|
WHEREAS,
the Arbitration Act of 1991 was created to reduce the time and
cost for business to settle international disputes regarding
business and property through a private court or Tribunal;
WHEREAS,
prior to the passage of the Arbitration Act, a religious group
approached the government and requested permission to use the
Arbitration Act to resolve family legal matters based on their
religious customs and law;
WHEREAS,
the government accommodated the request made by this religious
group, and then extended the same right to other religious
communities, thereby permitting the privatization of family law;
WHEREAS,
the terms family and religion are not defined or referred to in
the Arbitration Act, this omission makes the Arbitration Act vague
in matters of family
and religious law;
WHEREAS,
article 5.3, of the Arbitration Act permits oral agreements, this
article impairs the ability for the government to monitor
decisions made by the Tribunal;
WHEREAS,
article 6.7, of the Arbitration Act, does not allow a party to
appeal a decision
made by the Tribunal;
WHEREAS,
the Arbitration Act does not require, nor does the government have
records that report which religious groups are using arbitration,
who is performing the arbitration or the type of agreements being
made, it is all a private matter;
WHEREAS,
article 9 of the Arbitration Act permits a minimum of one
arbitrator to settle disputes between two or more parties, this
article impairs the benefit of independent legal counsel to all
parties;
WHEREAS,
the Arbitration Act does not specify the qualifications required
to be an arbitrator, this omission impairs the standards of
performance across the province;
WHEREAS,
article 11.1, of the Arbitration Act states that the Arbitrator
must be independent from the parties, the enforcement of this
article is impaired when applying it in a religious community as
the arbitrator and the parties are from the same religious
community;
WHEREAS,
article 32, Conflict of Laws, of the Arbitration Act permits the
parties or the arbitrator to decide which laws are appropriate to
the circumstances, this article permits the use of laws from other
jurisdictions, states and nations such as Iran, to settle family
legal matters in Ontario;
WHEREAS,
for business the flexibility of the Arbitration Act appears to be
effective and useful when settling business and property disputes,
the Arbitration Act does not have the safeguards to protect the
human rights of Canadians;
WHEREAS,
the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, article 15.
(1) states, “Every individual is equal before and under the law
and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the
law without discrimination and, in particular, without
discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour,
religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability”,
the Arbitration Act by permitting the use of faith-based
arbitration for family legal matters in private courts, has denied
Canadians from religious communities and particularly women and
children the full protection and benefit of Canadian law;
WHEREAS,
in Ontario there are numerous and various communities where women
and children, due to the internal social, political, economic and
psychological pressures of their communities, feel compelled to
accept the decisions of their community appointed arbitrators in a
private court, even when those decisions are contrary to the
secular laws of Ontario and Canada;
WHEREAS,
the Arbitration Act permits the application of both formal and
informal, religious laws, regulations, codes and doctrines, with
no government monitoring of the nature of the arbitration nor of
the degree of informed consent by the parties nor the settlement
determined by the Tribunal and;
WHEREAS,
women and children who find themselves in such oppressive and
disempowered situations, out of fear do not contest the results of
the arbitration process, the government, not knowing the results
of that arbitration, by it’s consequent silence, upholds the
decisions of private courts, thus denying women and children their
Rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
BE
IT THEREFORE RESOLVED, that in order to protect all
citizens of Ontario equally, the Government of Ontario
amend the Arbitration Act 1991 so that matters relating to Family
Law will no longer be permitted under the Arbitration Act 1991,
and
BE
IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that all family legal matters be
administered by a single secular Family Court, subject to the
Family Law Act of Ontario and that the rights of all concerned
parties be duly
protected.
|
