Constructions of Islam in the Context of Religious Arbitration: A Consideration of the “Shari'ahDebate” in Ontario, Canada

In 2003 Ontarians engaged in a debate over the use and application of religious, and specifically Islamic, law in private dispute resolution. A province wide commission on the issue, summarized in a report by Marion Boyd, encapsulates many of the ideas and attitudes prevalent among Canadians, on the controversial issue of religious arbitration. Two distinct models of Islam emerge from the multiplicity of perspectives (re)presented in Boyd's report, in which “Islam” signals both: (1) a religious and (2) a neo-ethnic identity. I submit that these dual constructions of Islam map onto familiar categories of “religion” and “multiculturalism” already present among the Canadian public. Thus, the constructions of Islam contained in Boyd's report work to strengthen the familiar conceptual categories already existing in Canadian public discourse during a time of political controversy and anxiety prevailing in the country.