cbc
Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Almost a decade after a landmark Supreme Court of Canada ruling, the New Brunswick government is extending benefits and obligations to same-sex common-law couples.

Attorney General T.J. Burke will introduce the modernization of benefits and obligations act on Tuesday to adhere to the 1999 Supreme Court of Canada decision in M. vs. H. The omnibus bill will overhaul more than 30 acts and regulations.

Among the acts that are being rolled into this new legislation are all six public pension acts, so all common-law partners can receive pension benefits, including survivor benefits.

Further, same-sex couples can now enter into a domestic agreement dealing with property rights and support in the event that a common-law relationship ends.

The top court ruled that all common-law partners, whether in a same-sex or opposite-sex couple, must be afforded the same benefits and obligations.

“In 1999 the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that same-sex common-law couples should enjoy the same rights and privileges as those that are married. For several years the previous government did nothing to move on that legislation,” Burke said.

The province already approved changes that would give same-sex couples the right to adopt.

The act introduced on the first day of the legislature’s sitting will add gender-neutral language in references to common-law partnerships and marital relationships.

Conservative Leader David Alward acknowledges the bill is meant to comply with a court ruling, but he’s not sure yet whether his party will support it.

“It’s a very large piece of legislation, it’s more than a hundred pages, so we will go back and review it, but at the same time the Supreme Court has ruled on equal access and we will live by the laws of the land,” Alward said.

Alward was a minister in the former Bernard Lord government, but said he couldn’t recall why the Tories hadn’t introduced such a bill themselves.