Behavioural Cultural Norms Incompatible with Western Society

"She wanted him to drive her home from a party she'd attended. Rather than take her home, the offender drove her to an empty parking lot."

"He told her they would have fun. He parked the car and got into the back seat. He moved closer to the victim and forcibly kissed her. He put his hand under her dress and touched her vaginal area over her underwear."

"After he tried again to kiss her and she did not respond, he moved away from her."

"She asked if he would still drive her home and he said no. She got out of the car, and he left her in the parking lot."

Justice Scott Pratt, Ontario courthouse

The Ontario Court of Justice in Windsor.

In an attempt to avoid being deemed 'inadmissible' to Canada for 'serious criminality' by the Immigration and Refugee Board, Uber driver Sevan Halabi of Windsor, Ontario, a permanent resident of Canada, hoped to receive a lighter sentence to avoid deportation. Permanent residents of Canada, if sentenced to over six months in prison, according to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, can be regarded as inadmissible to Canada. What Mr. Halabi, through his lawyer, sought to persuade the presiding judge was to sentence him to six months less a day plus probation. 

"It would require me to cut the sentence nearly in half, solely to assist him in avoiding future penalties. I cannot do that", responded Justice Pratt. A young woman had engaged Mr. Halabi, an Iraqi Uber driver, to drive her home from an event she had attended on October 9, 2022. Rather than take his passenger on the trip she expected, the Uber driver subjected her to a terrifying ordeal of sexual harassment, the threat of rape and violence by implication, and finally abandonment.

 

The woman's attacker was a married man with two sons, age 14 and 10. Presenting himself as a family man, Sevan Halabi's attempt at sympathy was linked to appealing for a sentence of six months less a day to avert any potential immigration consequences. The Crown had argued that Halabi merited a year in jail, and then three years of probation.

 

Born in Iraq, Halabi emigrated from his home country with his family in 2018 to Canada. Halabi is a permanent resident of Canada as a result of the criminal charge impeding an application for citizenship. His wife and children did achieve Canadian citizenship. As for the charges brought against him, Mr. Halabi maintained his innocence during an interview with the producer of a pre-sentence report.

 

Justice Pratt was informed "he regrets what happened, has learned a lesson, and that this will not happen again", the decision in the pre-sentence report conveyed too the Judge. In response, Justice Pratt said: "The offence has hindered her professional life as a teacher and her personal life as well. She is fearful and angry. She didn't know if she would be raped or killed [in Halabi's car that night], and that fear continues to impact her life", responded the Judge.

 

To further appeal for sympathy from the court, Mr. Halabi who had not been held in custody prior to his appearance at the court before the Judge, lived as he would normally with his family and decided to bring his children along for emotional impact. For the sentencing submissions he arranged for his children to be present in court. "On that point, both children were visibly upset and crying during the proceeding", observed Justice Pratt. "Respectfully, I question why they were here in the first place. It was not a case where their father was in custody and so this would have been a rare opportunity to see him in person."

 

"[Halabi] has been out of custody throughout this case and only appeared virtually from Iraq. I cannot find they were brought into the courtroom to engender sympathy from the court, but given the offender's focus on how my sentence could affect his family, that is certainly an inference available to be drawn", the Judge concluded. 

"It is troubling that sexual offences committed by professional drivers are sufficiently common that they have created their own body of case law. But that is what has happened."

"In my view ... a sentence of six months less a day for this conduct would be unfit. It would prioritize the offender's personal circumstances over the need to denounce and deter his conduct and would not be in line with relevant case law."

"It would be an inappropriate and artificial sentence imposed only to avoid legitimate consequences created by Parliament."

Justice Scott Pratt, Ontario Superior Court

Mohamed Al Ballouz, who now goes by the name Levana, is serving a life sentence with no possibility of parole for 25 years for murdering a woman and two children. Photo by Court exhibit

 

This sexual assault case is but one of many where men from cultures where the place of women is subservient to that of men, religiously inspired and historically adapted into a culture of male privilege and female suffering, gravitate to another culture and system of law. Correctional Service of Canada recently completed an assessment of a convicted killer that decided against Mohamed Al Ballouz of Brossard, Quebec being admitted to a women's prison.

 

This man, convicted of murdering his wife Synthia Bussieres and their two sons -- five-year-old Eliam and two-year-old Zac in 2022, was sentenced to life in prison in December, with no possibility of parole for 25 years. While in custody, the man, also convicted of setting fire to the family condo, transitioned to a woman. With his new name of Levana, he asked that he be preferentially incarcerated at the Joliette Institution for Women, northeast of Montreal. Thankfully for the women at Joliette, the decision was that Al Ballouz remain in a men's prison. 

Synthia Bussières with her sons Éliam Al Ballouz, left, and Zac Al Ballouz. (Obituary)

Hockey Canada Disgraced

"Gross sexual debauchery has been a disgusting part of junior hockey culture in Canada for a very long time. The allegations which set off the current conflagration have not been tested in court, but the scenario is familiar. In 2018, a very drink young woman went to the room of a [likely] drunk hockey player. They had sex, to which she may or may not have consented, or possibly was not in a position to consent. Then she was passed around to other players against her will -- in this case, seven of them."

Father Raymond J. de Souza, National Post

"Hockey Canada and the [Canadian Hockey League] have known for decades that there is alleged gang sexual assault in hockey towns right across the country."

"Most of the assaults were being done by the team, whether that was an alleged gang sexual assault of a female who they basically cornered, either in a basement or a hotel room, or it was rookies during the initiations."

Laura Robinson, author, 1998 book Crossing the Line: Sexual Assault in Canada's National Sport

"In our view, Hockey Canada continues to resist meaningful change and we can no longer confidently move forward together."

Jane Shaw, senior vice-president of communications, Canadian Tire

Hockey Canada

 

For months, scandal-plagued Canadian hockey, specifically Hockey Canada, has tried to turn the other way each time it has been criticized for abandoning its moral responsibility in seeing that junior hockey players -- treated as demi-gods in Canada in anticipation of their future careers in the hockey rink representing Canadian hockey talent -- desist from behaviour that has brought a deep sense of embarrassment to the game and to the nation.

That young men in their teens valued for their superior playing skills have adapted to a culture of sexual depravity, viewing girls and women as fair game in their own unfair game of sexual assault singly and as a group -- and their exploits kept from the public with Hockey Canada setting aside an emergency fund for the sole, explicit purpose of mollifying and silencing victims of sexual misconduct and group sex, to make these misadventures invisible -- has become a national shame.

Even police services have been implicated in dropping investigations and consequent charges after a complaint has been validated, but the victim decides not to continue with charges, withholding testimony. Hockey Canada has received taxpayer funding, promoting sports and youth involvement in good clean living sport activities. That source of income was summarily cut off, when disgust with growing revelations motivated Sports Canada to take action.

Now, Hockey Canada has suffered additional blows, with corporate interests once eager to support the sport body of distinction, sending out press releases that because of Hockey Canada's handling of sexual assault allegations they will no longer associate themselves with the discredited group, withholding former generous funding ties. Their ranks include Bank of Nova Scotia, Telus Corp., Tim Hortons, Esso, Sobeys, General Motors, and finally, the largest sport emporium in Canada, Canadian Tire.

"Canadian Tire and hockey are synonymous. When you think of Canadian Tire, you think of hockey and vice versa", explained Bruce Winder, a retail analyst and author. "Canadian Tire had to get out there first and condemn it because [hockey] is such an important part of their business and their DNA. If they didn't, then they would risk losing that whole franchise."

There were close to 102,000 female hockey players in 2020's Canada, an increase of 30 percent over 2008, according to data supplied by Hockey Canada. On the other side of the equation, boys and men participating in the sport has reached a plateau. Canadian Tire is "making a stand to say this doesn't align with who we are and who we want to be associated with. It makes crystal clear what their brand is about", clarified Lisa Hutcheson, a retail consultant and strategist.

"Hockey players need moral instructions and models who demonstrate to them how a good man behaves, especially toward women. Let Hockey Canada find new directors. Decent guides are needed for our young men, beginning with their fathers and coaches."

Father Raymond J. de Souza

Hockey Canada