Hamish McBagpipe
09-12-2005, 07:38 PM
[ QUOTE ]
CBC News
Premier Dalton McGuinty said today Ontario will reject the use of Shariah law and will move to prohibit all religious-based tribunals to settle family disputes such as divorce.
His announcement comes after hundreds of demonstrators around the world this week protested a proposal to let Ontario residents use Islamic law for settling family disputes.
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty was reacting to a recommendation, by former NDP attorney general Marion Boyd, to allow Muslims to establish Shariah-based tribunals similar to Jewish and Catholic arbitration bodies
"We will not tolerate the interference of religion in our justice system," said Homa Arjomand, who organized a protest in Toronto that drew hundreds of people Thursday.
The protests were generally peaceful, but on the outskirts of the Toronto demonstration, pro-Shariah activist Mubin Shaikh and his wife, Joanne Sijka, verbally sparred with protesters. Shaikh said the misuse of Shariah doesn't mean it should be excluded from Canadian civil law. "Abuse of the process is not a proof against a process, just as people wrongfully imprisoned is not a proof against Canadian law," Shaikh said.
In Montreal around 100 people gathered Thursday to protest the tribunals. In Ottawa more than 100 others, mostly women, protested in the rain in front of the parliament building.
And in the western German city of Dusseldorf, about 25 people protested at the Canadian consulate.
"If the Shariah is used in Canada, I also feel threatened here," said protester Nasrin Ramzanali, who said there should be a clear separation of church and state.
Other protests were planned this week in Waterloo and Victoria, and in Europe in Amsterdam, Dusseldorf, Stockholm, Goteborg, London and Paris.
Ontario has allowed Catholic and Jewish faith-based tribunals to settle family law matters on a voluntary basis since 1991, but the practice got little attention until Muslim leaders demanded the same rights.
According to the latest census in 2001, some 600,000 Muslims live in Canada, just over 100,000 of them in Quebec.
[/ QUOTE ]
Plus this CBC Link (http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/islam/shariah-law.html)
I don't see how this move toward adopting Shariah law even got this far but now the whole idea of faith-based arbitration, which may have merit, has to be thrown out.
From the link you see that back-logged courts here in Ontario resulted in a revision of the Arbitration Act to allow faith-based arbitration for Jews, Christians, etc. where both parties agreed to the arbitration for matters such as divorce and inheritance matters.
But because Shariah law is so biased against women, even if a woman agrees to an arbitration, the results would be hopelessly unfair. So, the Premier of the province scrapped the whole idea for everyone.
In fact, in Canada, we have the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (similiar to the US Bill of Rights) which would not allow such an unfair legally binding arbitration system anyway. This is pretty obvious since Shariah law allows for such penalties as death for adultery. I'm quite sure we wouldn't allow for a public stoning no matter how willing the participants. So, not only has faith-based arbitration been turfed, there will probably be an ongoing Charter battle for Muslims to pursue.
I work in labour arbitration cases quite frequently though I have not been involved in some of the other forms of arbitration that exist. One positive aspect of the arbitration process for both parties is that it is always a far more expeditious procedure than going through the alternate routes such as human rights tribunals. So, the principle of allowing parties to resolve their disputes from a different starting point of agreement, in this case religion, doesn't seem bad at all. In labour arbitration cases there is a massive legal precedent and a completely established set of rules and procedures. This may be the problem with a move toward newer religiously based arbitration panels or even arbitration/mediation panels involving civil matters such as landlord/tenant disputes. But now, we'll never know.
Just trying to quickly win an argument with myself. I don't really know enough about other mediation/conciliation/arbitration procedures to decide how ridiculous the idea of bringing Shariah law to Toronto would be. Hamish.
CBC News
Premier Dalton McGuinty said today Ontario will reject the use of Shariah law and will move to prohibit all religious-based tribunals to settle family disputes such as divorce.
His announcement comes after hundreds of demonstrators around the world this week protested a proposal to let Ontario residents use Islamic law for settling family disputes.
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty was reacting to a recommendation, by former NDP attorney general Marion Boyd, to allow Muslims to establish Shariah-based tribunals similar to Jewish and Catholic arbitration bodies
"We will not tolerate the interference of religion in our justice system," said Homa Arjomand, who organized a protest in Toronto that drew hundreds of people Thursday.
The protests were generally peaceful, but on the outskirts of the Toronto demonstration, pro-Shariah activist Mubin Shaikh and his wife, Joanne Sijka, verbally sparred with protesters. Shaikh said the misuse of Shariah doesn't mean it should be excluded from Canadian civil law. "Abuse of the process is not a proof against a process, just as people wrongfully imprisoned is not a proof against Canadian law," Shaikh said.
In Montreal around 100 people gathered Thursday to protest the tribunals. In Ottawa more than 100 others, mostly women, protested in the rain in front of the parliament building.
And in the western German city of Dusseldorf, about 25 people protested at the Canadian consulate.
"If the Shariah is used in Canada, I also feel threatened here," said protester Nasrin Ramzanali, who said there should be a clear separation of church and state.
Other protests were planned this week in Waterloo and Victoria, and in Europe in Amsterdam, Dusseldorf, Stockholm, Goteborg, London and Paris.
Ontario has allowed Catholic and Jewish faith-based tribunals to settle family law matters on a voluntary basis since 1991, but the practice got little attention until Muslim leaders demanded the same rights.
According to the latest census in 2001, some 600,000 Muslims live in Canada, just over 100,000 of them in Quebec.
[/ QUOTE ]
Plus this CBC Link (http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/islam/shariah-law.html)
I don't see how this move toward adopting Shariah law even got this far but now the whole idea of faith-based arbitration, which may have merit, has to be thrown out.
From the link you see that back-logged courts here in Ontario resulted in a revision of the Arbitration Act to allow faith-based arbitration for Jews, Christians, etc. where both parties agreed to the arbitration for matters such as divorce and inheritance matters.
But because Shariah law is so biased against women, even if a woman agrees to an arbitration, the results would be hopelessly unfair. So, the Premier of the province scrapped the whole idea for everyone.
In fact, in Canada, we have the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (similiar to the US Bill of Rights) which would not allow such an unfair legally binding arbitration system anyway. This is pretty obvious since Shariah law allows for such penalties as death for adultery. I'm quite sure we wouldn't allow for a public stoning no matter how willing the participants. So, not only has faith-based arbitration been turfed, there will probably be an ongoing Charter battle for Muslims to pursue.
I work in labour arbitration cases quite frequently though I have not been involved in some of the other forms of arbitration that exist. One positive aspect of the arbitration process for both parties is that it is always a far more expeditious procedure than going through the alternate routes such as human rights tribunals. So, the principle of allowing parties to resolve their disputes from a different starting point of agreement, in this case religion, doesn't seem bad at all. In labour arbitration cases there is a massive legal precedent and a completely established set of rules and procedures. This may be the problem with a move toward newer religiously based arbitration panels or even arbitration/mediation panels involving civil matters such as landlord/tenant disputes. But now, we'll never know.
Just trying to quickly win an argument with myself. I don't really know enough about other mediation/conciliation/arbitration procedures to decide how ridiculous the idea of bringing Shariah law to Toronto would be. Hamish.