Human Rights A Day

Newfoundland court brings province in line with others on same-sex marriage. As Canadian politicians debated the merits of same-sex marriage, Canada’s judges were holding up existing laws to the equality provision in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Sexual orientation was not one of the listed protected grounds, but in 1998, the Supreme Court of Canada “read in” sexual orientation as a protected ground. While most Canadians agreed that gay and lesbians should be protected from discrimination in jobs and housing for example, a certain number felt very strongly that “marriage” was going too far. However, in the sober climate of the court room, the arguments against gay marriage, such as it being an institution for raising children, did not stand up to a charter challenge since there were many examples of gay and lesbian couples having children and many examples of heterosexual couples not. In 2003, parliamentarians voted to keep the definition of marriage between a man and a woman, but on June 10, 2003, Onta