The response to the proposal for Islamic arbitration tribunals in Ontario was another example of “a creeping irrationality in our own public discourse, public opinion and public policy when dealing with Muslims”, Haroon Siddiqui argues:
“Faith-based arbitration for Muslims was not going to be sharia, even if one proponent said so. The term suited the critics just fine. They raised the red herring and the platitudes flowed: Multiculturalism was eroding common values. The line separating church and state was being erased. Theocracy was being grafted onto Canada. As amusing as some of this has been at one level, at another it has been Islamophobic and deeply divisive….”