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Ontario will not become the first Western jurisdiction to allow the use of a set of centuries’ old religious rules called Sharia law to settle Muslim family disputes, and will ban all religious arbitrations in the province, Premier Dalton McGuinty told The Canadian Press on Sunday.

In a telephone interview with the national news agency, McGuinty announced his government would move quickly to outlaw existing religious tribunals used for years by Christians and Jews under Ontario’s Arbitration Act.

“I’ve come to the conclusion that the debate has gone on long enough,” he said.

“There will be no Sharia law in Ontario. There will be no religious arbitration in Ontario. There will be one law for all Ontarians.”

Currently, Ontario’s Arbitration Act allows civil disputes ranging from custody and support to divorce and inheritance to be resolved through an independent arbitrator, if both parties agree.

Catholics, Mennonites, Jews, aboriginals and Jehovah’s Witnesses, among others, have — until now — used the act to settle family law questions without resorting to the courts.

But those who opposed permitting Sharia family arbitration argued that the reforms would give legitimacy and an unenforceable appearance of oversight to a legal code they say is — at its heart — unfair to women.