Sharia Law & CEDAW

Protestors around the world gather to protest the implementation of Sharia law in Ontario. Some of the main concerns and promises of the Liberal government are to make sure access to legal services are available to Muslim women so their guaranteed legal rights won't be violated.

Both the Ontairo government and the Ontairo legal system have ignored the impact on women that their decisions have created yet they expect that Sharia won't be a problem when the system is already full of barriers that continues to be a problem for Ontario's women now.

The Government of Ontario and the Law Society of Upper Canada have created these barriers by removing access to legal representation and legal rights since the problems with Legal Aid commenced with the Rae government in 1994. Posts to this blog have documented the problems.

The United Nations has found that Canada continues to discriminate by removing the benefit of protection of laws that women should be enjoying. Women, especially those who are already disadvantaged due to systemic discrimination, continue to experience barriers to their legal rights because they cannot access adequate legal services.

The following items (29 to 32) were brought up by the Committee for the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which Canada is legally obligated to consider under s. 26 of the Charter and because they ratified this international treaty.

The Ministry of the Attorney General of Ontario nor the Law Society of Upper Canada have responded to the draft report that was reviewed in January of 2003. Nor has the federal Liberal government or the Canadian Human Rights Commission.]

Items of Concern by the United Nations are below. Full text of the Report can be viewed here.

29. While noting recent efforts at gender-based impact analysis of legislation, programmes and other measures at the federal and some provincial levels, the Committee is concerned that such efforts are not mandatory for all levels and bodies of the various jurisdictions.

30. The Committee recommends that the State party consider making gender-based impact analysis mandatory for all legal and programme efforts at the federal level and, through its respective Consultative Continuing Committees of Officials, at the provincial and territorial levels.

31. While appreciating the fact that funds are available under the Court Challenges Programme for test cases under the equality guarantee in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Committee is concerned that the Programme applies only to federal laws and programmes. The Committee is also concerned that federal legal aid funds in civil and family law and for legal matters related to poverty issues, in contrast to legal aid for criminal cases, are channelled to the provinces and territories at their discretion. That, in practice, turns out to have a disproportionately restrictive impact on women seeking legal redress as compared to men.

32. The Committee urges the State party to find ways for making funds available for equality test cases under all jurisdictions and for ensuring that sufficient legal aid is available to women under all jurisdictions when seeking redress in issues of civil and family law and in those relating to poverty issues.