Canadian Cabinet Divided Over Marriage
by Ben Thompson
365Gay.com Newsenter in Ottawa

(Ottawa)  The cabinet of Prime Minister Jean Chretien is reportedly deeply divided over gay and lesbian marriage.

Justice Minister Martin Cauchon announced earlier this week that the government would appeal an Ontario Superior court ruling that banning gays from marrying is unconstitutional.

The three-judge court gave the government two years to amend its current law which defines marriage as "a union between one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others."

Similar constitutional challenges by gays and lesbians are underway in British Columbia and Quebec.

Quoting unnamed Liberal Party "insiders" the Globe and Mail reports federal cabinet ministers will hold telephone sessions next week in an effort to shape a unified cabinet stand.

The government has been under fire for not dealing directly with gay marriage, but rather leaving it to the courts.  If the issue reaches the Supreme Court a gay victory would force the government to rewrite the marriage law, and allow it to say it took no position but was simply following the ruling of the high court.

The stance has left the government open to accusations by gays and lesbians of vacillating on a key civil rights issue, and charges by the right of turning over the responsibilities of an elected parliament to an appointed court.

The telephone consultations are a sign of how deeply divided are the ruling Liberals with their huge majority in Parliament.  The party has 168 MPs.

The paper says Justice Minister Martin Cauchon is expected to take a lead role in the attempt to find agreement.

The " source" tells the paper Cauchon will attempt to convince the cabinet that the government should to wait for rulings from the courts. But some ministers want to develop a consensus on which options to explore.

Cauchon is said to have ordered Justice Department officials to draw up four or five options for the government to consider, including taking the state out of marriages and leaving it up to the provinces and  churches to perform marriages as they see fit.

©365Gay.com Ltd® 2002

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Toronto Council Calls On Gov't To Abandon Marriage Challenge
by Jack Siu
365Gay.com Newscenter in Toronto

Posted: August 1, 2002 12:01 a.m. EDT/+5GMT/-3PDT

(Toronto)  Toronto city council Wednesday called on the federal government to abandon its appeal of a court decision that would legalize gay and lesbian marriage.

The motion, put forward by Councillor Kyle Rae, confirms the city's support for gay marriage.  Rae, who is gay, is the councillor for downtown Toronto.

Rae said he decided to introduce the motion because he didn't want to be part of a government that denies equal rights.   

July 12, in a landmark decision, the Ontario Superior Court said that by denying gays and lesbians the right to marry was "creating second class citizens."

The court gave the federal government two years to amend the law that prevents gays from marrying.   

The government announced Monday that it would appeal.

Rae's motion passed without debate.

©365Gay.com Ltd® 2002

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Canadian Gov't To Appeal Marriage Ruling 
by Ben Thompson
365Gay.com Newsenter in Ottawa

Updated: July 29, 2002 5:41 p.m. EDT/+5GMT/-3PDT

(Ottawa) The federal government will appeal an Ontario court ruling that said barring gays and lesbians from marrying violates the Canadian Constitution.

The government said it wants a determination on the definition of marriage.  Currently, the law defines it as a union "between one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others."

Earlier this month, in a case brought by eight gay and lesbian couples, three judges of the Ontario Superior Court court said that the Ontario government must register gay and lesbian marriages.

In a statement, late this morning, Justice Minister Martin Cauchon said that his department must challenge the ruling. 

“The government believes it is the responsible course to seek further clarity on these issues.” Cauchon said.

But the justice minister also said that "in today's society the existence of a committed relationship is of great importance to our lives whether or for opposite sex couples or for same sex couples."

The sentence was taken optimistically by supporters of gay marriage.

"I think it is important to acknowledge the dramatically different government tone on this issue.  I take that as an important sign as the inevitability of gay marriage," George Smitherman, the only out member of the Ontario Legislature told 365Gay.com.

Smitherman, a Liberal, who represents downtown Toronto including the Gay Village, said the appeal comes as no surprise.

"I remain enthusiastic and optimistic gays and lesbians in Canada will soon have the right to marry," he said.

That sentiment was echoed by lawyers for the eight Ontario couples. Doug Elliot he had expected that the issue would be appealed. 

last week the ruling Liberals own pollster told the party the majority of Canadians, especially younger people supported marriage rights for gays and lesbians.

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Gay Marriage Inevitable Pollster Says
by Ben Thompson
365Gay.com National Editor

Posted: July 25, 11:31 a.m. EDT/+5GMT/-3PDT

(Ottawa)  A national poll for Canada's ruling party shows Canadians support gay and lesbian marriage.  

The  Pollara survey was taken for the Liberal party shortly after an Ontario court ruled that denying gays the right to marry was unconstitutional.  

The poll shows that 48 per cent of Canadians favour granting marriage rights.  43 per cent are opposed, and 9 per cent have no opinion one way or the other.

While the margin of error makes the poll a virtual tie, the man who conducted it has told the party same-sex marriage is 'inevitable' because the majority of young Canadian support it.

"The writing is on the wall for this issue. It will become more popular. It will become more and more acceptable. Government can lead public opinion or it can follow it and this is an opportunity to lead it rather than follow it," said Michael Marzolini, the chairman of Pollara.

The survey found younger Canadians strongly oppose Canada's common law rule, which dates back to an 1866 decision by a British court, that defines marriage as the union of "one man and one woman."

An overwhelming 65% of Canadians between the ages of 25 and 34 favour expanding the legal definition of marriage to same-sex couples, as do 61% of those in the 18-34 age group.

"Clearly the mood is changing. The new generation of Canadians are far more supportive of gay and lesbian marriage than the previous generation. These numbers will increase just as a result of demographics," Marzolini said.

It is expected the survey will help the government decide whether to appeal the Ontario court ruling.  An appeal would have to be filed by Monday.  The judges in the case gave Ottawa two years to amend the law or gay and lesbian marriage in Ontario would automatically become legal.

The case does not affect other provinces, and it is expected the issue of gay marriage will end up in the Supreme Court of Canada unless the government moves to change the law.

©365Gay.com Ltd® 2002

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Court Gives Gov't 2 Years To Pass Gay Marriage Law
by Jan Prout
365Gay.com Newscenter in Toronto

 Updated: July 12, 3:00 p.m. EDT/+5GMT/-3PDT

(Toronto) A three judge Ontario court ruled Friday that the Ontario government must register gay and lesbian marriages. It also chastised the city of Toronto for refusing to issue marriage licences to gay couples.

In a landmark decision, Ontario Superior Court said that by denying gays and lesbians the right to marry was "creating second class citizens."

Federal law defines marriage as "a union between one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others."  The justices ruled that the definition violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms of the Constitution. 

But, it suspended its ruling for two years to allow Parliament time to redefine the term marriage.

Last November the judges heard a lawsuit brought by eight gay and lesbian couples who challenged the constitutionality of the ban.

After the decision was read in court this morning, one of the couples, Kevin Bourassa and Joe Varnell, hugged and shared a kiss.  The couple, along with several others involved in the case broke into tears of joy.

"My relationship is validated and nobody can say we're not a real family anymore," said Varnell.

"We're no longer second-class citizens in this country."

The suit combined two cases, one in which six couples were directly refused marriage licences by the city clerk's office.  The other involved two couples who were married in a double ceremony at Toronto's Metropolitan Community Church.

In the MCC case, the church used the ancient Christian tradition of "publishing banns", a legal alternative to marriage licences.  The banns, or announcement, involves announcing impending marriages on three consecutive Sundays in the church.  

While banns are legal in Ontario, the province refused to register the marriages citing federal legislation.

Justice Harry Laforme said: "The restriction against same-sex marriage is an offence to the dignity of lesbians and gays because it limits the range of relationship options available to them.  The result is they are denied the autonomy to choose whether they wish to marry.  This is turn conveys the ominous message that they are unworthy of marriage.  For those same-sex couples who do wish to marry, impugned restriction represents a rejection of their personal aspirations and the denial of their dreams." 

"Certainly it is an historic decision and it is unprecedented," Roslyn Levine, counsel to the federal attorney general who had argued against giving gays and lesbians marriage rights, said outside the courthouse.  There has been no reaction from the federal government.

But, in Ottawa, gay New Democratic Party MP Sven Robinson called on the Chretien government to immediately amend the law.

"Anyone in this country should be free to marry the person of their choice," he said.

National gay rights organization Egale said it was overjoyed with the decision and called on the government to act.

"It is an outrage that the federal government has been wasting taxpayers' money fighting to discriminate against its own citizens," said John Fisher, Executive Director of Egale. 

"It's time for the federal government to catch up to society, and respect the Court's decision and the Constitution."

In the meantime, the province has 15 days to launch an appeal to the decision, something Bourassa and Varnell's lawyer Douglas Elliott sees as inevitable.

A ruling against gay marriages in British Columbia is expected to be heard by the Court of Appeal of British Columbia early next year, and a judge in Montreal has reserved judgment on a similar case in Quebec.

Regardless of the court rulings, all Elliot predicted that all three cases will be appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada.

The federal and provincial governments already recognize gay couples under common law.

Both the Law Commission of Canada and the Canadian Human Rights Commission have recently called for the extension of marriage laws to include same-sex couples.  A recent Leger Marketing poll demonstrated that over 65% of Canadians support granting same-sex couples the equal right to marry.

©365Gay.com Ltd® 2002

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