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Same-sex marriage was legalized in Ontario in 2003 after the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld a lower court ruling which declared that defining marriage in heterosexual-only terms violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Background: Superior Court ruling

On July 12, 2002, the Ontario Superior Court ruled in the case of Halpern et al. v. Canada that limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples violated the equality provisions of the Charter of Rights. The court gave the federal government a two-year stay of judgment in which to pass legislation implementing same-sex marriage; otherwise, same-sex marriage would come into force automatically.

• • Text of the ruling (http://www.canlii.org/on/cas/onscdc/2002/2002onscdc10000.html)
  • Summary of the decision from EGALE Canada (http://www.egale.ca/index.asp?lang=&menu=22&item=469)

Court of Appeal ruling

In 2003, the couples in Halpern appealed the decision, requesting that the decision take effect immediately instead of after a delay. On June 10, 2003, the Ontario Court of Appeal confirmed that current Canadian law on marriage violated the equality provisions in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in being restricted to heterosexual couples. The appeals court struck down the stay of judgment given in the 2002 ruling, thereby causing the judgment to come into effect immediately.

Although marriage is a federal law, the court only had jurisdiction to implement the ruling within Ontario. The province thus became the first jurisdiction in North America to recognize same-sex marriage. Consequently, the City of Toronto announced that the city clerk would begin issuing marriage licences to same-sex couples. The next day, the Ontario attorney general announced that his government would comply with the ruling.

The court also ruled that two couples who had previously attempted to marry using an ancient common-law procedure called reading the banns would be considered legally married.

Divorce

On September 13, 2004, the Ontario Court of Appeal declared the Divorce Act also unconstitutional for excluding same-sex marriages. It ordered same-sex marriages read into that act, permitting the plaintiffs, a lesbian couple, to divorce. [1] (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040913.wdivor0913/BNStory/National/)

External links

• Same-Sex Marriage in Canada (http://samesexmarriage.ca)