Last Monday, Red FM Radio in partnership with City of Surrey held its first annual run and walk at Surrey's Bear Creek Park. The purpose of the event was to raise funds that will be donated to the City of Surrey's Community Grants Program benefiting domestic violence prevention and education. People of all ages and ethnic backgrounds participated in the event forging common bonds to say NO to domestic violence. This event was timely and soothing because the community has been consumed by grief due to the recent spate of tragic incidents within the South Asian community. When I spoke with a variety of participants at the run, they had a lot to say about domestic violence and the importance of the event. This piece aims to expose the community voice in collectively acknowledging that domestic violence is a social problem and how the community in Surrey came together and took action.

From a sociological point of view, perceptions about domestic violence are relative in time and space. In the past, domestic violence was not viewed as a social problem but rather as a private issue. In fact, it was not even taken seriously in Parliament even in the early eighties. According to the "Canadian Parliamentary Review," in 1981, when NDP MP Margaret Mitchell spoke out against wife assault in the House of Commons and cited statistics from the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women, she was mocked and "male MP's responded with laughter and catcalls."

Newton-North Delta MP Sukh Dhaliwal told me at the marathon, that he had addressed the issue of domestic violence in Parliament many times, which I am sure he was not denounced or mocked for. Indeed, perceptions about abuse are dynamic. Also, domestic violence is not a new phenomenon and many people have raised awareness about it. However, the recent high profile cases of domestic abuse in Surrey (although domestic violence crosses all regional, ethnic and social class groups) brought the community together and evoked an intense flurry of acknowledgement that abuse was a "social problem" that needed to be fixed. Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts told me: "I know that wherever I go in the city it really is first and foremost on people's minds and especially women. I think it is incumbent upon all of us that we protect women and the children and we cannot forget that children are victims as well."

The community in Surrey collectively acknowledged that domestic violence is a "social problem" and exposed its adverse effects on the individual, family and society. These sentiments were echoed at the marathon by people of all ages and ethnic backgrounds who spoke openly about the emotional scars caused by domestic violence. Kulwinder Sanghera, President of Red FM, spoke about the effect of women's abuse on the community and said to me: "I think this issue has affected the South Asian community big time and being a multicultural station we feel it is our responsibility to do something about this issue and show the community we care."

The recent tragic events in Surrey have also received attention outside of B.C. MP Sukh Dhaliwal told me: "I was traveling across the country and people in Newfoundland were asking me about the Surrey events. Today, we are showing everyone that people in Surrey are coming together so they can see the compassion in us in dealing with violence against women."

MLA Jagrup Brar and Surrey-Newton MLA Harry Bain also came out to support the event. MLA Harry Bain, expressed concern about the community image and told me: "We need to talk about it but also show the world that we are not what we are portrayed in the media. Yes, there are some violent cases in our community, but domestic violence goes across the cultural boundaries."

There is no doubt that the community owned up to some issues it was facing and collectively decided to come together and take action. Dianne Watts took the leadership role along with the collaborative efforts of the RCMP and Surrey Women's Centre who established a two-member unit aimed at curbing domestic violence in Surrey. Watts told me that domestic violence was a priority crime that needed specific attention: "We wanted to implement initiatives that will educate and raise the awareness and so we launched our domestic violence unit which is a group of dedicated RCMP officers and the Surrey women centre counselors and so if a situation occurs, the unit goes in, the police do their job and the support workers are there to support the women."

Surrey-Tynehead MLA Dave Hayer came out to support the event, too, and spoke to me about the importance of "coming together at the grass roots level regardless of what the culture is" and that "domestic violence has been in the community for a long period time. More needs to be done and more people need to get involved to say that domestic violence is not acceptable."

Indeed this message was very clear at the marathon where people were not shy to openly express their views about abuse against women and also setting a public precedent that such behaviour would not be tolerated and severely sanctioned. This can be illustrated through the words of Joseph Frimeonj, radio host on Red FM for African Punch: "We want to eradicate this problem because as men, we have to support our women and tell the men if you have a problem with the women you sit down and resolve it in a friendly way and do not resort to violence."

Indeed, men are part of the solution and there were a lot of them at the event which Sukh Dhaliwal pointed out to me saying: "When I look around here today, I see people from all walks of life and especially young men. I am sure they are concerned and they are the ones who can bring about the change too."

When I asked young kids about why they were at the event, many kids as young as six were able to say exactly what the cause was for. Eleven-year-old Justin Kullar and his younger sister Ashley both said to me during the walk: "We are here to raise money for domestic violence to help stop it." Ten-year-old Arjun Sanghera echoed his father, Kulwinder Sanghera's views when he said he was running "to stop the violence." Indeed, if the seeds are planted at a young age where young boys and girls are taught that domestic violence has serious consequences and will not be tolerated, there is hope to eradicate this serious social ill.

The annual run and walk fundraiser organized by the community of Surrey, was important for the community to raise funds and awareness about spousal abuse. Also, the outpouring of support has created a safety zone for women and social activists trying to empower women to break the silence safely. On that note, Harry Bain pointed out: "We need to stand with our women and children and show them that there is support. "

Some sociologists would say that in order to deal with the issue of domestic abuse we must stop viewing abuse cases as "isolated" incidents and shift the analysis towards "outward thinking." This involves identifying a range of intersecting social forces to avoid obscuring the obvious "possible" causes of the recent murders of women (regardless of ethnicity) as stemming from attitudes about gender and power dynamics. One has to just ask the simple question, "Would these women be alive today if the societal attitudes around gender ideology and power dynamics ceased to exist?" Does part of the solution involve the "deconstruction" of gender and ceasing the endorsement of male privilege? How much longer do we have to wait?



NOTE: In continuing to focus on solutions, Langara College's Department of Sociology is hosting a follow-up forum on "Domestic Violence: Intergenerational Issues, Double Lives and Solutions" on October 4 from 7 to 9 p.m. at Lecture Hall A130. For more details go to "What's Up" section.