Canadian Supreme Court Judges Question Being Used to Bypass Parliament on Gay ‘Marriage’

OTTAWA, October 6, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Reuters reported this afternoon that “In a surprise twist, several of Canada’s Supreme Court judges suggested on Wednesday that the government was trying to use the court to do the politically charged work of introducing gay marriage across the country”.  The court began hearings today on questions submitted to the court on the marriage issue. The most significant question the Liberal government has asked to the court to answer is whether it is unconstitutional not to allow same-sex marriage.  Justice Michel Bastarache told the government’s lawyers the government’s request “seems to be a description of a political role for the decision of the court. The legal role is not there”.  Reuters also reports that “Justice Ian Binnie said it would not seem to serve any useful purpose to decide whether the constitution requires gay marriage to be allowed, in light of the government’s proposed legislation to do just that”.  The objections expressed by the judges were unexpected considering the court’s history of judicial activism on other cases and the addition to the court this week of justices Louise Charron and Rosalie Abella, both of whom have an unapologetic history of raw, judicial activism and have been strong supporters of expanded homosexual rights.  sj