Some Canadian officials resist gay marriages
As the Canadian government prepares to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide in January, court cases continue in some of the four provinces and two territories where same-sex couples still cannot marry.
The province of Newfoundland and Labrador is expected to see court-ordered gay marriage next, but the mayor of Gander, Newfoundland, will refuse to be a part of it.
'It's not right for two people of the same sex to be married, and I will refuse to do any same-sex marriages,' Mayor Claude Elliott told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
In Alberta, meanwhile, where Premier Ralph Klein remains adamantly opposed to same-sex marriage, he admitted Dec. 13 that his legal options have run out.
'There are some things that we might try but he [ provincial Justice Minister Ron Stevens ] anticipates that we would fail,' Klein told the Canadian Press wire service. 'Invoking the notwithstanding clause, amending our own Marriage Act, all of those things he feels will be challengeable and we would lose in court.'
Still, Klein says he's not a homophobe.
'I have friends who are gays and friends who are lesbians, and they are wonderful people,' he said. 'But I am a politician as well, and my personal feeling is that I support the traditional concept of marriage.'
Same-sex marriage has been legalized by court order in British Columbia, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan and the Yukon Territory. It remains unavailable in Alberta, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Prince Edward Island.
The notwithstanding clause is a very rarely used section of Canada's Constitution that allows provinces or the federal government to enact temporary laws that contradict the federal Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Such temporary provincial laws, however, cannot usurp federal power—and the definition of marriage is a federal matter.
Toronto cops settle Pussy Palace case
The Toronto police force will pay $350,000 ( US$285,000 ) to a group of lesbians who sued after a 'Pussy Palace' event at a gay bathhouse was raided in 2000.
'It has been a grueling process,' one of the plaintiffs, J.P. Hornick, told the Globe and Mail newspaper. 'On a personal level, I would have to use the word vindication.'
The settlement also requires all current and future Toronto police officers to undergo mandatory gay sensitivity training.
Following the raid, the Pussy Palace organizers were charged with liquor-law violations. The charges were dropped in 2002 after a court ruled that the police violated Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms by having male rather than female officers conduct the raid.
Newfoundland legalizes same-sex marriage
Another Canadian province legalized same-sex marriage Dec. 21. The province of Newfoundland and Labrador joins British Columbia, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan and the Yukon Territory in granting gay couples full access to the institution.
Two lesbian couples had sued for the right to marry and the Newfoundland Supreme Court declared, as courts had elsewhere, that the federal man-woman definition of marriage violates Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Plaintiffs Jacqueline Pottle and Noelle French wasted no time in tying the knot. They walked from the courthouse to the vital-statistics office in the Government Services Centre, acquired their marriage license, and got hitched two days later.
'I'm sure there will be some legal and social benefits. But for us, it's about that next level of commitment—that lifetime commitment we can now make in front of our families and our friends,' Pottle told a group of journalists.
The federal government plans to pass legislation in January to extend same-sex marriage to the jurisdictions where it is not yet allowed: Alberta, New Brunswick, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Prince Edward Island.
Canada has no residency requirements for marriage, and foreign couples can buy a license and marry the same day—except in Quebec, where there is a 20-day waiting period. Quebec's waiting period can be waived if advance arrangements are made with the person who will conduct the marriage.