Ten years before that great legislative victory, women were forced to fight prejudice and custom in Canada to change, province by province, a regime of property laws that denied them fairness when they divorced. And so we see that over the years in our country's history, women have had to fight for fairness, for equality, for equity. We have had to often stand against the current of public prejudice to achieve and to then protect our rights. We have had to come together to convince legislators in every province and at the federal level that the laws of this country - this modern, secular and multicultural country that is Canada - must be based on principles of fairness and non-discrimination. That is why we are here today on Parliament Hill and on the lawns of other Capitals here and in Europe.

  In my country, there is no room for laws that allow or condone discrimination. The way in which the Ontario Arbitration Act can be used allows for discrimination against women. It is an excellent example of what can happen when we are not careful. It takes a good idea, alternative dispute resolution, and turns it into a weapon that can be used to limit our rights. Today, the Act is being used to arbitrate all kinds of matters, including personal relationships within families based on religion. That is not what was intended by the legislators who passed this law in Ontario. Religious laws have no place in our system of family law.

  Let there be no confusion here. Many of us in Canada practice a religion of our choice. That is a right we enjoy under the Charter. That right is neither questioned nor threatened by our requests here today. What we seek is a commitment that it is the rule of civil law, and not religious law, that will govern us as we settle matters of family relationships that are in dispute between couples and families.

  Le rapport Boyd en Ontario demontre clairement qu'aujourd'hui les partis qui choisissent de regler leurs differends devant un arbitre religieux ou autre sous la Loi ontarienne sur l'arbitrage, peuvent renoncer a leur droit d'appel devant la Cour. Cette Loi sur l'arbitrage doit etre amendee pour nous assurer que seul les lois civils et le droit criminel, dont nous nous sommes dotes comme societe doivent etre a la base de toutes decisions sur les relations familiales. Tous les accords d'arbitrages et les sentences arbitrales doivent etre soumise a la Loi sur le droit de la famille, s'eloignant ainsi de la presente practique en Ontario. De plus, les partis qui choisissent l'arbitrage pour regler leurs differends matrimoniaux entre couple, incluant les questions affectant la succession et la garde des enfants, ne doivent pas pouvoir renoncer a leur droit d'appel devant les tribunaux.

  Premier Dalton McGuinty promised earlier this week that women's equality rights would be protected in all changes involving the Arbitration Act. We will hold him to that commitment. I urge the Premier and the Legislature to start by passing a law to reject the introduction of all religious law tribunals as a substitute for the Family Law Courts. Ontario and all the provinces and the federal government must state categorically that is all matters of family conflict that the civil and criminal laws of Canada will be respected, and not supplanted by any religious laws, rules or customs. The Charter demands no less.

  That is why I am here today to offer my support to this important challenge to women's legal equality."