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-- Just as Shajila Singh escaped her sham marriage and thought she was on the mend from emotional and physical abuse, the Burnaby resident got hit with a second blow.
This time, it was a $27,000 bill racked up by her welfare-collecting ex-husband who, unbeknownst to her, was under a deportation order to India when they married.
Singh, 34, is now speaking out against the practice of using sham marriages as a passport into Canada — and the exploitation of social services by sponsored spouses once they arrive.
Under immigration laws, anyone who sponsors a spouse into Canada is financially responsible for them for 10 years. Sponsors remain financially responsible even in the event that their spouse falsely represented themselves in order to marry a Canadian and gain access to the country.
Raj Chouhan, a Burnaby New Democrat MLA, says he's been approached by dozens of people over the past three months about this issue.
Chouhan and Coquitlam-Maillardville MLA Diane Thorne have organized a public meeting Wednesday to raise awareness of the financial toll on victims of fraudulent marriages. Singh will be one of eight speakers at the meeting.
Chouhan says the province needs to change its law so that if there's strong evidence that a man or woman was duped into a sham marriage, the victim should not be financially responsible for their sponsored spouse.
"It's re-victimizing the victim," said Chouhan. "This is absolutely unfair . . . We need to raise the profile and awareness of this issue." --
