From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Civil Marriage Act (full title: "An
Act respecting certain aspects of legal capacity for marriage for
civil purposes") was legislation legalizing same-sex marriage in the
Canadian provinces of Alberta and Prince Edward Island, and the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. It was introduced as
Bill C-38 in the first session of the 38th Canadian Parliament on February 1, 2005. It
passed the House of
Commons on June 28, 2005, and the Senate on July 19,
2005. The Act became law when it received Royal Assent on July 20, 2005. As usual
for federal legislation in Canada, the Act also includes a French text of
equal force to the English under the title Loi sur le mariage civil, or in full,
Loi concernant certaines
conditions de fond du mariage civil. Prior to the
passage of the Act, the opposite-sex common-law definition of
marriage had already been struck down by courts in eight provinces
and the Yukon Territory.
The Act
This is the Act's official legislative summary:
- This enactment extends the legal capacity
for marriage for civil purposes to same-sex
couples in order to reflect values of tolerance, respect and equality,
consistent with the Canadian Charter of
Rights and Freedoms. It also makes consequential amendments to other Acts to ensure equal access for
same-sex couples to the civil effects of marriage and divorce.[1]
The short title
of the act (Civil Marriage Act) is defined in Section 1.
Sections 2 through 4 form the substance of the Act, and were the
key points of contention during its debate in the House of Commons
and the Senate. Section 3.1 was added with an amendment during the
committee stage, and was subsequently adopted by the House of
Commons.
- Marriage - certain aspects of capacity
- 2. Marriage, for civil purposes, is the lawful union of two
persons to the exclusion of all others.
- Religious officials
- 3. It is recognized that officials of religious groups are free
to refuse to perform marriages that are not in accordance with
their religious beliefs.
- Freedom of conscience and religion and expression of
beliefs
- 3.1 For greater certainty, no person or organization shall be
deprived of any benefit, or be subject to any obligation or
sanction, under any law of the Parliament of Canada solely by
reason of their exercise, in respect of marriage between persons of
the same sex, of the freedom of conscience and religion guaranteed
under the Canadian Charter of
Rights and Freedoms or the expression of their beliefs in
respect of marriage as the union of a man and woman to the
exclusion of all others based on that guaranteed freedom.
- Marriage not void or voidable
- 4. For greater certainty, a marriage is not void or voidable by
reason only that the spouses are of the same sex.
The remaining sections are "consequential amendments" that
simply adjust the wording of existing acts to conform to this
one.
Politics
As a government bill, C-38 represented the official position of
Paul Martin's Liberal government, and the cabinet
were thus bound to vote in its favor. Liberal backbenchers and
members of the Conservative Party and
Bloc
Québécois had a free vote. In accordance with its party
policy on LGBT rights, the New
Democratic Party (NDP) whipped its members in favour. Bev Desjarlais
defied the whip and was removed from her critic position. (She was
not nominated for the next election by her riding
association, and subsequently chose to sit as an independent
for the remainder of the session.) Conservatives tended to vote
against the Act, while Bloquistes tended to vote in favour. At
least two cabinet ministers stepped down to vote against the bill.
Joe Comuzzi resigned
just hours before the final vote on the Act, and Martin lamented
his leaving. As expected, Comuzzi voted against the Act.
The composition of Parliament was such that the prevailing
opinion among political commentators indicated the bill
would likely pass the House (see a detailed analysis at
members of the 38th Canadian Parliament and same-sex marriage).
Although there was some challenge to it, this opinion was verified
with a 158-133 vote at third reading in the House of Commons on June 28. The bill
passed in the Senate on July 19, with a 47-21 vote, with
3 abstentions.
The
legislative process
See [2] for the full
history of the bill.
The bill was given its first reading on
February 1, 2005 after its introduction by Justice minister Irwin Cotler. C-38
was written on the basis of a draft bill produced by then-Justice
minister Martin
Cauchon in 2003, which had been submitted to the Supreme Court of Canada in
December 2004 as the reference question Re: Same-Sex
Marriage.
Due to the government's tenuous minority position, there was a
strong possibility that the government could have fallen on a motion of confidence through the budget
bills, causing the bill to die on the order paper. It would then
have been up to a new post-election government to re-introduce the
bill affirming same-sex marriage (or to introduce a bill, of
uncertain constitutionality, defining marriage as one man and one
woman). However, the government survived the last of the budget
votes on June 23, 2005, and successfully passed a motion to extend
the current sitting of Parliament. In order to pass the motion
extending the session, the Liberals provided a written promise to
the Bloc Québécois that they would bring C-38 to a vote before the
end of the current session.
Finally, on June 28, the Act was passed on third reading by the
House of Commons; 158 voting in favour, 133 voting against. On July
19, it passed the Senate by a 47-21 vote with 3 abstentions, and
received Royal
Assent (thereby becoming law) on July 20.
A summary of the legislation's progress is given below.
| Stage |
House of Commons |
Senate |
| Introduction and First Reading |
1 February 2005 |
June 29 |
| Second Reading Debate |
February 16 to May 4 |
July 4 to 6 |
| Second Reading |
May 4 |
July 6 |
| Committee Name |
Special Committee on Bill C-38 |
Legal and Constitutional Affairs |
| Committee Stage |
May 5 to June 15 |
July 11 to 14 |
| Committee Report |
June 16 |
July 18 |
| Debates at Report Stage |
June 27 |
- |
| Report Stage Vote |
June 28 |
- |
| Third Reading Debate |
June 28 |
July 19 |
| Third Reading and Passage |
June 28 |
July 19 |
| Royal Assent |
July 20 |
Chronology
House of
Commons
- February 1, 2005 - Cotler introduces the bill and the House
grants first reading. Accordingly, it is designated Bill C-38 and
published.
- February 2, 2005 - Conservative support for the bill doubles to
four MPs as former Progressive
Conservatives Jim
Prentice and Gerald Keddy announce they will vote in
favour. Belinda Stronach (who later became a
Liberal cabinet minister) and James Moore were
already on record as being in favour.
- February 8, 2005 - The Calgary-based Canada Family Action Coalition [3] seeks to boycott Famous Players
Theatres because of a ten-second ad that urged moviegoers to
contact their MPs to say they support same-sex
marriage. They refused to buy an ad when they learn it was paid for
by Salah Bachir on behalf of Canadians for Equal
Marriage.
- February 16, 2005 - Second reading
begins on the bill with speeches by Prime Minister Paul Martin; Opposition Leader Stephen Harper; Bloc
Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe; and NDP
human rights critic
Bill Siksay. [4]
- April 12, 2005 - The Conservative Party's motion
against the bill is defeated 164-132 against.
- May 4, 2005 - Bill C-38 passes second reading in
the House of Commons with a final vote of 164-137 for.
- May 5, 2005 - Bill C-38 has its 1st special legislative
committee meeting to study the bill, to listen from witnesses both
against and for the bill, as well as propose amendments.
- May 19, 2005 - Paul Martin's minority government survives a
close (153-152) motion of
confidence; with the Liberals still in power and Stephen
Harper's Conservatives hinting that they'll back off future votes
of non-confidence. Bill C-38 showed a strong promise of being made
law (after a 3rd reading and vote) sometime before Parliament adjourns for the summer
as the Prime Minister indicated MPs may sit in the summer, and the
Senate would deal with the bill in July.
- June 15, 2005 - Paul Martin's minority government survives no
fewer than 16 confidence votes in the House of Commons. A defeat on
any of them would have forced an election. But in the end, there
was no repeat of the single-vote squeaker win of May 19. The
closest vote passed 153 to 149; Gurmant Grewal is on stress leave over
the tape scandal, two other conservative MPs are sick with cancer,
and Thibault from the BQ is away due to the passing away of her
father. As well, a series of public opinion polls released just
days earlier all showed the Liberals in the lead, one of them
released just a week ago showing the Liberals have a 14% lead over
the Tories. The Tories seem themselves to not be wanting an
election now, either.
- June 15, 2005 - It is appearing less likely the bill will be
out of 3rd reading stage by the time MPs recess from the summer on
June 23 (unless sittings area extended) due to Conservatives
stalling the budget bill (C-48), and the Government wants to deal
with C-48 before C-38. The Government can invoke closure and force
a vote on C-38 immediately, but it seems unlikely to happen since
even the Liberal Government has disgruntled MPs against C-38 that
want more debate now that the committee has reported. Weeks ago,
Pat O'Brien left the Liberal caucus over the same-sex marriage
legislation, that he felt was being rushed through the Commons.
Cotler says the Government is where they expected to be which is
now at Report Stage and that although he wants to see the
legislation passed by the summer, he's only the Minister of
Justice.
- June 16, 2005 - The special legislative committee studying C-38
reported back to the House of Commons, with an amendment designed
to help further protect religious officials who are against
performing a same-sex marriage, and that those opposed to same-sex
marriage should be able to speak their mind. Another amendment will
be finalized soon that protects religious officials from losing
their charitable tax status.
- June 23, 2005 - Traditionally, it is around this date that the
House of Commons closes. But with Bill C-38 in the process, MPs of
the Liberal, Bloc and NDP parties vote to extend the sitting time
through the following week to pass Bill C-38 in third and final
reading. The same night, the budget bill (Bill C-48) passes after a
late night snap vote is called, ending the threat by Bill C-38
opponents to derail the bill by defeating the budget thereby bringing down the government and forcing a
general election.
- June 27, 2005 - A late night motion for time allocation is passed 163 to 106 limiting
further debate on Bill C-38 to nine hours: one before concurrence
on the report and eight thereafter. The sitting, which extended
until the early morning hours of the next day, ends with a series
of votes on proposed amendments in which nine amendments proposed
by same-sex marriage opponents are defeated. The report is then
concurred in. This closes the amendment stage and frees the House
to begin final debate on third reading.
- June 28, 2005 - Bill C-38 passes its final reading a few
minutes after 21:00 EST, 158-133, through the House of Commons[5]. Liberal cabinet
ministers were ordered by Prime Minister Paul Martin to vote for the legislation,
while it remained a free vote for Liberal backbench MPs. Joe Comuzzi, a
traditional opponent of same-sex marriage, resigned from Cabinet
and voted against the bill. Almost all New
Democrat and Bloc Québécois MPs voted in favour
of the bill, while the Conservative MPs were virtually unanimous in
voting against it. Stephen Harper made a controversial
claim that "the law lacks legitimacy because it passed [only] with
the support of the separatist Bloc
party", and a majority of the federalist side was against. NDP MP
Bev Desjarlais
is stripped of her position in the NDP's shadow cabinet as Transport and the Canadian
Wheat Board. She later lost her riding association's nomination for
the riding of Churchill. The Bloc and
the Conservatives declared C-38 a free vote.
Senate
- June 29, 2005 - First reading of Bill C-38 occurred in the
Senate[6]. Debate on second reading was then scheduled for July
4 and the forthcoming days.
- July 4, 2005 - The debate on second reading begins with Senator
Serge Joyal as mover
of the bill. Senator Gerry St. Germain argues against the
bill and Senator Jack
Austin concludes the first day of debate arguing for the bill's
adoption.[7] The government
introduces a notice of motion for time allocation that would restrict debate on
the bill to six hours.[8]. Debate on
second reading is to continue the next day.
- July 5, 2005 - Debate on second reading continued, although the
actual debate occurred only for a few minues. This was then
followed by a long and heated debate on whether to invoke closure (rather than on the
main bill).[9] Closure was
invoked by a margin of 40 to 17 with 2 abstentions.[10]
- July 6, 2005 - The Senate passed Bill C-38 on second reading by
a margin of 43 to 12. The Bill went to the Committee on Legal and
Constitutional Affairs.[11]
- July 14, 2005 - The Committee on Legal and Constitutional
Affairs finished seeing witnesses, and performed a clause-by-clause
consideration. [12]
- July 18, 2005 - The Committee reported back to the Senate
without amendment, and the final debate was then scheduled to start
the next day. Unanimous consent required to proceed directly to a
vote on third reading was denied.[13]
- July 19, 2005 - Debate on third reading of Bill C-38 began in
the Senate. An attempt to delay third reading of the bill by six
months was defeated 19 to 52, and an amendment to the bill that
would have declared "traditional marriage" as being between a man
and a woman and "civil marriage" as between two persons failed, 24
to 46, with 4 abstentions. Shortly after 11 p.m., the Senate passed
Bill C-38 on third and final reading by a margin of 47 to 21, with
3 abstentions.[14]
Royal
Assent
See also
External
links
Same-sex
marriage in Canada
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