After two years of acrimonious debate, the Canadian province of Ontario has said it will not permit the use of private Islamic tribunals to settle family disputes between Muslims

* After two years of acrimonious debate, the Canadian province of Ontario has said it will not permit the use of private Islamic tribunals to settle family disputes between Muslims. In a September 11 announcement that surprised both supporters and opponents of using Shari'a (sacred law), Premier Dalton McGuinty told Canadian Press that he would nix the use of all religious law in family arbitration.

"I've come to the conclusion that the debate has gone on long enough," McGuinty told the news agency. "'There will be no Shari'a law in Ontario. There will be no religious arbitration in Ontario." In May, the neighboring province of Quebec also rejected the use of Shari'a tribunals. McGuinty said religious arbitrations "threaten our common ground." The move to use Shari'a in private arbitration surfaced nearly two years ago when mainly conservative Muslims demanded the same rights as Ismaili Muslims, who have used Conciliation and Arbitration Boards (CABs) since 1987, and Jews, who have operated private rabbinic courts in the province for decades.

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