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- OTTAWA (CP) -- Ontario's family law definition of spouse as a person
of the opposite sex is unconstitutional, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled
today.
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- The court gave the province six months
to amend its Family Law Act to include same-sex couples.
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- The decision, perhaps the court's most
definitive ruling to date on same-sex rights, applies specifically to Ontario,
but it could mean that hundreds of provincial and federal laws with similar
definitions may have to be rewritten.
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- "Spouses get special treatment not
just in family law, but in all sorts of other law too," said Ian Brodie,
political science professor at the University of Western Ontario.
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- "The consequences here are substantial."
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- The much-anticipated case is the oldest
on the high court's list.
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- It all began when a woman discovered
she couldn't seek alimony from her ex-partner and sued to have that section
of spousal law struck down.
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- The two women, known only as M and H,
long since settled the money dispute out of court, but the the high court's
review of the law continued.
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- Two lower courts agreed with M that the
law should be changed.
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- In 1994, then-Ontario premier Bob Rae
introduced a bill that would have eliminated legislative discrimination
against same-sex couples, but it was defeated.
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- When the Conservative government took
over in Ontario in 1995 it decided to appeal the case to the Supreme Court.
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- The two Toronto women lived together
for at least five years, bought a home and started an ad agency together.
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- While they were equal partners in the
business, H did a larger share of the work while M did more of the domestic
chores.
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- When the business began to go downhill,
H took another job to supplement their income. M left their home with no
assets when they eventually broke up in 1992.
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