One law for all Ontarians
Kudos to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and his government for today introducing legislation that would ban all faith-based tribunals in the province. After a report to the government suggested that they allow sharia (Islamic law) as an option for Ontarians, there was a lot of pressure on both sides of the debate for Mr McGuinty. I was glad to read earlier this year that he had made the right decision.I'm a firm believer in the notion that we need to allow Canadians some degree of flexibility in how they live their lives and how they celebrate their cultures and backgrounds. The American melting pot approach is not for Canada - part of our great strength is our diversity. But we do have to draw a line at some point as to what is fundamentally Canadian and where we stop making concessions. This can be a difficult argument to make for fear of sounding xenophobic, but I think it's an important one.
Particularly regarding the rule of law. As an Ontarian (although one currently living in BC), I was shocked to hear that Mr McGuinty was even considering the idea of having a parallel law system in Ontario for Muslims, and astounded further to hear that there was already something similar for Jewish Ontarians. In my mind, all Ontarians should be treated the same way under secular, Ontarian law. If you're Muslim or if you're Jewish or if you're Christian, you get treated the same way. That's how it should be - rights to religious expression stop at a point. I'm not enough of a legal scholar to know for sure, but it seems to me that there'd be a case to be made for parallel faith-based tribunals to be unconstitutional.
I'd like to again reiterate that simply because I don't believe that all aspects of Canadian society are up for negotiation by newcomers doesn't mean that I have anything against immigration or the Canadian mosaic. Far from it - as I've said earlier, our diversity is our strength. But a line must be drawn at some point.
At any rate, I think that Dalton has made the right decision - though it may anger some, the fact of the matter is that it draws a line in the sand and rejects the notion that Canadian rule of law can be applied differently based on your creed. Bravo, Dalton.
