 |
Final
Anti-Gay Marriage Measure
Falls In
Canada
by
365Gay.com from the Web, January 30, 2007
|
| |
|
Ottawa -- The Canadian
government has removed an immigration directive that prevented people who
married their same-sex partners abroad from sponsoring their spouse to immigrate
to Canada.
Couples who married in Canada and where one partner was Canadian and the other
foreign could sponsor that person to immigrate. But in 2004 the government
amended the rules to prevent foreign gay marriages from being used for
immigration purposes.
At the time the government said it feared people who were not gay could use the
immigration rules as a ruse to gain entry to the country.
New Democratic Party member Bill Siksay has been fighting the provision for
months.
“This policy is completely unacceptable. It contradicts Canada’s legal
recognition of gay and lesbian marriages,” Siksay said in the House of Commons
last year as he tabled a motion calling on the Immigration Minister to rescind
it.
"Couples must not be forced back into courts to again win recognition of their
relationships and legal marriages,” said Siksay who is gay.
Several weeks ago the government said it would review the policy. Now,
without fanfare, the government has abolished the prohibition.
“This is another important victory towards full equality of gay and lesbian
Canadians”, Siksay said Tuesday.
“The failure of the Department of Citizenship and Immigration to treat legal gay
and lesbian marriages performed in jurisdictions outside Canada was clearly
discriminatory.”
The change means that gay and lesbian couples legally married outside Canada
will now be recognized as part of spousal, family class immigration sponsorship
applications.
"This is good news for many gay and lesbian couples in Canada and for those who
support the full equality of gay and lesbian Canadians,” said Siksay.
Same-sex marriage is legal in the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, South Africa, and
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States.
Gays and lesbians across Canada gained the right to marry in 2005. An
attempt to reopen the law last year failed in the House of Commons.
|
