ABSTRACT

With the passage of the Canadian Multiculturalism Act of 1988, one of the most advanced and path­breaking state legislations worldwide (e.g. Tierney 2007), core elements of the Multiculturalism Policy of 1971 and earlier leg­ islations aiming to preserve and enhance multiculturalism in Canada were absorbed into the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Freedom of religion is expressly recognized in the Charter as a fundamental freedom through which protection to religious minorities is guaranteed. Against that backdrop, a controversial debate has ensued countrywide concerning the scope of legal entitlements, in particular on the question of whether informal normative repertoires, ‘cultural normativity,’ belief systems, and religious law were considered part and parcel of cultural diversity (Moon 2008). The questions that most resonate within this debate have to do with the risks implied in permitting internal dispute regulation within religious communities. The issue here is the extent and the conditions under which such normative registers offer a valid framework for the regulation of intra­ communitarian disputes under state law. Is it possible to provide adequate schemes of normative identification under the banner of cultural and legal diversity (van der Ven 2011) for the members of diverse subgroups, or does this type of codification hinder them from integrating into mainstream, albeit highly heterogeneous, Canadian society?