We have the 'Arbitration Act' of 1991 in Ontario. I don't think there is a federal act that allows religious arbitration. I don't know all the ins and outs of the arbitration act, but I don't believe it supercedes our secular laws. Parties can agree to arbitration by a rabbinical court, but I'm fairly certain that any decisions can be overturned by a secular court. My understanding of the intentions of the Sharia proposal was that any decisions would have force of law. After all, the arbitration act is available to all religious groups, not just Jews. Muslims have just as much access to the terms of the arbitration act as any others. This proposal was something beyond that. To the best of my knowledge, the Catholics have never made use of the arbitration act.

However, as far as I'm concerned, the situation is fairly simple. Regardless of religious agreements etc, each person in the province (the country for that matter) should have the same access and protections of the same secular laws as anyone else.

Religious leaders may give advice and counsel, but for my money, they may NOT replace our normal judicial system. Separation of church and state is one of the most important concepts handed down by the drafters of your constitution, and adopted by our country. I am solidly behind Dalton on this one. Cancel the whole arbitration act and see to it that everyone in the province is subject to the same laws.

I'm usually pretty flexible on most things, but Separation of church and state; drunk drivers (1st offense, hang 'em... just kidding. Take away their licenses for ever and tell them if they want to drive, they're going to have to move to another jurisdiction); and pedophiles (hang 'em - not kidding this time)... those are things about which I am immutable. Oh yes, and that Vince Lombardi was the greatest coach the NFL has ever seen.

>So you do not have rabbinical court (for civil cases) in Canada? I think it does exist in Canada right now. I believe it must stay within the country's law and the participant's must sign an arbitration agreement first just as in the U.S. There have been cases where the state courts have cancelled or reversed rabbinical decisions though. Some think Gentiles should be prohibited from attending them because they are the most likely to sue or appeal outside of it but then they are always guaranteed the raw end of the stick according to the Talmud.
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>>Well, Dalton McGuinty has now killed the idea of Sharia in Ontario. In fact, he went so far as to say that the government will begin drawing up a bill to ban all religion based arbitration in the province.
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>>Congratulations Dalton!