McGuinty orders review of plan for shariah law: 'We're trying to strike some kind of balance here'
National Post
Thursday, June 10, 2004
Page: A5
Section: Canada
Byline: April Lindgren
Source: CanWest News Service
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty has ordered a review of a plan that would allow the Muslim community to use Islamic law to settle family disputes where both parties agree to the procedure.
"We've received a number of inquiries and concerns expressed on the part of Ontarians and I want to take a close look at this to make sure we're doing the right thing," Mr. McGuinty said yesterday when asked about the proposal to allow the use of shariah law to settle family disputes, including divorce.
"A particular concern of mine is whether or not women who are, as I understand it, opting into these arrangements. I want to make sure that they are in fact well informed about their [rights] in Canadian legislation and Ontario human rights codes.
"We're trying to strike some kind of a balance here," Mr. McGuinty said. "We welcome different cultures and different communities to find for themselves here in Ontario a new home, but at the same time we're saying that there is something that takes precedence over all practices in cultures and those are Canadian values as enshrined in human rights codes and in our Charter of Rights."
Mr. McGuinty's comments come amid a growing debate over the appropriateness of the shariah proposal -- which, if it goes into effect by the end of this year as scheduled, would result in arbitrators such as imams, Muslim elders or lawyers making final decisions on disputed family matters. Ontario's 1991 Arbitration Act allows for such issues to be settled out of court as long as both parties voluntarily agree to the same set of rules, which in this case would be shariah rules.
Supporters of the plan argue Ontario's Orthodox Jews use the arbitration act's provisions to apply Jewish family law to personal disputes. And Mumtaz Ali, the president of the Islamic Institute for Civil Justice, has insisted the arbitrations will be subservient to Canadian law and Charter provisions. He could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Critics of the plan, however, charge it will be disastrous for many Muslim women who, in matters such as divorce, will be bullied by their communities into living by a shariah law that is weighted against them.
"We think the laws of Canada apply very well to Muslims and we want to stay within Canadian law," said Alia Hogben, executive director of the 900-member Canadian Council of Muslim Women.
Ms. Hogben said a Muslim woman who is persuaded to accept the decision of a shariah tribunal could find herself appearing before the arbitrators without proper legal representation.
Such a woman might also find herself before an arbitrator who believes a divorcing woman is entitled to only three months of alimony, something Ms. Hogben described as "the general practice in Muslim law."
"Plus it is binding arbitration," she added, "which means that if she then has any questions or doubts, she has to go back to court and fight it as a court case. So we're saying in many ways Muslim women may end up in a two-tier process."
