Ontario rejects sharia law
Jews, Christians to lose their religious tribunals as Premier vows 'one law for all'
Natalie Alcoba
National Post, with files from CanWest News Service
canada.com
Monday, September 12, 2005
CREDIT: Peter Redman, National Post
Sharia law advocate Mubin Shaikh, left, of the Masjid El Noor organization, gets into a heated argument with an unidentified woman who was protesting plans to introduce sharia law, at a Queen's Park demonstration on Thursday.
TORONTO - All forms of religious arbitration -- including Islam's sharia law, which was the subject of worldwide protest last week -- will be outlawed in Ontario, the Premier said yesterday.
''I've come to the conclusion that the debate has gone on long enough,'' Dalton McGuinty told The Canadian Press yesterday.
''There will be no sharia law in Ontario. There will be no religious arbitration in Ontario. There will be one law for all Ontarians.''
The government will introduce legislation this fall that prohibits existing religious tribunals, used by Christians and Jews to settle family law matters on a voluntary basis since 1991.
''It would have been appropriate for the Premier to consult with members of the other faith-based communities that would be affected by this decision,'' Joel Richler, the Ontario regional chairman of the Canadian Jewish Congress, said last night in an interview. He called the government's announcement shocking -- a ''knee-jerk'' reaction to the recent controversy over sharia law.
Sources said the Premier has weighed the issues surrounding religious arbitration for months, since former NDP attorney-general Marion Boyd recommended in December that faith-based courts be allowed to stay.
Mr. McGuinty said yesterday that religious arbitrations ''threaten our common ground."
''Ontarians will always have the right to seek advice from anyone in matters of family law, including religious advice,'' he said. ''But no longer will religious arbitration be deciding matters of family law.''
The announcement comes just days after hundreds of people staged demonstrations across the country against a proposal to recognize sharia law tribunals in Ontario. Critics say sharia law, a code of conduct based on the Koran by which Muslims must abide, discriminates against women.
Protesters in such European cities as Dusseldorf, Paris, London and Amsterdam lent their support to the movement, dubbed the International Campaign Against Sharia Court in Canada and organized by a Toronto woman.
''I'm so happy. Today is my day,'' campaign co-ordinator Homa Arjomand said yesterday. ''Believe me, [the government's decision] is the first step. The second step is to let the community know about their rights,'' she added.
Ms. Arjomand, who orchestrated the international protests on Thursday, said she will continue to lobby the government to explicitly outlaw all sharia practice so that those who continue to practise the form of religious arbitration underground face penalties.
Tarek Fatah, of the ''progressive'' Muslim Canadian Congress, said the premier's decision sends a ''huge message'' to Islamic fundamentalists that they cannot impose their laws on Canadians.
''This has once and for all put an end to unnecessary division within the community,'' Mr. Fatah said. ''It's a tremendous defeat for Islamic fundamentalism in North America.''
But Dr. Mohamed Elmasry, national president of the Canadian Islamic Congress, said that if the concern surrounding regulating sharia law had to do with whether women's' rights were being violated, the government lost a golden opportunity.
''If you recognize arbitration results, you can regulate the process by licensing these Muslim arbitrators,'' he said. ''You can revoke the [arbitrators'] licence if his or her arbitration decision seems to be biased against women.''
Faith-based arbitration will continue, he said, but on an ad hoc basis and without the rules or standards that would have been imposed with legal recognition and regulation.
Ms. Boyd's report recommended ''Muslim principles'' for potential use in arbitrating family disputes. Custody disputes, for example, could be settled outside of the provincial family-court system using sharia principles.
The Premier met with Attorney-General Michael Bryant last week and agreed to move forward with legislation that would no longer recognize religious arbitration in Ontario.
Quebec was the first province to officially oppose the adoption of sharia law; in May the provincial assembly rejected the establishment of such tribunals there.
In Montreal, Rabbi Reuben Poupko of the Beth Israel Orthodox Congregation in Cote St. Luc, defended Mr. McGuinty's decision, though he said it saddened him.
''I think the Ontario government felt compelled to throw the baby with the bath water,'' Mr. Poupko said yesterday.
But Salam Elmenyawi, president of the Muslim Council of Montreal, criticized Mr. McGuinty's decision as short-sighted.
He said faith-based arbitration will still continue, but within closed doors, which could spawn serious abuses.
© National Post 2005 |
