Same-sex Marriage in Ontario - Court of Appeal Ruling

Court of Appeal Ruling

In 2003, the couples in Halpern appealed the decision, requesting that the decision take effect immediately instead of after a delay. On June 10, 2003, the Court of Appeal for Ontario confirmed that current Canadian law on marriage violated the equality provisions in Section Fifteen of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in being restricted to heterosexual couples. The appeals court struck down the stay of judgment given in the 2002 ruling, thereby causing the judgment to come into effect immediately.

Although marriage is a federal law, the court only had jurisdiction to implement the ruling within Ontario. The province thus became the first jurisdiction in North America to recognize same-sex marriage. Consequently, the city government of Toronto announced that the city clerk would begin issuing marriage licences to same-sex couples. The next day, the Attorney General of Ontario announced that his government would comply with the ruling.

The court also ruled that two couples who had previously attempted to marry using an ancient common-law procedure called reading the banns would be considered legally married.