Statement on Sharia Use by Minister Bryant
Update: clarification on Mr. Comartin's public statement
On September 8, 2005 Honourable Michael Bryant made this public statement to honour the provinces commitment to the Charter of Rights. They haven't in the past, so what is going to get them to honour it now?
I am going to hold him to his word. As such, I will request the Ontario Human Rights Commission to investigate sex discrimination within the justice system via the Law Society and the Ministry of the Attorney General.
They have not answered to the concerns about lack of legal representation in the CEDAW review whatsoever. I will also ask the OHRC to consider the sexist and paternal public statements made by Joe Comartin in an all candidates meeting from the last election regarding a question asked on Sharia law.
His comment was dismissive and paternalistic blaming opponents of Sharia law as "the over-reaction of women's groups" - encouraging the audience to condone continued constructive discrimination against women in Ontario.
Not only was he giving legal advice, he used his position as a lawyer to make it appear that he understood and new Islamic law. He was clearly speaking from the monetary support he had recieved for his political campaign by a Shiite mosque in Windsor, in which he was invited to address the paternalistic all male participants.
Unfortunately, MP's like this plague politics in all levels of government in Canada.
posted by HR at 9/11/2005 10:40:00 a.m.
3 Comments:
I don't really understand or know to much about this issue. All we here out here is that Sharia is a mistake. I suppose with so much resistance it could be the case, and if it is, why have it? We've been told that there is the possibility of it overriding the court system, is that true? .. or is it similar to say the Catholic system where, even though you get an annulment, you still have to go through the court system to get a divorce?
Sharia is a very complicated legal code based only on religious edicts gathered from the Quran and the sayings of the Prophet Mohammed called 'hadith' gathered, apparently, from years around circa 650 common era. There are different schools of thought for Sunni Muslims and then there are different sects of Islam, such as Shiite Muslims or Agha Khan Muslims, each having their own legal beliefs based on the hadith that they accept.
What the Muslim community was expecting is that our judges, lawyers and legal system would have to learn a new legal code when there is NO tradition of Islamic law in Canada. Finally, McGuinty has released that we actually have a Charter of Rights based on our traditional legal code in Canada.
The problem is that this legal code is outdated as well as the thinking of many within the community. Women's rights in Ontario under the Constitution and Charter have suffered greatly but the Ontario government has ignored it for years, doing nothing.
I have written much on this subject in posts called
Will the Real Islam Please Stand Up?
and On Constitutions, Iraqs
As well...I am writing my story about my conversion to Islam and how I left it, part of the reason I don't give my real name in this blog.
The story is called 'A Journey into Conversion'. So far I only have 7 parts written, which could end up being in the double digits when I'm through.
As for over-riding the court system, they already do. Marraige matters is handled by religious leaders within the Muslim community so it is in fact 'under-ground'
One common occurance that happens within mosques in large communities is polygamy, where the Muslim man marries more than one woman up to 4. They do this in the mosque by signing Islamic marraige contracts. One mosque that I know for a fact that does this is the London Muslim Mosque in London Ontario. The Imam himself showed me the contracts.
I am not totally against it per se but the fact is, marrying more than one person or intending on marrying more than one person in Canada or outside of Canada is a criminal offense according to the Criminal Code of Canada. I know a number of Canadian women who have converted to Islam and are a second wife
I don't suspect Christian, Jewish or Aboriginal law is as complicated as Islamic law. Not to mention that Islamic law supports interpretations of Islam that Osama bin Laden enjoys as well as the other extremists.
Muslims can get married and divorced through their Imams without having to go to the courts whatsoever.
It would not be fair to ban Sharia and not ban religious arbitration for other religions. I suspect that implementing such draconian religious laws was far too complicated a task for the government to handle, not to mention the number of lawsuits waiting in the wings.
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