Silly Little Country

Why all the Hand-Wringing?

Ontario has made the only sensible decision - this was not something I thought the current government could do but it seems to me it has now.
I am pleased and relieved: for Muslims mostly, and particularly for Muslim women, that they need not feel obliged to subject themselves to Sharia-style arbitration.
I do not see that there is any sacrifice (as many bizarrely claim) in losing other 'faith-based' arbitration.
In fact my guess is all of this can go on informally. Surely we don't need the legal system to settle all disputes. But once we do, why on earth should our government sign up for any of this? Arbitration that reaches that level should be, as our Premier said, be judged by one law.
It seems conceivable that the losers here are the fundamentalist Muslims, whose proposed laws are most out of whack with the base in Ontario, and so be it! But any other religion that loses by the government's decision should lose its power as well, in my view.
I am pleased to observe that I sent my congratulations for this outcome to my local member (not part of the government) and he (well, his secretary, oopps, admin) says his party was always for this outcome. Except maybe not when religious arbitration was introduced on their watch. And maybe they might be willing to say that it worked for Christian, Jewish, and Ismaili arbitration but his party does not think it can work for the broader Islamic community that might buy into sharia. After all even this government can not say that.

posted by Alan Adamson @ 8:17 PM