Legal Information for Immigrant Brides

We have friends whose marriages have been arranged and who find themselves far from India in new relationships. A new website provides legal information for women in that situation.

A venture of the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Extension, the Legal Resource Centre, the Alberta Law Foundation, and the Changing Together organization the website was launched last month to help educate foreign brides and immigrant women about marital relationships and the law in Canada.

The website covers a gamut of topics, from issues to consider before marriage, the immigration process, living in Canada, child issues, Canadian law, and topics concerning marital breakdown—and all in easy-to-understand English.

An interesting approach to site design:

“We came up with the idea of using the Web as the venue to develop and present legal information from the perspective of the foreign brides, as there are brides who met their spouses [online],” San San Sy, who is the Associate Director – Learning Technologies Legal Studies Program, Faculty of Extension, University of Alberta said. Changing Together also conducted focus groups and interviews with foreign brides and other agencies in determining the site’s content—especially from the context and perspective of a foreign bride herself.