get to Canada. H and his parents went to the Canadian consulate in Delhi to see if they could speed up the visa process. H's parents left H and S alone. The incidents that occurred at the consulate made H have many second thoughts. In the 8 hours of waiting in the office, S became very angry with H and started shouting at him in front of the hundreds of people there. She went off by herself and began flirting with other men. When she finally found out that she had been rejected, she threw the forms into H's face. Later, she would often throw temper tantrums at night and then beg forgiveness in the morning, attributing her behaviour to the newness of their marriage. H became more and more confused but once again excused this behaviour on the grounds that S was about to be separated from her parents.
H said nothing about this to his parents.
H and his father returned to Canada where H would do the necessary paperwork to re-apply for S's entry to Canada. To keep S company, H's mother remained in India. H heard more unsavoury stories about S, but again dismissed them as more vicious rumours. H's father began to feel very guilty about even suggesting the arranged marriage. However, he kept silent because he felt that he should not interfere. Back in India, H's mother found herself fighting almost daily with S, but she too said nothing to H at the time. The lack of communication between the parents and son compounded the problem. One day, H's mother injured her back in India and decided to return to Canada. To keep S company, H took his mother's place to India and stayed with his bride. However, she remained cold to him. When anyone from Canada phoned H, she monitored the calls to see if anything negative was being said about her.
H's father found out that because S was originally from Madagascar, she would have to go back there to be sponsored. This news angered her and she became almost suicidal. One night she began banging her head against the wall and screaming at H who became even more confused, even suicidal, about the situation he was in. He felt obligated to show loyalty to his wife, but also felt he should show loyalty to his parents and other family members.
He returned to Canada and she went to Madagascar. Finally, his parents confronted him. They told him that it was a serious mistake to go any further with S and that he should divorce her. At the same time, S and her family called almost daily and pressured him to continue. One day, S's uncle in Chicago phoned and began intimidating him to fulfill his obligation to his wife. Other relatives of S in England also called. Around the same time, H consulted with a friend in Canada and was advised to be frank with S about his doubts. However, S and her family had anticipated this and she once again apologized for her behaviour and professed her love for H. Her parents continued to pressure him to go ahead with the sponsorship of S.
Sensing hostility from H's mother and father, S became determined to drive a wedge between H and his parents. Her efforts worked. H made a decision to ignore his parents' advice. He began working at two jobs to avoid contact with them. Without telling them, he secretly filled out the sponsorship papers for S in early 2004. She advised him to get a separate apartment so that the two could live without the interference of H's parents and one day, he moved out of their house. The day finally arrived when S got her visa. S's father called H, thanked him for everything, and said H's work was done. At that time, H didn't know exactly what those words meant. In October, 2004, S came to Canada.
H and his friend met her at the airport. Both noticed that all the talk about closeness was over. She was cold and distant again. S's father phoned H's parents and told them that S was in Canada. They were shocked and heart-broken for their son. S's father also phoned H and told him that he had told H's parents that S was in Canada. H felt badly and tried to comfort his mother and father.
S badgered H to find out how much money his parents had and how they made their living. She visited the temple and tried to ingratiate herself with others there by pretending to be devout. At the same time, she began driving a wedge between H and the temple devotees whom he had known for 16 years. She told them that H beat her, forced her to have sex and watched pornographic movies regularly. She was so convincing that they began to treat him strangely. Meanwhile, H's father began to get sick from all the worry he was having about H.
In 2005, H heard rumours that S was flirting with a 16-year old boy at the temple. Later, he was told that she was having an affair with one of H's friends. She denied both rumours. Even at this late date, H and S had not consummated their marriage. She kept telling him that arranged marriages took a long time to adjust to. Naively, he accepted this excuse.
When a much-anticipated religious festival arrived, she went to the ceremonies with some of her friends, leaving H to go by himself. Soon, she found a job and used that as an excuse to ignore him even more. Late one night, one of H's close friends and his wife arrived at H's apartment. He told H that the man who had been having an affair with S had confessed everything to him. H's close friend advised H to throw S out of the house. Sensing trouble, S confessed, cried and H forgave her—-again. However, no repentance ensued. Within a short time, she resumed her practice of demeaning him and treating him badly. One day, she openly told him that he was not the person she wanted to marry.
In late 2005, H and S got marriage counselling, but it did not work. S moved out and H was heart-broken. He decided to visit a close friend in Calgary who advised him to apologize to his parents, but when he returned to his parents' house to do that, he found out that they had gone on a trip to India. He phoned them and reconciled with them. He did not realize that his father was gravely ill. Not long after, H's brother phoned and told H that their father had died—largely as a result of all of the strain he had endured because of H's arranged marriage. S's family called H and apologized for what they had done. They said they had to do what they had to do. H and his family should move on and forgive S and her family. S's father repeatedly asked H for forgiveness. In H's words, “Everything finally made sense.”
In August of 2006, H received divorce papers from S who demanded $1500 per month in support. She also demanded jewellery which she said he had taken from her, but which he denied ever seeing. She even obtained a restraining order, allegedly to prevent H from abusing her. One day, she showed up at the temple with another man and flaunted the man in front of H and the people he knew.
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The story continues. At this time, H is fighting to have the support money denied and to show that S had lied about her jewellery claim. He feels he has been grossly abused by, in his words, “someone he naively gave his heart to”. He feels he has to stand up to S and her family in order to restore his dignity.
END OF PRESS RELEASE
NOTE: The following is a web site address for a Canadian group which is trying to stop fraudulent marriages: www.stopmarriagefraud.ca
