Date: Sun, 26 Jan 1997 19:39:37 -0800 From: Ron Buckmire Subject: CANADA: Public Opinion Poll on Public Attitude Towards saMarriage Date: Sat, 25 Jan 1997 21:36:32 -0800 To: MARRIAGE@abacus.oxy.edu From: bhadash@sover.net (Brendan Hadash) Subject: *M-EDIT*: Canada Somone requested information about Canada recently so I surfed the net a bit and found two interesting articles. According to a recent poll the majority of Canadians are in favor of same sex marriage. (Even though the Prime minister is uncomfortable with the idea.) Also a recent Ontario decision could lead to gay/lesbian common law marriage there within a year. THE NATIONAL ANGUS REID / SOUTHAM NEWS POLL Angus Reid Group, Inc. Public Release Date: Friday, June 7, 1996 49 percent said homosexual couples who wish to marry should qualify for legal recognition of the marriage, while 47 percent are opposed. Regional support for the legal recognition of same-sex marriages ranges from a high of 58 percent in Quebec to a low of 38 percent in Alberta; Albertans (59%) were joined by other prairie residents (54%) and Ontarians (53%) in expressing majority opposition. And again, support wanes with age. By a two-to-one margin (67% versus 31%), respondents aged 18 to 34 favoured allowing legal recognition of homosexual marriages. Those aged 35 to 54 were split on the issue (49% in favour, 46% opposed), while older Canadians opposed the idea by a more than three-to-one margin (69% to 25%). TORONTO (CP) -- Ontario's top court has struck down a law that bars gays and lesbians from suing their former partners for support in a ruling that homosexual activists say has "monumental" implications. The Court of Appeal's 2-1 judgment Wednesday puts a new complexion on the battle for gay rights in areas ranging from adoption to employment benefits, lawyers said. "It is a monumental decision for the gay and lesbian community," said Martha McCarthy of the law firm McMillan Binch, which represented the winning side. "This case and others like it are going to lead to equal recognition and treatment of all intimate relationships." The ruling comes in the case of a lesbian couple known only as M. and H., who separated four years ago. One said she had developed an economically dependent relationship on the other and wanted to sue for support. But her former partner pointed to the province's Family Law Act, which defines a couple as a man and a woman. That's discriminatory the appeal court ruled. It gave the province a year to change the law, saying a comprehensive legislated solution is better than a judicial one. If that doesn't happen, the law will automatically be changed to say a couple is simply two people who meet the definition of a common- law marriage, the judges said. The decision could also aid the fight to win spousal benefits for same-sex partners, McCarthy said. In a split decision last year, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that same-sex spouses can't receive old-age pension benefits when their partners die. Canadian Press 19 December 1996 Brendan Hadash Unitarian Universalist minister in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont