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In Islamist theocracies, Sharia Law is the set of religious rules that guide both public and private life. Sharia is an all-encompassing religious and political system, and while it can be interpreted in different ways, its fundamental principles are at odds with our Western legal system.

Most Muslims in Canada oppose Sharia Law, and some specifically came here to flee it. Others, though, have long been trying to bring Sharia to Canada.

Canada had its first taste of encroaching Sharia in 2003, when the Islamic Institute for Civil Justice announced its intention to establish panels that would use Sharia Law in Ontario. Controversy erupted and a group of Muslim activists stood up and fought against Sharia in Canada.

The fierceness of the debate prompted Ontario’s government to ask the province’s former attorney general to study the proposal for Sharia arbitration panels. Adhering to political correctness, the study concluded that the Sharia panels were legal, so long as several new safeguards were added.

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, however, decided to ban Sharia panels, and in 2006, Ontario’s legislature passed a bill requiring all arbitration to be “conducted exclusively in accordance with the law of Ontario or another Canadian jurisdiction.”

Canada dodged a bullet by banning Sharia. But since this close call, efforts to seep Islamic law into our legal system have been stealth and often come as the result of cultural relativism and the doctrine of multiculturalism.