By Thaddeus M. Baklinski
CHARLOTTETOWN, May 21, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – An omnibus bill titled The Domestic Relations Act will change the definition of “spouse” in the province’s laws to recognize same-sex marriages in Prince Edward Island, the last province in Canada to make the changes.
Sixty pieces of legislation have been re-written with the words “married couple” changed to “spouses” and the words “husband,” “wife,” “bride,” and “groom” removed in order to include same-sex couples.
The majority Liberal government pushed the bill through first, second and third reading on Tuesday, with the full co-operation of the Opposition Conservatives, who had been subtly resisting implementation of the changes.
As reported by LifeSiteNews.com in 2005, the province’s attorney general at the time, Mildred Dover, said P.E.I. would not begin issuing same-sex “marriage” certificates after the passage of Bill C-38 (the federal legislation) because of the obvious confusion surrounding what language to use in describing a so-called same-sex “marriage.”
“We were consulting about whether or not we could just scratch out the words husband and wife, bride and groom, and maybe just put spouse and spouse” Dover told CBC News. “We’re not even sure what words you’d use.” She explained that a certificate with handwritten alterations could end up in court.
The revised legislation will now give homosexual couples the right to adopt children by changing the Adoption Act, the right to make health care decisions for a same-sex partner who is in hospital and unable to make treatment decisions for themselves by changing the Consent to Treatment and Health Care Directives Act, and “will provide for a unified and consistent definition of “spouse,” according to Attorney General Gerard Greenan.
He said the changes took time, mainly because of the scope of the work. “Honestly, it certainly was a task,” Greenan told The Charlottetown Guardian. “It took seven months to put this bill into place.”
Greenan opined that the bill doesn’t take rights away from anybody.
“It just allows people who are in a same-gender relationship, a marriage, the same rights as opposition-gender (sic) marriage,” he said.
Premier Robert Ghiz said the bill brings P.E.I.‘s laws in line with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
“We want to make sure we’re respecting the rights of all individuals,” he said.
An interesting aside to P.E.I.‘s late entry into homosexual marriage legislation is the reality that the demand for same-sex marriage licenses has drastically declined in the jurisdictions where it has been approved.
LifeSiteNews.com reported last year that only one Canadian same-sex couple was married in the city of Toronto in 2007, a drop from 107 homosexual marriage licenses issued by the city the year before to Canadians.
A report by Reuters said that the majority of homosexual couples that obtain a marriage license in Canada are foreigners. According to the report, in 2006 Toronto gave out 924 same-sex “marriage” licenses, and of these, 338 were for American couples and 479 for foreign couples. Last year, of the 320 same-sex “marriage” licenses issued, 118 were for Americans and 201 for foreigners.
In light of these statistics there are questions as to why the province’s politicians bothered to implement the drastic social legislation change when Canadian demand for same-sex marriages has proven to be almost non-existent.
See related LifeSiteNews.com articles:
Prince Edward Island Delays Issuing Same-Sex “Marriage” Certificates Citing Language Problems
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jul/05072506.html
The Conspiracy to Abolish Marriage in Canada “If everything is marriage, then nothing is.”
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/sep/060925a.html
Canadian Bill C-38 Final Passage Eerily Coincides With Sodom and Gomorrah Readings at Catholic Masses
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jun/05062810.html
Only 1 Canadian Same-Sex Couple “Married” in Toronto This Year
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jun/07062710.html
Apology For Canada’s Same-Sex Marriage Legislation
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/apr/070411a.html