OTTAWA, CANADA -- The federal government will be ready to present draft legislation on same-sex marriage next week.

Prime Minister Jean Chrétien is expected to sign off on the bill before he goes to an international conference.

Justice Minister Martin Cauchon will then send the bill to the Supreme Court of Canada and ask it to answer three constitutional questions:

Whether defining marriage falls under the exclusive authority of Parliament

Whether the proposed definition to include same-sex marriage conforms to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Whether the proposed law goes far enough in respecting freedoms of conscience and religion as set out in the Charter

The government is hoping those questions will also satisfy Liberal members of Parliament who want marriage defined as the exclusive union of a man and a woman.
Cauchon will not ask the Supreme Court to expedite its review. The earliest it could then be heard is October.

Chrétien said on June 17 that Ottawa would introduce such legislation, but would allow churches and other religious groups to "sanctify marriage as they see fit."

The government's hand was forced June 10 when the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that the current definition of marriage violated the equality rights of same-sex couples. It gave the federal government a year to fix the law.

Courts in Quebec and B.C. had made similar rulings.

Source: CBC News
July 4, 2003