Canada's Justice Minister has eased fears by asserting that Canadian same-sex marriages involving foreigners are in fact valid. The statement comes after a Canadian Government lawyer filed a document in a same-sex divorce case declaring that Canadian marriages involving foreign same-sex couples are not valid unless same-sex marriage is allowed in the partners' home nation. The Canadian Justice Minister, Rob Nicholson, told a luncheon in Toronto that the situation has been “completely unfair to those affected". "I want to make it clear that in our government's view, these marriages are valid", he said. Nicholson has indicated he will amend Canada's Marriage Act to make it clear overseas same-sex marriages are valid and to remove a residency anomaly regarding divorce. New Zealand man William Raillant-Clark earlier told the Montreal Gazette how he married his American/French partner Daniel in Vancouver in 2004 during a wave of same-sex marriages after the unions were legalised in Canada. The couple now lives in Montreal and are permanent residents in Canada. The statement from the Government lawyer left him feeling like he had a cloud hanging over his marriage. "I feel like the government is playing games with us," Raillant-Clark, he said. "I feel really hurt because one of the reasons we moved here was because we were fed up with all the bullshit." The couple lived in New Zealand and France before moving to Canada, a switch he said they made because, "We were sick of all these paperwork problems ... We didn't have the same rights as everybody else as a couple."
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Saturday, 14th January 2012 - 4:03pm