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flag A Toronto woman challenges Canada’s ban on recognizing Pakistani Islamic adoptions, saying it violates her family’s equality rights.

flag A Toronto woman, Jameela Qadeer, is challenging Canada’s ban on recognizing adoptions from Pakistan under Islamic law, arguing it violates her family’s equality rights. flag She and her husband were granted legal guardianship of her sister’s three children by a Pakistani court after the mother’s death and the father’s formal relinquishment of rights in 2013. flag The children, raised as her own, were authorized to travel to Canada, but Canada has not recognized such adoptions since 2013, citing concerns that Islamic “kafala” does not sever biological ties. flag Qadeer and two Muslim groups argue the Pakistani court order is a formal, enforceable custody arrangement similar to recognized adoptions in the U.S., and that the ban disproportionately affects Muslim families. flag The case is before Canada’s Federal Court.

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