Bill C-38 on Marriage and Same-Sex Unions: The CCCB Takes Advantage of its Last Stand
Sunday, July 10 2005(CCCB – Ottawa)… On 13 July 2005, the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs will hear two witnesses representing the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) at a hearing on Bill C-38.
Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Archbishop of Quebec and Primate of the Catholic Church in Canada, and Ms. Hélène Aubé, a lawyer and mother from Gatineau, will defend traditional definition of marriage, as the exclusive union of a man and a woman. They will present a brief to the 12 members of the Senate on this committee.
After third reading, the bill was adopted by the House of Commons where the members voted in favour of the redefinition of marriage, recognizing same-sex unions as marriages. The bill must now receive approval from the Senate and the assent of the Governor General of Canada before becoming law. Bill C-38, already approved after second reading by the Senate, has now been sent to the Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, chaired by Liberal Senator Ms. Lise Bacon.
With this new intervention, the Episcopal Conference has taken a public position almost 30 times since this debate was brought forward by the federal government in the fall of 2002.
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Sylvain Salvas
Director, Communications Service
Tel: (613) 241-9461
Fax: (613) 241-9048
salvas@cccb.ca