Recent Developments on Bill C-23 (Same-sex Benefits)

On Thursday, March 23, 2000 the Justice Committee of the House of Commons completed its review of the controversial Bill C-23. Because the committee is dominated by Liberal MPs, it voted on the bill without any amendments. The bill has now been sent back to the House of Commons for third and final reading.

This debate on third reading is expected to take place the first week of April - possibly Tuesday, April 4th - 6th. It is also expected that the Reform party will attempt to delay the bill by bringing in hundreds of amendments to the bill. The Liberal whip, MP Don Boudria, will be "working over" i.e. threatening, pleading and cajoling the Liberal MPs to vote for Bill C-23. Unfortunately, too many Liberal MPs will be too threatened to vote against party discipline regardless of their own views and those of his/her constituents.

Please keep up the pressure on the MPs, PM Chrétien and Minister of Justice Anne McLellan.

If the bill passes third and final reading in the House of Commons, it will be passed over to the Senate where the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee will be reviewing it.

It is most important that the Senators know that Bill C-23 is highly objectionable to Canadians and should be rejected. The names of the Canadian Senators are listed below. Letters to the Canadian Senators can all be sent to the address as follows:

c/o The Senate of Canada
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A4

If the Senators know that Bill C-23 is causing such an uproar in the country, they may consider making amendments to the bill or even, perhaps, rejecting it.

REAL Women will be working with some of the pro-family Senators on the bill, and we plan, of course, to make a presentation on the bill to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee. If any of our members or any organization to which you belong wishes to make a presentation on the bill to the Committee, please write to:

Mr. Till Heyde, Clerk
Standing Senate Committee on
Legal and Constitutional Affairs
1055 - 40 Elgin Street
Ottawa ON K1A 0A4
Tel: 613-991-3620 / Fax: 613-947-2104

The more demand there is by individuals to appear before the Committee, the more difficult it will be for the Committee to ignore these voices. (If accepted as an official witness before a Committee, your expenses are covered by the government.) If you do apply to appear before the Committee, could you please send our national office a copy of your letter so we can ensure that it does not get "overlooked."

The names of the Canadian Senators are as follows:

BACK TO TABLE OF CONTENTS