Federal program to educate men on 'honour' crimes

The federal government will provide $200,000 to a Vancouver immigrant services group for a project aimed at addressing so-called "honour" crimes.

Rona Ambrose, the minister responsible for the status of women, says the money will go to a two-year project that will include reaching out to boys and men to allow them to better understand the issues behind gender violence in ethnic communities.

The project by Vancouver's MOSAIC group is one of 600 projects the federal government supports across the country with similar goals.

"The really interesting thing that's interesting about this project that's different from other ones that we've funded before is that's it's going to involve men and boys," Ambrose said on Friday.

"Men are the perpetrators of violence against women and so we believe they must be part of the solution and so having counselling available, education, training to have them part of the project to find solutions."

There have been 19 murders in Canada that are considered honour killings, Ambrose said, including several high-profile cases where women and girls have been murdered allegedly to protect a family's honour.

In B.C., an extradition hearing is set to resume next month for the mother and uncle of 25-year-old Jassi Sidhu, allegedly slain in India because she married against her family's wishes.

• Read more about Jassi Sidhu's alleged murder
• WATCH: 'Escape from justice' on The Fifth Estate (Jan. 2012)

Two years ago, the father and brother of 16-year-old Aqsa Parvez received life sentences for strangling her in the family home in Mississauga, Ont., because she rejected traditional behaviour.