The Harper government is being accused of taking away same-sex rights by “stealth” in light of a surprise government decision stating non-resident gay and lesbian couples who flocked to Canada to exchange vows really aren’t legally married after all.
“The narrow interpretation of the law shows that the Harper government is trying to take away same-sex rights by stealth, and Canadians need to know that the advances we thought were secure are now under threat from the Harper neo-conservatives,” Interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae told the Star Thursday.
According to news reports, thousands of same-sex marriages since 2004 involving couples from outside Canada are in limbo as result of a new position taken by the Conservative government. In a nutshell, government lawyers are arguing in court that if same-sex couples could not be legally married in their home country, then their Canadian wedding is not valid.
The revelation came when a lesbian couple — one from Florida and the other from the United Kingdom — married in 2005 filed for divorce in Toronto but was told by a Department of Justice lawyer that their marriage was not legal in Canada.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Stephen Harper vowed Thursday to find out why the sudden change but assured reporters that it is not a sign that his government is reopening the same-sex marriage debate.
“I will admit to you that I am unaware of the details,” Harper said following a news conference in Halifax. “This is I gather a case before the courts where Canadian lawyers have taken a particular position based on the law … I will be asking officials to provide me more details on this particular case.”
“As I have said before we have no intention of opening or reopening this issue,” he said.
The New Democrats first got wind in the fall of what the government was up to and raised it in the House of Commons during question period on Oct. 6.
“Unfortunately, the Conservatives are now trying to erode this right by intervening in an Ontario case to oppose recognition of a same-sex civil partnership … the Conservative government is opposing the guarantee of full protection of the law to this couple under the Divorce Act,” said MPP Randall Garrison (Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca).
Garrison went on to ask Justice Minister Rob Nicholson why his department was “intervening in this case to deny equal protection of the law for all same-sex couples?”
Nicholson said Garrison was off base but hinted something was up.
“We have been very clear that we are not reopening the issue, but it is a legal dispute over definitions,” the minister said.
“We respect the rights of all individuals and we have been very clear about that. We have done nothing to reopen that debate. We respect the decision by Parliament, but it is a question of definitions, and that is being argued before the courts. We are intervenors, as are a number of other individuals and organizations, and I look forward to the court’s decision,” Nicholson told MPs at the time.
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