posted on September 2, 2004 04:43:30 AM new2 Gay Positive Judges Formally Appointed To Canadian Supreme Court
Posted: August 31, 2004
(Ottawa) Two of Canada's most gay positive judges Monday were formally appointed to the Supreme Court, weeks before the high court is to hear arguments over the government's proposed legislation on same-sex marriage.
The appointments of Louise Charron and Rosalie Abella were the first to go through parliamentary committee hearings. Appointing justices to the Supreme Court is the sole prerogative of the Prime Minister but under a new system introduced by Paul Martin hearings were held on the appointments.
Unlike the US system where perspective judges are vetted by the Senate which can reject nominees the Canadian hearing did not hear from either Charron or Abella. Committee members were only allowed to question Justice Minister Irwin Cotler.
Both justices are from Ontario.
Abella, 58, born in a displaced persons camp in Germany, (sort of like Arnold from Austria) graduated from University of Toronto law school in 1970. She practiced civil and criminal litigation before being appointed to Ontario Family Court in 1976, then to the Ontario Court of Appeal in 1992.
She wrote a landmark 1998 ruling allowing gays and lesbians to receive survivor benefits from pension plans. The decision was hailed at the time as the first judgment recognizing same-sex partners as spouses.
Known for her outspoken defense of minority rights, she has taken on critics of judges' decisions in the past.
In a 1999 speech to a legal convention in Alberta, Abella saluted her peers for ``breaking new ground when they interpret the law.
"Judges are in the business of deciding what laws mean and business has never been better.''
Charron, 53, earned her law degree at the University of Ottawa in 1975. She was assistant Crown attorney for the Judicial District of Ottawa-Carleton from 1980 to 1985, was appointed to the District Court of Ontario in 1988 and named to the Ontario Court of Appeal in 1995.
She wrote the majority judgment in 1996 that struck down a law barring gays and lesbians from suing their former partners for support. That ruling was later upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada, forcing provinces to rewrite family law to include same-sex rights.
In October they will be on the bench for the Supreme Court hearing on same-sex marriage.
After an Ontario court ruling that declared denying gay couples the right to marry was unconstitutional the government said it would bring in legislation extending marriage rights to same-sex couples across the country. In an unusual move, the draft bill along with a series of constitutional questions were submitted to the high court.
The government said it wanted assurances that in meeting the constitutional rights of same-sex couples it was not violating the rights of churches to refuse to recognize those marriages.
Since the Ontario ruling courts in British Columbia, Quebec, and the Yukon Territory have also granted gays the right to marry. Similar legal challenges are underway in two other provinces.
posted on September 2, 2004 06:32:39 AM new
Sorry,
I don't have to move there. I live 2 miles from Canada. I can go there anytime I want to. I can be inside the border in 5 minutes if I wanted to, without a passport. Locals only need a birth certificate and a driver's license. No need to move there. Only cost $1.50 to go there. Staying here! It's a nice country though.
Bigots are miserable people. Prevent Bigotry through Education.
posted on September 2, 2004 07:48:31 AM new
In case you didn't know it anyone from the US can go to Canada without a Passport. All anyone needs is the same as you do to get across the border. Because you live only 2 miles away doesn't make you any more special than any other US citizen.
posted on September 2, 2004 07:50:49 AM new
you may be right, but i don't think so. Also, I am not claiming to be special. Just another thought in your mind.
Bigots are miserable people. Prevent Bigotry through Education.
posted on September 2, 2004 12:20:24 PM new"When you moving to canada yeager? Your support for homosexuals would be more welcomed there..."
Loosely interpreted Yeager, Twelve is really saying "some of us more retarded people can't let go of tradition and are too narrow-minded to adjust to any changes in our surroundings, so it's best, for our sake, that you move somewhere else so people like me don't have to deal with a changing world".
posted on September 2, 2004 08:55:47 PM new
Yep, "gay positive" had me worried for a moment!
Canada has shown itself to be a much more progressive country than the U.S. in many ways, specifically their great gun-control laws, their outlawing of billboards except in special locations (hope that's still the case?), and now the gay court judge appointments and support of gay marriage. Not to speak of their health-care system.
I have many relatives in Toronto and its suburbs. They are wonderful people and every bit as smart, if not smarter, than lots of Americans I could name.
Prevent Bigotry through Education.