EDMONTON, July 27, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Alberta Justice Minister Ron Stevens said Tuesday that the province is prepared to invoke the notwithstanding clause in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to prevent marriage commissioners from being forced to perform same-sex “marriages” against their religious beliefs.
“We will do what we feel is necessary in that regard to protect the marriage commissioners and their religious beliefs, and if in fact that does require the notwithstanding clause it’s our intention to use it,” Stevens said, as reported by The Edmonton Journal. The clause permits provincial or federal governments to opt out of laws created by courts or other levels of government it disagrees with. Alberta’s government has never invoked the clause.
Use of the clause would be necessary to ensure the courts can not override a provincially-created law, Stevens argued. “One has to see whether or not there would be a likelihood of a successful challenge,” he said. “If we think that that’s a risk and we want to address it, you end up using the notwithstanding clause. That’s what it is for.”
The province’s Tory government plans to introduce a law preventing marriage commissioners from being forced to perform same-sex “weddings” against their religious beliefs when parliament resumes after the summer recess. The new law would be retroactive to July 20, when the federal Liberals enacted the Civil Marriage Act.
See Tuesday’s related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Marriage Commissioners in Alberta Given Freedom of Conscience
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jul/05072602.html
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