Muslim Women Complainants in Canadian Sexual Assault Cases

Event Description

Muslim women, increasingly targeted for wearing hijabs or being ‘visibly’ Muslim, find themselves racialized, facing discrimination as a raced group around the world. In Canada, laws such as Bill 21 in Quebec, enshrine barriers for Muslim women wearing hijabs or niqabs. In the context of sexual assault law in Canada, Muslim women face barriers to accessing justice as sexual assault complainants. The 2012 Supreme Court case, R v N.S., for example, revealed the fraught tension between balancing religious freedom with trial fairness for a complainant who wished to testify in a niqab against an accused whom she claimed sexually assaulted her as a child. Recognizing the complex ways in which race often plays into the characterization, dismissal, or marginalization of women of colour complainants, my research assesses the way the Muslim identity is racialized and how it affects the portrayal and treatment of Muslim women complainants in sexual assault cases.

Light lunch will be served. 

For Zoom link or paper, please contact sopuru10@student.ubc.ca

Speaker

Maira Hassan is a PhD candidate at Peter A. Allard School of Law and a recipient of the SSHRC Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship. Through a case law analysis and interviews with frontline support workers, her doctoral research examines how the often-politicized Muslim identity may create particular challenges for Muslim women who come forward with their experiences of sexual violence.