A major challenge is scheduled to appear against the ban imposed by Canada on adoptions from many Islamic countries in the Federal Court - a step that some legal observers say would not be necessary if the government did not adhere to what they call a discriminatory policy.

This case, which can be heard as early as April, comes after more than five years of the federal government’s promise to review the ban that was introduced when the Conservatives last took power. Since then, the Liberal government has refused to disclose whether that review has taken place or what it entails, despite repeated inquiries from the CBC News network.

In 2013, Canada suddenly stopped adoptions from Pakistan, arguing that Islamic law does not allow severing birth ties between parents and child, and that it is no longer possible to recognize the Islamic guardianship principle (kafala) as a basis for adoption. The United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia continue to allow adoptions from Pakistan, despite Canada’s claim that doing so would violate its commitment to the Hague Convention.

While the ban was theoretically applied only to Pakistan, an investigation conducted by CBC’s Fifth Estate found that in practice, immigration officials quietly expanded the scope of the ban to include other Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, Sudan, Iraq, Qatar, Afghanistan, and Algeria.

Requests for access to information regarding the ban have also produced dozens of redacted pages, including a secret-labeled memo dated June 25, 2013, titled Canadian Programming to Counter Terrorist Threat from Pakistan – raising questions about what national security might have to do with it.

One legal observer said the ban is not only discriminatory but also unfairly places the burden on individual families to validate their religious traditions.

For his part, Faisal Baba, assistant professor at Osgoode Hall Law School at York University in Toronto, said, “Honestly, I am shocked that the government has not reconsidered this legislatively.” “A case like this should not be the responsibility of the family.

The last thing they need is for their government to tell them what their religion imposes on them and what it does not... I don’t see how this case cannot succeed.

Pakistani court grants adoption permission

At the heart of the court challenge is a woman from Toronto who became the caregiver for her sister’s three children while living in Pakistan after her sister’s death. Since 2012, Jamila Qadeer has cared for her niece’s son and two daughters as if they were her own, as their father was unable to do so.

She told CBC News, “When their biological mother died, I knew I would do everything I could to make sure they never felt motherless,” recalling how they used to sleep in one bed together so they would not feel lonely.

A major challenge to the ban imposed by Canada on adoptions from many Islamic countries is set to be presented in the Federal Court, where Jamila Qadeer took in her sister’s three children after her death more than a decade ago. She was recognized by a Pakistani court as their adoptive mother, but after a sudden change in 2013, Canada said the Islamic legal guardianship principle used by Pakistan and other countries does not meet the parent-child relationship requirement.

As an Ahmadi Muslim facing persecution in Pakistan, Qadeer moved to Canada more than six years ago with her biological daughter, initially under protected status and now as a permanent resident. But she soon learned that Canada would not recognize her sister’s children as her own.

Pakistan does not have an official adoption law. Instead, like many other Islamic countries, it relies on the guardianship principle, which preserves lineage to protect inheritance rights, for example.