Source: IslamOnline.net

http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2003-11/29/article03.shtml

On November 29, 2003 IslamOnline.net reported, "In the latest effort in a long struggle to have Shari'a recognized in Canada, Muslim leaders in the country elected a 30-member council to establish a judicial tribunal for Muslims...The move is designed to persuade Canadian courts to uphold decisions made under the Muslim law, Ottawa Citizen newspaper said. Jamal Badawi, the spiritual leader of the Islamic Association of the Maritime provinces, said Muslims in the U.S. and Britain already have similar juristic councils that render decisions which are routinely upheld by the courts. Husain Bhayat, one of the campaign's organizers, said the Muslim community in Canada, the country's largest minority, could give thumbs-up to the move by making the tribunal representing different schools of Islam, namely the Sunnis and the Shiites."