While the world, or at least that part of it that can be considered civilized, was commemorating the 4th anniversary of 9/11 last Sunday, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty was having a chat with the Canadian Press, telling them that he had decided not to introduce sharia law in Ontario. The Premier had been considering allowing sharia to be used to mediate family disputes between Muslims under the arbitrations act.
The NDP government introduced legislation in 1991 that allowed Jews and Christians to use faith-based tribunals to settle matrimonial disputes. When some Muslim groups demanded the same thing for their faith, McGuinty decided to consider it and, like most things he does, he got himself into a real pickle.
The Premier appointed former NDP Cabinet Minister Marion Boyd to prepare a report on the use of the sharia in the province. Boyd had the distinction of being one of the few, if not the only, non-lawyer to hold the post of attorney General in a common law jurisdiction. Being a lawyer didn't matter - she was a radical feminist and that's all that mattered to Bob Rae. and years later, that's all that mattered to our Dalton. Marion Boyd was barely mentioned during the much publicized release of schoolgirl and sister-killer Karla Homolka last July but Boyd, as attorney General of Ontario, was the person who authorized the so-called “deal with the devil”. Homolka was allowed to plead guilty to manslaughter in the deaths of Kristin French and Leslie Mahaffy and the facts were read in concerning sexual assaults that she committed with her then husband Paul Bernardo, one of which resulted in the death of her 15-year-old sister. Under the Boyd-sanctioned plea, she received a total of 12 years. Boyd led the charge concerning the theory that Homolka was just another one of Paul Bernardo's victims.
So for her dedication and hard work in ensuring fairness for poor battered-wife Karla, Boyd was rewarded by McGuinty to write a report on the effect that sharia-based arbitration would have in the province. The proposed introduction of sharia was controversial from the outset within the Muslim community. and many women's groups, Muslim and non-Muslim, were opposed the use of sharia because of the way that the law treats women. Last week protests were held, not only in front of the legislature, but in various locations. Gotta hand it to Dalton; while he doesn't get the number of protesters that Mikey got, at least he has people protesting him around the world. Ontario made headlines around the world as possibly being the first jurisdiction in North america to incorporate Islamic law.
It appeared that McGuinty was in favour of bringing the law into being until he pulled the plug last Sunday. Much like John Kerry, he was for it before he was against it.
McGuinty' announcement that Ontario would not introduce sharia-based mediation was followed by another one in which the Premier indicated that the current Christian and Jewish faith-based arbitrations would also be banned. This produced a backlash, especially by some Jewish groups who are threatening legal action.
It is possible, although not very likely, that McGuinty never intended to bring in sharia in the first place; that it was all a ruse to give him the excuse to get rid of all religious arbitrations. after all, this would be consistent with his views on religion that Ontarians should not get tax breaks for private religious schools. But the probable reasons for letting the issue drag on for over eight months was that Dalton was finding religion and bowing to his god - the god of political correctness.
Dalton - if you're determined to be this politically correct, you're going to have to learn how it works. Get with the program. There's a hierarchy involved and the prime directive is that women's rights trump religious rights, and yes, even those rights of Muslims that count more than other religions so as not to appear Islamophobic. The anger of the Muslims who wanted to see sharia become part of the law of Ontario is nothing compared to the women's groups and the Liberal Party's women's caucus that were opposed. Having to put up with people like Mohammed El Masry is nothing compared to spending all day being yelled at by Sandra Pupatello et. al.
and Dalton - you had such an easy way to get out of it and you didn't take it. all you had to do was to announce that you were bringing in sharia law when Marion Boyd gave you her report last December. You could have promised to bring it in. Then, when you eventually reneged on the promise it would have simply become Broken Promise No. 2,405 or whatever number you happen to be up to now.
another McGuinty broken promise - it would have been no big deal.