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 | 1965: Everett Klippert was arrested. He acknowledged to the
police that he has been gay for 24 years and is unlikely to change. Two
years later, he was sentenced to an indefinitely long term in prison as a
"dangerous sex offender." 1 |
| 1967: Reviewing Klippert's case, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld a lower court ruling
which suggested life imprisonment as the maximum penalty for homosexual
behavior. |
| 1967: Within a few weeks of the Court's decision, Attorney General Pierre Trudeau introduced bill C-150
to Parliament to liberalize the Canadian Criminal Code. One aim of the
amendments was to decriminalize homosexual behavior between adults. He commented:
The "bedrooms of the nation" expression was actually borrowed from
an editorial in the Globe and Mail newspaper by Martin O'Malley, dated
1967-DEC-12. 2 |
| 1968: Trudeau's amendments to the Criminal Code become law. |
| 1969-MAY-14: C-150 was signed into law. Any
consensual sexual activity by a maximum of two adults was decriminalized. |
| 1971: Everett Klippert was released from prison. |
| 1977: Quebec became the first province in Canada to include
sexual orientation in its Human Rights Act. Discrimination against
heterosexuals, homosexuals and bisexuals was prohibited. |
| 1978: The Canadian Immigration Act was altered so that
it no longer prohibited homosexuals from immigrating into the country. |
| 1979: The Canadian Human Rights Commission recommended that "sexual
orientation" be added to the Canadian Human Rights Act. |
| 1980: Pat Carney introduces a bill to Parliament to prohibit
discrimination against homosexuals, bisexuals and homosexuals by adding "sexual
orientation" to the Canadian Human Rights Act. It failed to
pass. Svend Robinson introduced similar bills in 1983, 1985, 1986, 1989,
and 1991. None succeeded. |
| 1981: Toronto City Council called on the Ontario
government to amend the Ontario Human Rights Code to include sexual
orientation as a prohibited ground of discrimination. Toronto is by far
the largest city in Ontario. |
| 1981-FEB-6: Canada's "Stonewall:" About 3,000 people marched in
Toronto to protest the arrest of more than 300 men at four gay bath
houses on the previous night. |
| 1982: The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,
Canada's constitution, was approved. It defined many protected classes
based on race, sex, religion, etc. However, sexual orientation was not
initially included. |
| 1986: The Ontario Human Rights Code was amended to
include sexual orientation as a protected class. Ontario is the most
populous province in Canada. It was the second province to do so. |
| 1987: Manitoba became the third province to add sexual
orientation to its human rights code. |
| 1988: Svend Robinson became the first Member of Parliament
to reveal that he is gay. He was re-elected in 2000. |
| 1989: The Canadian Human Rights Commission ruled that
same-sex couples, and their children if any, should be considered families. |
| 1991: Delwin Vriend was fired by King's University College in
Edmonton, AB, because his sexual orientation was regarded as incompatible with
the religious beliefs of the Christian Reformed Church who owned and
operated the school. He taught chemistry as a lab instructor. It is not
clear how his sexual orientation interacted with his teaching. He sued the government of Alberta. |
| 1992: The military lifted its previous ban of promotions, postings and
career training for homosexuals, as a result of a lawsuit initiated
by Captain Joshua Birch and others. 3 |
| 1992: New Brunswick and British Columbia made sexual orientation a
protected classification. |
| 1993: Saskatchewan made sexual orientation a protected class. |
| 1993: The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that it was not
discrimination to deny bereavement leave to a partner in a same-sex
relationship. |
| 1995:
The Province of Ontario extended family benefits to its
gay and lesbian employees in same-sex relationships. |
| 1995: The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in Egan v. Canada that the term "sexual orientation"
was to be "read in" to Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This is the section that deals
with equality rights. |
| 1995: An Ontario Court judge ruled that same-sex couples must
be allowed to bring joint applications for adoption. |
| 1996: Bill C-33 passed Parliament. The term "sexual orientation" was added to the
Federal Human Rights Act as a protected class. |
| 1997: Newfoundland added sexual orientation to its human
rights legislation. |
| 1998: Vriend's case was decided by the Supreme Court of
Canada. In a unanimous decision, the court orders that the Alberta
Individual Rights Protection Act (now called the Human
Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Act) is to be
interpreted as including protection of homosexuals.
4,5 |
| 1998:
Prince Edward Island's human
rights legislation was changed to include sexual orientation -- the last province to do so.
Seven years later, they were to become the last province to allow same-sex couples to marry. |
| 1999:
The Ontario Legislature passed Bill 5. This
outlawed discrimination in the province against same-sex couples. They are
now treated in the same way as heterosexual common-law couples. |
| 1999: The House of Commons overwhelmingly passed a resolution
-- 216 to 55 -- to define
marriage as a union of one man and one woman. |
| 1999: In the "M v. H" case, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that same-sex couples were to have the same rights as opposite-sex unmarried common-law couples. This includes the right to alimony. Responding to this case, the Ontario Legislature introduced Bill 5 to alter more than 50 provincial laws. |
This list continues elsewhere with information after year 2000
"SSM" means "same-sex marriage"
|
Home > Rel. info. > Basic > Marriage > SSM menu > SSM submenu > here |
|
Home > "Hot" topics > Homosexuality > SSM menu > SSM submenu > here |
Notes and references:
-
"Same Sex Rights: Canada Timeline," CBC, 2005-JUN-29, at: http://www.cbc.ca/
-
Wendy Pearson, "Interrogating the Epistemology of the Bedroom: Same-Sex Marriage and Sexual Citizenship in Canada," Discourse 26.3 (2004), Pages 136 to 165, at: http://muse.jhu.edu/
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"Sexual Orientation and the Canadian Human Rights Act," Canadian Human Rights Commission, at: http://www.chrc-ccdp.ca/
-
"Vriend & Ors v Alberta & Ors [1998] ICHRL 57 (2 April 1998)," Interights Commonwealth Human Rights Law, at: http://www.worldlii.org/
-
It is worth noting that:
In 1998, Alberta and Prince Edward Island were the last two provinces to include sexual orientation as a protected class in their human rights legislation.
The same two provinces were the only two which did not allow same-sex couples to marry as of mid-2005.
Copyright © 2003 to 2009 by Ontario
Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2009-SEP-20
Author: B.A. Robinson
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