Canadian Marriage Litigation

Cases in three Canadian provinces have challenged the federal recognition of marriage as "the voluntary union for life of one man and one woman, to the exclusion of all others." After an initial trial ruling upholding the marriage law in British Columbia, trial courts in Ontario and Quebec found the marriage law to violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms without sufficient justification.

The Ontario and Quebec courts suspended their rulings for two years, giving the federal parliament time to legislatively revise the marriage laws.

On May 1, 2003, the British Columbia Court of Appeal, the province's highest court, reversed the trial ruling and joined Ontario and Quebec in declaring the marriage law unconstitutional.

On June 10, 2003, the Ontario Court of Appeals threw the nation's marriage laws into chaos, declaring the marriage law unconstitutional and ordering the Toronto City Clerk to immediately begin issuing marriage licenses. In its decision, the Court of Appeals redefined marriage as "the voluntary union for life of two persons to the exclusion of all others." Within hours, the first same-sex couples had been legally married in Canada, while questions lingered about the status of those marriages if the case were to be appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada.

On Tuesday, June 17, Prime Minister Jean Chretien announced that there would be no appeal, and that Parliament would quickly consider legislation redefining marriage to include same-sex unions, and exempting churches from being required to perform same-sex "marriage" ceremonies.

The Canadian government subsequently proposed same-sex "marriage" legislation which is now pending before the Supreme Court of Canada on a request for an advisory ruling. An opinion on the legislation is not expected until 2004.

On petition for rehearing, the British Columbia Court of Appeals, without government opposition, amended its ruling to give it immediate effect on July 8, 2003.

Cases

Halpern v. Attorney General of Canada, Docket # C39172 and C39174 (Court of Appeal for Ontario, June 10, 2003.

Opinion

Supreme Court of Canada
Order Quashing Intervenors' Motion for Leave to Appeal

Barbeau v. British Columbia (Attorney General), 2003 BCCA 251 (May 1, 2003).

Opinion

Hendricks v. Attorney General of Quebec (trial ruling in French)

Opinion

 

Related News Articles

Ontario Marriage Bombshell Shocks Canada (June 16, 2003)

Marriage on Trial in Canada (July 27, 2001)

Canadian Church Seeks Loophole for Same-Sex "Marriage" (Jan. 19, 2001)

Canadians' View of Homosexuality and Same-Sex "Marriage" (July 20, 2001)

A Brief by Catholic Civil Rights League(April 10, 2003).