GRANT'S DESI ACHIEVER
DISMANTLING SYSTEMIC RACISM ONE CASE AT A TIME
Shalini Konanur is the Executive Director of South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario.
By SHAGORIKA EASWAR
Shalini Konanur helped set up South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario (SALCO) and as its ED, she works with low-income Ontarians in rural and urban settings, with a focus on supporting racialized communities.
“Our systems in law have within them a tremendous amount of systemic racism that pushes a lot of people to stay in situations of violence,” she says, bluntly. “Black, Indigenous and racialized people are surveiled and pulled into family law situations in larger numbers. They are disproportionately impacted in intersecting ways.”
She was often asked why a clinic had to be set up specifically for South Asians when a legal system was in place to help everyone.
Her response? Yes, there is, but it’s not being accessed by people who don’t feel comfortable talking about issues they think will not be understood. That while violence against women happens across the board, it doesn’t look the same in all communities. And for every woman who seeks help, there are 20 that don’t.
The need is to collect our stories, come together and become a force, she says.
“To advocate to decision makers and funders to fund Nissa Homes and Sakina Homes along with the YWCA. A shelter is never a home, but if at the very least it feels familiar, we can help more women. Our clients don’t benefit from the millions of dollars that go into the shelter system because they don’t access those. Many women don’t recognize what happened to them as violence or abuse because that’s what they have always seen happening at home, it happened to their mothers.”
Konanur co-authored Roadmap for Canada’s National Action Plan on Gender-Based Violence and helped develop Canada’s toolkit for people facing forced marriage. Available on the SALCO website, it educates people on what forced marriage is and steps they can take to prevent it if they themselves or someone they know is being forced into one.
Of the 7000 clients a year SALCO serves, approximately 3000 are cases of intimate partner violence.
She says they also see vulnerable seniors who are physically abused, isolated, made to sign over pension payments. Many can’t get old age security because they haven’t been here long enough. Those who are eligible may not apply because their adult offspring – who may now be abusing them – will be “punished” as they had signed agreements to look after their parents for 25 years while sponsoring them. Others are victims of scams from both within and outside the community.
Her work garnered the Ontario Victim Service Award of Distinction and the Ontario Bar Association’s Award of Excellence in the Promotion of Women’s Equality. Active in law reform and advocacy to improve the justice system and social infrastructure for people facing violence, Konanur has appeared at municipal, provincial, and federal government standing committees, at the Supreme Court of Canada, and at the UN to advocate for racialized communities facing gender-based violence.
It has, over the years, resulted in better solutions and led to changes to the system.
There’s more awareness of issues such as forced marriages and gender-based violence. In Ontario, women fleeing violence can apply for a special subsidy for housing. Initially, forced marriage was not considered under this, now it is.
A fund was created at the federal level for victims of violence.
Global Affairs Canada steps in to help people who find themselves in such situations outside the country.
“When we started out and we’d get calls about forced marriages, but there were no laws, no victim support. Now we have educational material, risk assessments. And the data we share now? That data didn’t exist back then.”
She believes it’s equally important to talk about a failure, because there’s a good lesson there about unintended consequences.
“Forced marriages were made a crime. We made submissions saying don’t do that. In most situations, it’s a question of family dynamics and there’s no way a girl is calling the cops on her family. In the past, we used to tell them to call the police. Now we have to also inform them that the family could be charged. And so this action had the opposite of the desired outcome – not a single person has been charged. It’s just lip service, that something has been done to address this issue. And think about it, when it was first introduced, it was called the Barbaric Cultural Practices Act. What were we saying about a whole community? It was our data which they used to justify this, that’s why I call it a fail.”
A sense of community informs Konanur’s work. She was raised in a home with “a revolving door” – her parents welcomed anyone in need. Her father took them to volunteer at food banks and her mother talked to them about her own father, a social justice lawyer in Mysore. There were spirited debates around the dining table and they were encouraged to excel in academic and professional lives, but to also lift others up.
“As early as in grade one, I wanted to be a lawyer who helped others!” says Konanur with a laugh. “It’s been a subconscious calling that I was very single-minded about. In law school I spent a significant amount of time working at legal clinics and as soon as I was called to the bar, I jumped into this sector so I could support clients in a culturally competent way.”
Asked if as a woman of colour, as a child of immigrants, she brings an insight of the issues she’s focused her career on, she responds that not every “South Asian” experience is the same, but there are things her clients say that she “gets” instinctively.
“Our lived experiences translate to an understanding. I don’t make assumptions, I am careful not to stereotype, but I see the commonality. It drives the way I interact and advocate, the arguments I make as a lawyer, they are all underpinned by this knowledge. I talk openly about violence in my family that I witnessed growing up. My family doesn’t want me to, but there’s a critical need to talk about this in our communities. We often say at SALCO that we are fortunate to be in a workplace where being our authentic self is an asset.”
“Understand and believe that you deserve more.” – Shalini Konanur with her daughter Soniya, husband Oneil D’Silva and son Tharan.
Her father came to Canada in 1969 from Bangalore, went back to get married, and his wife joined him in 1973. The couple settled in Toronto where Konanur was born in 1974.
She recalls both her parents talk about racism. About the P-word, not being served at restaurants, being held back from promotions at work, being unable to rent a place.
“What I witnessed as a child played a part in shaping me, certainly. The comments we heard. And the fact that nobody ever pronounced his name correctly. But also, importantly, their focus was head down and get ahead. They navigated the situations with dignity. They were warriors in a way. There was no ‘woe is me’. I’m not down on people who describe hardships, but my parents just didn’t have the time.”
And they found their community. Her mother’s best friends’ three daughters are her best friends.
Her husband Oneil D’Silva is a leading aerospace safety engineer for Canadarm currently helping build parts for the lunar gateway.
“He’s a brilliant, brilliant guy,” she says with obvious pride. “But I’ll come home and say, ‘Who cares about space? We have poor people here!’ But we have very similar views on social justice and my family is so supportive of my work.”
She describes her son Tharan, 14, and daughter Soniya, 12, as “mini social activists, even beyond me”.
Tharan is involved in a task case on lowering the voting age to 16 and goes with Konanur’s aunt to distribute meal and grocery kits to the needy through Food Not Bombs.
“We live in Richmond Hill where we may not see many vulnerable people on the streets and I am so happy that they chat with everyone they meet. That ‘the homeless are scary’ is a myth they don’t buy into.”
Soniya, wise beyond her years, once told her mother that if she did something to make it all a little better for someone, she did good.
“That put it in perspective for me,” says Konanur. “I want to make big changes, but really, I can’t believe I am paid to do this work where maybe I can make some change. Being able to do this means everything to me. It’s tough, but it’s where I was meant to be.”
She tells women struggling to find their footing not to think that they are alone and to connect with people in their areas of interest.
“Learn from our mistakes. When I reached out for mentors, they were generous with their time. We’ve all had those experiences however perfect our lives may look from the outside. We’ve all had our lows and the hurts. Now you have resources like LinkdIn and social media that I didn’t.”
She also encourages them to take advantage of everything that schools, and government and municipal programs have to offer.
And to bust out of their bubble in terms of how they see employment opportunities.
“Tharan talks to me about law and I tell him to be sure this is what he really wants to do. There are many new and emerging areas. Also, opportunities in the trades. As a community we can be a little snobbish about what we choose to study or pursue as a career, but explore what will make you happy. A legal clinic salary is 30 per cent of what you might make at a law firm, but the path to life satisfaction is not only about money. It’s important to earn well, but even more so to do the things you want to do, to make change and live on your own terms.
“I’m grateful for everything Canada has given me, but not to the point that I don’t think I deserve more. We do. I know that’s easier said that done, specially for racialized women, but start with the understanding and belief that you deserve more.”
• Grant’s is proud to present this series about people who are making a difference in the community. Represented by PMA Canada (www.pmacanada.com).
