Get Informed about Child Marriage

Definition of child marriage

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights defines child marriage as the formal or informal marriage of any persons under the age of 18 (United Nations, 1989; United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR, n.d.).  The practice is widely considered a violation of human rights (Koski et al., 2023) that harms the health and development of children, most often girls.

Read the Girls Not Brides statement on making child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation/cutting a priority action of the Action Coalition on Gender-Based Violence with Zonta International.

Legal framework for child marriage in Canada

Since 2015, federal law sets the minimum legal age of marriage at 16. In Canada the age of majority is set by province/territory at 18 or 19, so minors under this age have additional restrictions (i.e. parental and court consent), but may still get married with parental/court consent.

Section 293.2 of the Criminal Code addresses marriages of individuals under the age of 16, reading: Everyone who celebrates, aids or participates in a marriage rite or ceremony knowing that one of the persons being married is under the age of 16 years is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years. 

Section 2.2 of the Civil Marriage Act also states: No person who is under the age of 16 years may contract marriage. These provisions were enacted in 2015. Before 2015, in some jurisdictions of Canada, children less than 16 years old could get married with parental consent or a court order.

Although a higher legal age may be set by provinces and territories, exceptions to the law exist as shown below:

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage_in_Canada

Consequences of girls married before the age of 18

Here are the many wide-ranging harms associated with child marriage (Gage, 2013; Kidman, 2017; Koski & Heymann, 2018; Dahl, 2010; Stark, 2018):

• • • suicidal thoughts
    • domestic violence
    • living in poverty
    • substance abuse
    • mental health disorders later in life
    • divorce
    • maternal health and pregnancy complications
    • lower educational attainment, including dropping out of school
    • negative consequences for personal development
    • negative economic opportunities which may also affect their children

Thus, civil society organisations such as Girls Not Brides and Zonta International, national governments and multilateral institutions (UNICEF, 2023) rank child marriage as a serious cause for concern due to health, education and economic factors that perpetuate gender inequality (Koski and Clark, 2021).

 The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs along with these organisations call for the elimination of child marriage by the year 2030 as a means of advancing progress toward gender equality.

Canada advocates to end child marriage internationally while not willing to put into practice at home 

Over the past ten years, Canada has co-sponsored Human Rights Council and UN global resolutions, but has failed to address these concerns at home in Canada:

• • • 2013: the first ever United Nations General Assembly resolution to address child marriage
    • 2015: resolution on child, early and forced marriage
    • 2017: need to address child, early and forced marriage in humanitarian settings
    • March and September 2018: convened key meetings at the United Nations to address child marriage and emphasise ongoing efforts
    • 2019: consequences of child marriage.

Furthermore, Canada funds global programs to end child marriage: 

• • • 2017: Feminist International Assistance Policy to support comprehensive approaches addressing child marriage
    • In June 2019 at the Women Deliver Conference in Vancouver, Prime Minister Trudeau pledged to increase annual funding to $1.4 billion by 2023 for global women’s, adolescents’ and children’s health
    • In November 2019 at the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25, Canada pledged CAD$700 million annually for the prevention of sexual and gender-based violence, including child, early and forced marriage
    • Canada funds the UNICEF-UNFPA Global Programme to Accelerate Action to End Child Marriage, the African Union Campaign to End Child Marriage, and the UNFPA Action for Adolescent Girls: Accelerating Action to End Child Marriage.

The fact that child marriage occurs in Canada means the country’s efforts to end it abroad are “insincere” (CTV news interview with Dr. Alissa Koski, 2019).

Despite millions of dollars to address child marriage around the world…

CANADA IS WOEFULLY LACKING IN DOMESTIC ACTION

Canada’s “insincere” about its commitment to end child marriage

Over the past 40 years, the Canadian Government ratified or signed the following international conventions and agreements, yet has blatantly disregarded its commitments to the people of Canada:

• 1981: Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage
• 1991: Convention on the Rights of the Child which sets a minimum age of marriage at 18
• 2014: Canada signed a charter at the London Girl Summit, committed to end child marriage by 2020
• As a member of the Organization of American States (OAS), Canada must adhere to the Inter American System of Human Rights, addressing gender-based violence and discrimination, including early, forced and child marriage.

By signing the Zonta International Canada Caucus petition “End Child Marriage in Canada: raise the legal age to 18, no exceptions”, you can let your MP and the Government of Canada know that you want the government to raise the legal age of marriage in Canada to 18, no exceptions.