Federal Conservative leadership candidate Dr. Kellie Leitch started a national conversation about Canadian values. What are they?

Many of my radio listeners insist barbaric practices prevalent in some countries do not happen here.

They insist, for example, that female genital mutilation (FGM) does not occur in North America.

But Jumana Nagarwala, a doctor in Detroit, Michigan, is now accused of performing illegal genital mutilation on two seven-year-old girls in February.

Authorities also suspect she may have performed the procedure on “multiple” other girls between 2005 and 2007. The U.S. Department of Justice alleges she “performed horrifying acts of brutality on the most vulnerable victims.”

Nagarwala denies the charges, which have yet to be tested in court.

Does female genital mutilation happen in Canada? The Ontario Human Rights Commission reports, “because of the nature of FGM, reliable statistics on the incidence of its practice are not available. However, based on discussions with members of the communities that are at risk, there is some evidence to indicate that FGM is practised in Ontario and across Canada. There is also evidence that suggests that in some cases, families from those communities send their daughters out of Canada to have the operation performed.”

FGM, ritual excision of part or all of the external female genitalia, is an ancient cultural — not religious — practice that occurs around the world today, especially in Africa.

Girls may claim refugee status in Canada to escape FGM, as it is considered a form of child abuse.

In some cases, women in Canada have procedures done later in life, after child birth, that relate to the practice, but it may not be their choice at that time, either.

The most serious form of FGM is infibulation, designed to prevent sexual intercourse.

The Ottawa Citizen reported, “Dr. Margaret Burnett, an ob/gyn in Winnipeg, says that when women who have been the victim of infibulation have babies, their labia often have to be cut open for the baby to come out.

After, she says, requests for reinfibulation are relatively common. That’s because it’s considered normal for women who come from countries where FGM is widely practised, mainly in Africa and the Middle East.

“It’s my impression that we do get many requests for this and almost all of them come from the husbands,” Burnett says. “They want their wives closed again.”

Doctors in Britain face legal charges for engaging in reinfibulation.

It’s also likely it happens in Canada. Again, from the Ottawa Citizen, “Dr. Beverley Chalmers, adjunct professor in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Ottawa, believes that caregivers in Canada should not be permitted to perform any form of genital mutilation that is not clinically necessary.

“‘To hide behind ‘cultural accommodation’ to permit the practice of FGM, or any other practice that is unquestionably harmful, is a craven distortion of political correctness … (and) is simply moral cowardice,’ she says.”

In a U.S. State Department video, Renee Bergstrom, an American survivor of genital cutting said, “When we think of female genital mutilation, we usually think of African cultures and non-Christian religions, however, my FGM took place in white, Midwest America.”

We can’t let political correctness and naivete overcome doing what is right.

FGM is not a Canadian value. We have a right to screen would-be citizens to make sure it isn’t one of their values.

Agar hosts the 9 a.m. to noon show on Newstalk1010