[Modernman]

The court has not broken the law, even if the mom said she was getting the daylights beat out of her on a regular basis

There's also a public policy provision. Giving children to an abusive father violates public policy in both Canada and the US.

Judges dealing with custody issues can supercede any private decisions by the parties.

The problem isn't whether the Sharia court violates Canadian law, it's that the court (probably) has a huge degree of discretion in following it.

There are no Sharia courts. All you have are private arbitrators whose decisions are binding on no one but the parties who voluntarily bring their case to the arbitrator.

[BobL]

" There's also a public policy provision. Giving children to an abusive father violates public policy in both Canada and the US."

Maybe, but, of course, if the Sharia Court does not accept the woman's testimony in this area, then Canadian protections become moot. In other words, these women would at least stand a chance with a Canadian judge, but not with a cleric (I love that term).