Thank you, Madam Chairperson. I just want to offer a few comments for the record. I understand and appreciate the complexities and the conflicting views on this and I realize this bill might touch on a subject that is of discussion wider than this Assembly. As the Minister
stated in his opening remarks, I think it is important to note that this bill is not in any way defining or redefining marriage.
As the Minister indicated, we, as a territorial legislature, do not have the power to define or redefine marriage. That is the responsibility of the federal government. That is where the power lays and I realize that there are debates going on there.
This bill and what I understand it to be is really about contracts and benefits that arise out of a contractual, understanding relationship. It took many years for common law, for example, to accept and give obligations and benefits to common-law couples. That is a modern form, that is a modernization and that is an understanding of the reality of the situation; that there are many couples, heterosexual couples, who choose not to marry formally in a church or in any other ceremony. The laws now have accepted that any couple who lives together as man and wife have the same benefits, so we got to the point where a husband, for example, or in a common-law relationship, cannot sell matrimonial property or the house they reside in without the consent of the wife. Those are the kinds of laws that weren't there before, that we have understood to be necessary to protect the rights and obligations of a couple who live in a married-like relationship.
I believe this bill is making the homosexual couples or same sex couples have the same rights that the heterosexual common-law couples have. It is really saying that same-sex couples, like every other couple, have rights and benefits and obligations and that they have basic rights that they should be entitled to.
I know that these are difficult issues for some, but I think in the midst of all the political back and forth we have in this House, I believe that one of the most important jobs that we have as a Legislature and a publicly-elected person is to protect the rights of minorities, who can't, by sheer number, always win the argument of society. Our job is to protect those who are vulnerable and who are not given the same equal treatment and equal rights under the law.
This is something that has already been decided by the Supreme Court of Canada; not on the definition of marriage, obviously, but on rights and obligations of same-sex couples. The court has already decided that same-sex couples who have lived together for many, many years...The court has decided that it is not fair that if one of that couple dies, all of their employer pensions and benefits that would have gone to a heterosexual couple just gets wiped away. That partner, in that type of relationship, has no rights whatsoever. The court has already decided that that is not the way to go in this country, and many provincial jurisdictions have already followed that. It is my understanding that it is either we have to update our laws to fall in line with that Supreme Court decision or, I am sure, that this issue will go before the courts in our jurisdiction if it does get litigated. The chances of winning that case are very low in light of the Supreme Court decision which is superior to the Territorial Court. We would have achieved the same result at the end of a lot of expenditure of money and resources.
This bill simply makes amendments to many of existing territorial legislation that does not fall in line with the federal law and basic rights that are stated in our Constitution and Charter which is the supreme law and one that we all need to benefit from. That is important to all of us. Sometimes it is difficult, but I believe that we cannot assert our own place under that umbrella of rights.
I think most Canadians, even if they often or sometimes complain about some aspects of our Charter of Rights or our constitutional rights and what kind of affect it has on society, take pride in the fact that we have these basic rights. We all have the same basic rights under the Charter and Constitution. It is like any other good thing. In order to make it work, we all have to take part in it. We all have to share it. We all have to be willing to give and take. As much as we want it for ourselves, we have to be able to give that to every other person in our society.
I also want to recognize that these same-sex couples that are subject of these legislative changes, live among us. They are our friends. They are our sisters, brothers, cousins, neighbours. There is no community in the Northwest Territories where there are not same-sex couples. We have an obligation to them as much as any other citizen in the Territories. I have, I believe, the collective responsibility to look after their rights as well as everyone else's rights. I want to say that I respect the views of everyone in the House. I know this is a sensitive issue, but it is what we are elected here to do. I believe it is one of the privileges we have to take an action like the one we are taking here today. I would end my statement there. I will be voting in support of this bill. Thank you, Madam Chair.