Muslims, Jews to Fight for Tribunals

Jews and Muslims in Ontario pledged Wednesday to fight for faith-based tribunals to settle family disputes after the provincial premier announced that he would ban all religious arbitration there.

Canada’s largest province had appeared well on its way to becoming the first Western jurisdiction to allow the use of Sharia -- a code drawn largely from the Islamic holy book, the Koran -- to settle some Muslim family and civil disputes.

The province has allowed Catholic and Jewish tribunals to settle family law matters on a voluntary basis since the adoption of the Arbitration Act in 1991. The practice got little attention until some proponents of Sharia demanded the same rights.

Frank Dimant, executive vice president of B’nai Brith Canada, said Wednesday that Premier Dalton McGuinty’s surprise move Sunday to scrap the tribunals was unfair.

Dimant said B’nai Brith was considering a constitutional challenge if Ontario barred rabbinical courts from granting divorces and resolving monetary disputes.

Ontario’s government had been reviewing a report by a former provincial attorney general that recommends Sharia arbitration be included under the Arbitration Act.

McGuinty said Sunday that religious arbitrations “threaten our common ground,” and promised that his Liberal Party government would introduce legislation to outlaw them in Ontario.

Opponents of Sharia were thrilled by McGuinty’s decision.

“I think our voice got heard loud and clear,” said Homa Arjomand, a women’s rights activist who organized a series of anti-Sharia protests worldwide on Sept. 8.

Sharia critics have said that the country’s 750,000 Muslims come from different backgrounds and versions of Islam and that women are not treated equally under the system, which they say runs counter to the Charter of Rights and Freedom, Canada’s bill of rights.

Under some interpretations of Islamic law, women cannot initiate divorce. The Koran allows for polygamy and Sharia often permits marriage of girls younger than allowed under most secular laws, as do some other religions and cultures.

Sharia supporters pledged to continue efforts to win its legal approval.

“Sharia’s values are, without a doubt, compatible with Canadian values of justice, respect and dignity for women,” said Katherine Bullock, a spokeswoman for the Islamic Society of North America.

Bullock condemned the treatment of women by the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan but cautioned that Sharia should not be judged by rigid or extreme interpretations of Islamic law.