Faith-Based Dispute Management in Transnational Communities.

State legislation in Canada has been regarded as one of the most advanced and path breaking state legislations worldwide allowing for legal and cultural diversity in accordance with multiculturalism politics. As laid down in the Ontario Arbitration Act in 1991, this includes faith based arbitration of private matters, in practice particularly familial disputes. After the announcement of shari'a law based arbitration within the frame of organizations representing parts of the Canadian Muslim community in 2003, a vehement dispute arose over the compatibility of Islamic law with Canadian legislation, particularly over the legal and social status of women in Islamic law. This debate led in 2006 to the deletion of any reference whatsoever to religious principles in the Arbitration Act of 1991. The paper is focusing on the controversial debate of this development among migrants in the Muslim community in Canada. It shows how this debate did influence legal practice in Canada and other parts of the world and led to an increasing recourse to alternative or informal, non-officially recognized forms of dispute settlement, including those based on religious principles. The transnational repercussions of the development in Canada, evoked in the migrants' countries of origins, are analyzed in a comparative approach. The paper presents the outline of a research in progress. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]