Behind closed doors

In fall 2003, Syed Mumtaz Ali, President of the Canadian Society of Closed Doors Muslims, announced the establish- ment of the Islamic Institute of Civil Justice (Dar-ul-Qada), a private tribunal for settling family and inheritance matters using Sharia-based laws, under the Arbitration Act. [...] In civil Family Law and and commercial disputes, the government may legitimately wish to encourage Public Policy private arrangement, freeing the courts to focus on matters of public importance— The family, as the basic unit of society, plays a key role in allo- matters like family law. [...] However, since the Act does not expressly prohibit given rise to a divide that continues the settlement of family law disputes, it is also being used to arbitrate matters to place men at the helm of public such as spousal and child support, custody, the division of property upon sepa- and political life, and women behind ration. [...] In Ontario, the Family Law Act handles child and spousal support and the division of prop- erty, while custody and access are dealt with under the Children’s Law Reform Act (CLRA). [...] The Wahabi and other Although one of the primary stated reasons for allowing faith-based arbitration is Muslim schools of thought endorse supposedly to save time and resources, a number of religious elites have much to female genital mutilation in the name of Islam, despite the fact that gain from state-enforced tribunals, including power, resources and state legitimacy it has no basis in the Qura