Top court to rule on expanding same-sex pension benefits
Last Updated: Thursday, March 1, 2007 | 7:57 AM ET
CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/02/28/courtsamesex.html
The Supreme Court of Canada is to decide Thursday on a class-action challenge by surviving members of same-sex relationships who were denied Canada Pension Plan benefits because their spouses died before 1998.
The case was launched by the legendary Toronto gay rights activist, George Hislop, who took issue with Ottawa's decision to deny him survivors' benefits after the death of his partner of 28 years, Ron Shearer, in 1986.
George Hislop, seen here during a press conference in Toronto in 2001, died at 78 in October 2005 as his class-action battle for same-sex survivor benefits headed for the Supreme Court of Canada.George Hislop, seen here during a press conference in Toronto in 2001, died at 78 in October 2005 as his class-action battle for same-sex survivor benefits headed for the Supreme Court of Canada.
(Aaron Harris/Canadian Press)
Hislop died from inoperable cancer in 2005. He and more than 1,000 other men and women who were also denied CPP survivors' benefits launched the class-action suit in 2001 under equality provisions of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Hislop's lawyer argued that the plan was discriminating against certain gay and lesbian survivors of same-sex relationships because it only paid benefits to people whose partners had died after Jan. 1, 1998.
That date was set in July 2000 when the Liberal government of the day passed legislation that gave same-sex couples full pension rights, with benefits to be paid to surviving spouses.
Jane Stewart was the minister responsible for the CPP at the time, and she said the date was chosen because it fit with other bills that expanded same-sex and other rights under Canadian law.
That meant that surviving members of same-sex relationships who lost their partners between April 1985, when the Charter of Rights and Freedoms came into effect, and 1998 weren't eligible for benefits.
Lower courts have consistently ruled in favour of Hislop's challenge but Ottawa sought a ruling from the Supreme Court because the case raises constitutional issues.
The Canada Pension Plan began paying benefits to people covered by the lawsuit in 2004, pending the Supreme Court decision.
It's estimated that fully funding all retroactive benefits claimed by plaintiffs in the lawsuit would cost the CPP about $80 million.
Hislop pioneered as openly gay politician
Hislop was one of Canada's top gay rights activists in the 1970s and 1980s. He helped found Toronto's Gay Pride parade and twice ran for public office as an openly gay candidate.
He was also known for convincing one of the men involved in the 1977 murder of 12-year Emmanuel Jacques in Toronto to turn himself in to police.
A Toronto Star obituary quoted one of Hislop's friends as saying "he never came out of the closet because he was never in it."
Last Updated: Thursday, March 1, 2007 | 7:57 AM ET
CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/02/28/courtsamesex.html
The Supreme Court of Canada is to decide Thursday on a class-action challenge by surviving members of same-sex relationships who were denied Canada Pension Plan benefits because their spouses died before 1998.
The case was launched by the legendary Toronto gay rights activist, George Hislop, who took issue with Ottawa's decision to deny him survivors' benefits after the death of his partner of 28 years, Ron Shearer, in 1986.
George Hislop, seen here during a press conference in Toronto in 2001, died at 78 in October 2005 as his class-action battle for same-sex survivor benefits headed for the Supreme Court of Canada.George Hislop, seen here during a press conference in Toronto in 2001, died at 78 in October 2005 as his class-action battle for same-sex survivor benefits headed for the Supreme Court of Canada.
(Aaron Harris/Canadian Press)
Hislop died from inoperable cancer in 2005. He and more than 1,000 other men and women who were also denied CPP survivors' benefits launched the class-action suit in 2001 under equality provisions of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Hislop's lawyer argued that the plan was discriminating against certain gay and lesbian survivors of same-sex relationships because it only paid benefits to people whose partners had died after Jan. 1, 1998.
That date was set in July 2000 when the Liberal government of the day passed legislation that gave same-sex couples full pension rights, with benefits to be paid to surviving spouses.
Jane Stewart was the minister responsible for the CPP at the time, and she said the date was chosen because it fit with other bills that expanded same-sex and other rights under Canadian law.
That meant that surviving members of same-sex relationships who lost their partners between April 1985, when the Charter of Rights and Freedoms came into effect, and 1998 weren't eligible for benefits.
Lower courts have consistently ruled in favour of Hislop's challenge but Ottawa sought a ruling from the Supreme Court because the case raises constitutional issues.
The Canada Pension Plan began paying benefits to people covered by the lawsuit in 2004, pending the Supreme Court decision.
It's estimated that fully funding all retroactive benefits claimed by plaintiffs in the lawsuit would cost the CPP about $80 million.
Hislop pioneered as openly gay politician
Hislop was one of Canada's top gay rights activists in the 1970s and 1980s. He helped found Toronto's Gay Pride parade and twice ran for public office as an openly gay candidate.
He was also known for convincing one of the men involved in the 1977 murder of 12-year Emmanuel Jacques in Toronto to turn himself in to police.
A Toronto Star obituary quoted one of Hislop's friends as saying "he never came out of the closet because he was never in it."
