- Ontario will not become the first Western jurisdiction
to allow the use of a set of centuries' old religious rules called Sharia
law to settle Muslim family disputes, and will ban all religious arbitrations
in the province, Premier Dalton McGuinty told The Canadian Press on Sunday.
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- In a telephone interview with the national news agency,
McGuinty announced his government would move quickly to outlaw existing
religious tribunals used for years by Christians and Jews under Ontario's
Arbitration Act.
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- "I've come to the conclusion that the debate has
gone on long enough," he said.
-
- "There will be no Sharia law in Ontario. There will
be no religious arbitration in Ontario. There will be one law for all Ontarians."
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- McGuinty said religious arbitrations "threaten our
common ground," and promised his Liberal government would introduce
legislation "as soon as possible" to outlaw them in Ontario.
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- "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."
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- Last December, a report from former NDP attorney general
Marion Boyd recommended the province allow and regulate Sharia arbitrations
much the same way it does Christian and Jewish tribunals, setting off a
firestorm of protests.
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- Homa Arjomand, the women's rights activist who organized
a series of protests across Canada and Europe last Thursday to convince
McGuinty to abandon Sharia, was elated when she heard the news late Sunday.
-
- "I think our voice got heard loud and clear, and
I thank the government for coming out with no faith-based arbitrations,"
said Arjomand. "Oh, I am so happy. That was the best news I have ever
heard for the past five years."
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- A representative from Ontario's Jewish community expressed
disappointment and shock over McGuinty's decision.
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- "We're stunned," said Joel Richler, Ontario
region chairman of the Canadian Jewish Congress.
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- "At the very least, we would have thought the government
would have consulted with us before taking away what we've had for so many
years."
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- Richler said the current system - in place since 1992
- has worked well and saw no reason for it to be changed for either his
or other communities.
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- "If there have been any problems flowing from any
rabbinical court decisions, I'm not aware of them," he said.
-
- Despite calling for an end to all religious arbitrations,
Ontario's New Democrats were not happy with the way McGuinty handled the
Sharia debate.
-
- "By merely sitting on the issue, and by hiding his
head in the sand, McGuinty allowed the debate to in fact fester and grow
pretty ugly," said NDP justice critic Peter Kormos. "That was
not helpful to anything in this multicultural community of ours."
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- Opposition leader John Tory agreed with the NDP's position
that McGuinty mishandled the Sharia debate.
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- "One of the tests of leadership in a diverse society
is that you not allow issues like this - which are complex - to boil over
into angry, polarized debates," said Tory.
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- "By letting it go on, and suddenly ending it mysteriously
on a Sunday afternoon, is not probably the best kind of leadership that
one could show."
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- Currently, Ontario's Arbitration Act allows civil disputes
ranging from custody and support to divorce and inheritance to be resolved
through an independent arbitrator, if both parties agree.
-
- Catholics, Mennonites, Jews, aboriginals and Jehovah's
Witnesses, among others, have - until now - used the act to settle family
law questions without resorting to the courts.
-
- But those who opposed permitting Sharia family arbitration
argued that the reforms would give legitimacy and an unenforceable appearance
of oversight to a legal code they say is - at its heart - unfair to women.
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- McGuinty said the debate around Sharia gave his government
time to "step back a little bit" and look at the original decision
to allow religious arbitrations in Ontario.
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- "It became pretty clear that was not in keeping
with the desire of Ontarians to build on common ground of one law for
all Ontarians," he said.
-
- The premier said his wife Terri had not raised the Sharia
law issue with him during the lengthy debate, but noted the 17 women in
his Liberal caucus urged him to reject the idea.
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- Just hours before McGuinty's announcement, a group including
author Margaret Atwood, activist Maude Barlow, writer June Callwood and
actresses Shirley Douglas and Sonja Smits issued an open letter to the
premier on behalf of the No Religious Arbitration Coalition.
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- During last Thursday's protests, angry demonstrators
outside the Ontario legislature likened McGuinty to Afghanistan's former
extremist Taliban leaders for even considering Sharia.
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- Speakers in Toronto called McGuinty naive for saying
women's rights would not be trampled if Ontario allowed Sharia, while 100
people braved the rain in Montreal to protest the use of Sharia law in
Ontario. Similar rallies were held in Ottawa and Victoria, while smaller
protests were held in London, Amsterdam, Paris and Dusseldorf, Germany.
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- Tariq Fatah, head of the Muslim Canadian Congress, which
has called for reforms within Canada's more traditional Muslim organizations,
called McGuinty's surprise announcement "a great victory for all Canadians,
but particularly Muslims in Canada, and a defeat for Islamic fundamentalists
and those who are preaching it in Canada."
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