Rendering onto Caesar

The man who owns the best pizza parlour in my neighborhood was originally from Iran. He loved his native land, his family and his religion. When the Shah was overthrown in Iran he did not flee; he did not flee after his son was born despite the on-going war with Iraq and concern for his son’s future. As the Mullah’s gripped tightened so insidiously on the everyday life of ordinary Iranians he became increasingly concerned for the safety of his wife, though the decision to flee was only made upon the birth of his daughter. He wanted her to have the opportunity to live and learn in a society that did not measure the freedom of its women by the size of the family home’s walls. He wanted his daughter to have a future that was not shaded and encased behind a veil and a wall but could be seen clearly and experienced freely. Canada became his refuge from the Shariah Law of the Mullahs.

It is not often that I am find myself in agreement with the Muslim Canadian Congress but today I am.

In 1991, the Rae NDP government introduced the Arbitrators Act allowing for voluntary faith-based arbitrators to negotiate settlements in Ontario courts. In truth, this was a frivolous piece of legislature. Prior to the introduction of the 1991 Arbitrators Act there was no legal impediment for two parties involved in a dispute to seek faith based arbitrators to help negotiate a settlement between the parties. Why the Rae government decided to introduce this piece of legislature in the first place is beyond me my keen but I chalk it up as another example of governmental meddling into the private lives of the ordinary citizenry.

Prior to Arbitrators Act, if I was a religious Jew, Christian, or Wicca, I could always appeal to my priest or religious authority/court for help in resolving a dispute. I did not need the government of Ontario to add official sanction to the process that is my right to exercise under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This is one of the innate advantages of living in a relatively free society.

And I have to hand it to Marion Boyd who has just authored and submitted a report recommending the introduction of Shariah Law into the Ontario Courts to the Premier of Ontario and I quote:

"This is not Shariah law," said report author Marion Boyd, a former provincial attorney general. "This is using Muslim religious principles under Canadian law, within Canadian law, and that is the greatest protection that we think can be offered."

Excuse me Marion Boyd, but what do you think Shariah Law is; if it is not Muslim religious principals - the rules and principal’s governing animal husbandry? Furthermore, if the implementation of Shariah Law into Ontario Courts under the Arbitrators Act requires 46 principal recommendations to safeguard a person’s rights under "Muslim Religious Law"; then it would appear to be self-evident in my mind that the introduction of Shariah Law is contrary to the rule of established law in Canada.

If there ever was a case of the road to hell being paved with good intentions this is it. It’s time to repel this piece of legislation and allow all Ontario citizens to live under one rule of law in our courts as regulated, governed and safeguarded by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.