Past Events
AMSS Conference Panel: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Faith-Based Arbitration
The Tessellate Institute sponsored a panel on “Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Faith-Based Arbitration at the Annual Regional Conference of the Association of Muslim Social Scientists.
Wilfred Laurier University, May 21, 2009.
In 2005, after a divisive controversy over a proposal to use “sharia” law in arbitration, the Ontario Liberal government decided to ban all faith-based arbitration. Many Ontarians applauded the decision for its assertion of Canadian values and protection of women’s rights. Other Ontarians have been critical, believing that some kind of accommodation would have been appropriate, given the multicultural nature of Ontario.
While from an immediate policy perspective the debate is “over,” it is likely that the impetus related to faith-based arbitration is not. In 2008 Britain faced a controversy over comments made by the Archbishop of Canterbury that endorsed the idea that some elements of Islamic law be recognised in the English legal system.
The public debate in Ontario was conducted without a great deal of empirical knowledge of the issues at hand, and also evinced a bigotry against Muslims that was disturbing to many Ontarians. Thus dispassionate analysis, based on empirical data, of the questions related to the use of Islamic law by Muslims in multicultural societies is essential for future policy considerations.
This panel brought scholarly expertise to bear on the questions raised by the proposal of faith-based arbitration in Ontario. Our panellists were:
- Dr Julie MacFarlane, Faculty of Law, University of Windsor, “The Use of Islamic Dispute Resolution Processes in North American Mosques: An Empirical Study;”
- Dr Anna C. Korteweg, Department of Sociology, University of Toronto, “Debating Sharia in Ontario: Representations of Muslim Women’s Agency;”
- Christopher Cutting, PhD Candidate, Department of Religious Studies, University of Waterloo, “Problematizing the Secular: Ongoing Faith Based Practices in Ontario Family Law.”
- Dr Annie Bunting, Department of Law and Society, York University, “Family Law’s Legal Pluralism.”
The Tessellate Institute Launch
On Sunday April 27, 2008, a small group of community leaders, academics, public servants, and businesspeople attended the launch of The Tessellate Institute (TTI) at a hotel in Oakville.
Mr Daood Hamdani, a senior economist with Statistics Canada, was the keynote speaker. He gave a fascinating lecture about the history of Muslims in Canada, tracing the first Muslim family to the 1840s (Hamdani-Muslim History of Canada: Pre-Conferation to the First World War). Mr Fareed Amin, the Deputy Minister for both the Provincial (Ontario) Ministry of Economic Development and Trade and the Ministry of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, gave a highly informative lecture about the public policy process, and the importance of Muslim involvement in this process. Dr Katherine Bullock, and Mr Naseer (Irfan) Syed spoke about the meaning of think tanks and the need for TTI.