Not on my watch

As many of you already realize, Canada is a pretty amazing place to live. We have freedoms and privileges here that many of the world's populace can only dream about. Along with these rights, however, come certain responsibilities. As the citizens of a democracy, it's important to maintain a vigil on our rights, to ensure they are not taken away or slowly eroded. Whether this be the rights of Canadians in general or just a section of our populace.

What I'm referring to is the recommendation of former NDP attorney-general Marion Boyd that Sharia law should be allowed to be practiced by Muslims in Ontario in the resolution of family disputes. Proponents of this say that Catholics and Jews are already able to arbitrate domestic disputes within their faiths. Therefore under the freedom of religion guaranteed in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Muslims should also be permitted to do this. There's a serious difference here. There is quite a history of Sharia law violating fundamental rights enshrined in our Constitution for equal treatment. Under some interpretations of sharia, a woman who is raped is guilty of tempting the man. Showing an ankle is tantamount to enticement. A Muslim husband has the right -- duty even -- to beat his wife if she's disobedient. A Muslim who converts to Christianity technically could face a death sentence. Are there likely to be executions and stonings in Ontario if this is implemented? Unlikely, but that isn't to say other forms of abuse won't be legitimized.

To see if only non-Muslims were against this, I decided to do some searching on the web to gather more info on Sharia, and came upon a letter sent to Ms. Boyd from the Canadian Council on Muslim Women. Among other points touched upon in this letter, they stated the following:

"For us, Islam is a religion of peace, compassion, social justice and equality, and we know that many of the interpretations and practices of Muslim law do not always reflect these principles. Further, we think that these fundamentals are embodied in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

And we advocate that as we are not compelled by our faith to live under Muslim family law, we as Canadian Muslim women want the same laws to apply to us as to all other Canadians. and not to have our equality rights jeopardized by the application of another system of jurisprudence."

As you can see, even they don't want Sharia law. Many of these women came to Canada to escape the oppression of Sharia law in their former homelands. Why would we inflict something like this on them?

While searching the web, I also learned about a woman named Homa Arjomand. Ms. Arjomand was born in 1952 in Iran and started her political/social activities when she was 17. She studied medical physics in England and has worked as a teacher in various colleges and universities. Since 1970 she has devoted her life fighting for women’s rights. In the winter of 1989 she fled Iran through mountains because her life was endangered by the Islamic Regime of Iran. Homa has lived in Canada since 1990, and is a member of the steering committee of The Organization for Women's Liberation; the coordinator of The Campaign in Defence of Women's Rights in Iran; Chair Person of Children First Now and also leads The Campaign Against Sharia Court in Canada. On the website for the latter campaign, there is a petition available to protest the setting up of a Sharia Court in Canada. I would ask all of you reading this to please go to this site and sign the petition. Tell your friends and family about it too. Will signing this petition actually make a difference in the Ontario government's decision on whether to allow Sharia courts? I honestly don't know. I hope it does make a difference.

In closing, I'd like to quote an individual who understood the importance of the separation of church and state and was also the author of the Declaration of Independence of the United States, Mr. Thomas Jefferson:

"In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own."

Sharia Court in Canada? Not on my watch.