News

By Gudrun Schultz

  OTTAWA, Ontario, March 2, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in favor of granting government funded Canada Pension Plan benefits to surviving partners of homosexual couples this week, but said retroactive payments of all unpaid benefits was not necessary, the CBC reported earlier today.

  The Liberal government’s decision in June 2000 to grant same-sex benefit payouts was limited to deaths occurring after Jan.1, 1998. A class-action lawsuit filed in 2001, led by the late homosexual activist George Hislop, had demanded CPP benefits for surviving same-sex partners dating back to 1985, when homosexual equality rights were included in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Hislop’s lawyer argued that the cutoff discriminated against homosexual and lesbian individuals whose partners died before 1998. The case demanded $400-million in retroactive payouts to surviving homosexual partners.

  The Ontario Court of Appeals decided in favor of the same-sex activists in 2004—the federal government filed a lawsuit appealing the decision to the Supreme Court. Lawyers for the government argued that the case would unleash a flood of similar discrimination claims dating back to 1985. As well, granting retroactive payments would call into question Parliament’s right to determine when laws would go into effect.

  In this week’s ruling the Supreme Court said it was not necessary to grant payouts dating farther back than 1998. Same-sex partners of deceased pensioners were eligible to receive benefits for a 12 month period following the death, the Court stated, but nothing further.

  With about 1,500 individuals named in the class-action suit, retroactive payouts would have cost the CPP an estimated $80 million.

  See previous LifeSiteNews coverage:

  Supreme Court of Canada Reserves Ruling in Same-Sex Survivor Benefit Case
  https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/may/06051802.html

  Ontario Court Rules Denying Retroactive CPP Payments to Homosexuals is Unconstitutional
  https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/nov/04112606.html

  Federal Lawsuit Challenges Retroactive Payments of Pension Benefits to Same-Sex Couples
  https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/jun/04061005.html