Trudeau Liberals say halal mortgages won't bring Sharia law to Canada

• By Raheel Raza

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Opposition MPs are skeptical of the federal government’s recent halal mortgage announcement for Muslim-Canadians.

“This is a religious exception that goes well beyond accommodation,” claimed Bloc Québécois MP Martin Champoux. “The introduction of an element of Sharia law into the Canadian legislative regime would be a serious precedent.”

He criticized the measure during Question Period on Thursday after Parliament tabled the budget document Fairness For Every Generation.

At the time, cabinet announced halal mortgages among a slew of new measures to “expand access to alternative financing products.” The Minister of Revenue denied the insinuation that “halal mortgages” would be a precursor to Sharia law.

“This is a financial tool that is absolutely not being proposed by our government,” said Revenue Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau.

“We are interested in the product. We want to know if it is fair, if it complies with the rules,” she added.

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Islamic law considers usury loans a sin, and halal mortgages offer modified payment structures to bypass loans which charge interest.

Bibeau told Champoux the government is looking into the issue “to ensure it is done properly, nothing more,” reported Blacklock’s Reporter.

“We are simply going to look at the issue, but our government has no intention of supporting it. We just want to make sure that it is fair,” she claimed.

Other options include “changes in the tax treatment of these products or a new regulatory sandbox for financial service providers while ensuring adequate consumer protections are in place,” the budget reads.

Still, Champoux suggested the measures would pose a “clash of values” that juxtapose state secularism in Québec. He ardently opposed the incorporation of “more religion into Canadian law.”

“I will need to have someone explain to me why they put that in the budget. I do not really understand,” said Champoux, who claimed it “targets a Muslim minority for electoral purposes.”

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The federal government intends on providing an update to the concept in the 2024 Fall Economic Statement.

Last year, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) financed research into halal mortgages. The Islamic Family Social Services Association received an undisclosed sum to study “Islamic financial products.”

Discussion of halal mortgages followed 2023 in-house Privy Council research targeting Muslim focus groups. “Asked to identify what they felt to be the top issues impacting Muslims in Canada, several cited what they perceived as a lack of equity for their religion compared to others practiced throughout the country,” said an April 12, 2023 report Continuous Qualitative Data Collection Of Canadians’ Views.

A list of key findings included “developing financing options that are not interest-based, providing culturally sensitive housing” for observant Muslims, who number 1,775,715 in Canada, the second largest religious group after 10.9 million Catholics.

Halal mortgages have been offered by alternative financial institutions since 2021.