Religion News Service
TORONTO, CANADA, September 10, 2004: About 100 protesters, many of them Muslims, gathered before the Ontario Legislature on Wednesday (Sept. 8) to denounce proposed shariah-based tribunals in the province – an issue that has galvanized Muslims and women’s groups around the world. Homa Arjomand, the Iranian-born coordinator of the International Campaign Against Shariah Courts in Canada, said simultaneous protests were held in cities across the country and in European capitals in front of Canadian embassies and consulates. “We have gathered over 4,000 signatures on our online petition,” she told RNS. “This is not just a government issue. It’s a moral one.” Speaker after speaker representing Islamic, women’s, humanist and leftist groups condemned the proposed shariah panels as a tool to oppress women. Critics fear that women, especially new immigrants, would be coerced into using the panels and forced to accept rulings that would favor men in family matters. Others have expressed fear that should they reject shariah courts, women would face ostracism from their communities.
The issue is a divisive one. At least two Muslim groups, the Council on American-Islamic Relations Canada and the Muslim Canadian Congress, oppose shariah-based courts. Ontario’s 1991 Arbitration Act allows for voluntary faith-based arbitration, which permits Muslims, Jews, Native Canadians and members of other faiths to use the tenets of their religion to settle matters such as divorce, inheritance and custody issues outside the court system. These religious courts also settle business and commercial disputes, and their rulings are binding provided the litigants use them voluntarily. “Voluntary is a lie,” pronounced Isaam Shokri, an Iraqi-born member of the coalition opposing the panels. “I know firsthand about shariah. These women (would) live under the hand of mullahs and sheikhs. We say no to your misogynist ideas.” Arjomand, who fled Iran on horseback and now counsels abused women and children in Toronto’s Muslim community, said “many” of her clients have been victimized by shariah. “I have helped some to escape abusive relationships, polygamy and child marriages,” she said.
Amid the furor, the Ontario government has appointed a former attorney general, Marion Boyd, to examine the act and how it relates to religious courts. Her report is due Sept. 30. The country-wide protests occurred on the same day as B’nai B’rith Canada came out in support of shariah courts, but only if provincial laws are amended to introduce additional safeguards to ensure that participation is voluntary and informed. “We have tried to reduce the hype around the proposal to implement shariah law tribunals in Ontario,” said John Syrtash, a family lawyer with B’nai B’rith. “Shariah-based courts will not bring the Taliban to Canada.”