Author: CanWest News Service
Publication: National Post
Date: May 27, 2005
URL: http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=7d268ffa-8cc2-4272-adaa-1fb780adad29
Kevin Dougherty, with files from
Mike de Souza, ElizabethThompson and Lee Greenberg
Quebec bans sharia
The Quebec National Assembly yesterday
unanimously adopted a resolution to oppose "the establishment of so-called
Islamic tribunals in Quebec and in Canada," making the province the first
to explicitly ban the use of sharia law. "It's important to send
a very clear message that there's one rule of law in Quebec," Premier Jean
Charest said. "In our case, we are very much an inclusive society, but
a society that will govern itself by one set of rules."
Copies of the resolution are being
sent to all other legislatures across Canada. Islamic fundamentalists
have targeted Canada to introduce sharia law-a code of conduct based on
the Koran that critics say discriminates against women-because of this
country's rights guarantees and official multiculturalism, said Quebec
Liberal Fatima Houda-Pepin, who proposed the private member's resolution.
In December, former Ontario attorney-general
Marion Boyd opened the door for sharia in Canada by recommending "Muslim
principles" for potential use in family arbitration. Custody disputes,
for example, could be settled outside of the provincial family-court system
using sharia principles.
Ms. Boyd said Ontario should collect
and analyze sharia case law to determine whether criticisms that it "systematically
discriminates" against women are well-founded. Her recommendation was denounced
by several Muslim organizations, but the province is still considering
the issue.
There were only a handful of members
in the Quebec legislature for yesterday's unanimous resolution, which comes
after a refusal in January by then-Justice Minister Jacques Dupuis to allow
sharia in the province. Ms. Houda-Pepin, who was born in Morocco and is
a secular Muslim, said Muslim women do not want sharia.
"The victims of sharia have a human
face," she said. "They are Muslim women." Ms. Houda-Pepin said the Muslim
World League, based in Saudi Arabia, held a conference in Washington in
1991, where Canada was targeted.
At the Washington meeting, the league
decided to convince Canadian Muslims to eschew secular laws, she added,
and at the same time, they decided to push for adoption of sharia.
If Ontario goes ahead with Ms. Boyd's recommendations, Islamic fundamentalists
can point to Canada, a secular Western country, to argue against reformers
in Islamic countries who want to modernize their laws, she added.
In Ottawa, Cabinet ministers refused
to comment on the idea of allowing Islamic tribunals to operate. Justice
Minister Irwin Cotler's office said Mr. Cotler will not comment because
the tribunals deal mainly with family law, which falls under provincial
jurisdiction. Heritage Minister Liza Frulla, whose responsibilities include
multiculturalism and status of women, also declined all comment.
However, Francoise Boivin, chairwoman
of the Liberal women's caucus, praised the National Assembly's resolution,
describing Islamic tribunals as "dangerous." "It is a dangerous path to
[use] something other than the Charter of Rights and the best interest
of the child and our laws in Canada. We're in Canada and it could be quite
the precedent if we allowed this because imagine if we do it in Canada
what would happen in other countries."
Conservative Justice Critic Vic
Toews was hesitant to condemn Islamic tribunals outright, pointing out
that many disputes in his Manitoba riding of Provencher have been traditionally
been resolved informally by Mennonite pastors through arbitration.
The challenge, he said, is to ensure
that participation in the process is truly voluntary and that the rulings
don't violate Canadian law.
"I don't think in a pluralistic
society we can say that members of a specific religious community should
not be allowed to use their own religious law in determining disputes between
members. We have always done it in this country. What raises the
concerns of people is [the idea] does this mean that someone could arbitrate
a case of adultery and chop off someone's hand or stone them to death.
Well, absolutely not. That would be contrary to Canadian public policy,
contrary to the Canadian criminal code."
Ms. Boyd's recommendation to Ontario
in December drew sharp criticism at the time. "Marion Boyd today
has given legitimacy and credibility to the right wing racists who fundamentally
are against equal rights for men and women," said Tarek Fatah, spokesman
for the Muslim Canadian Congress.
"To have choice you have to have
the ability to make the choice. To suggest that Muslim immigrants, Muslim
women, who are among the lowest income group in the country have the ability
to make the choice is absolute nonsense."
Marilou McPhedran, legal counsel
to the Canadian Counsel of Muslim Women, said there was a naivete, a well-intentioned
naivete about this report."
"Why would we in Ontario privatize
family law when we already have a public system of family law that is predicated
on the constitutional values of equality in this country, in this province,
that should be available to each and every woman living in Ontario," she
said. Ms. Houda-Pepin said Muslims have been in Canada since 1871.
The first mosque was opened in Edmonton in 1938 and the Markaz Al Islam
mosque was Quebec's first in 1965. She said Muslims in Canada want
to integrate into Canadian society, explaining that Islam is a lay religion,
with no clergy. Imams are merely guides to prayer, with no official status.
"The application of sharia in Canada is part of a strategy to isolate the
Muslim community to impose an archaic vision of Islam," Ms. Houda-Pepin
said.
Ms. Houda-Pepin also wondered what
form of sharia would be adopted in Canada, noting that it means different
things in different countries.
In Pakistan, a woman who is raped
can be flogged unless she can produce four male witnesses to prove she
was raped, she said, while in Nigeria a woman can be stoned to death for
sexual relations outside marriage.
Sharia in Iran allows men to have
as many "wives of pleasure" as they want, she noted. In Saudi Arabia, in
the name of sharia, a woman cannot drive a car.
