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Same-sex marriage has been legal in Manitoba since September 16, 2004. In the case of Vogel v. Canada, the Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba ordered the province to begin issuing marriage licences to same-sex couples. This decision followed a suit brought by three couples who had been denied the right to marry. The court said that its decision had been influenced by the previous decisions in those four provinces and territories.
Manitoba has also recognised common-law relationships offering some of the rights and benefits of marriage since 2001.
Court ruling
Background and judgment
In 1974, Chris Vogel and Richard North were married in the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Winnipeg but the government refused to register their marriage. The couple had previously attempted to receive a civil marriage licence in February 1974, but were rejected. They filed a lawsuit, but the trial court dismissed their case based on dictionary definitions of marriage. The couple received a legal opinion that an appeal was "hopeless". In an October 2004 interview, the couple said "we believed if people would look at us realistically, our problems would end...[Back then] few people could say 'homosexual' without choking [and] we were spoken of as if we were evil." The other couples involved in the case were Stefphany Cholakis and Michelle Ritchot, and Laura Fouhse and Jordan Cantwell. Both couples were issued marriage licences following the court order, with Cholakis and Ritchot being the first same-sex couple to marry in Manitoba, on September 16, 2004. Fouhse and Cantwell were married two days later; "I'm extremely pleased that our wedding this weekend will not only be celebrated and witnessed by our friends and family and by God in the sanctity of our church, but it will also be recognized by our government. It just makes the whole event seem so much more complete", said Fouhse. Both are ministers in the United Church of Canada, with Cantwell serving as moderator between 2015 and 2018.
Reactions and aftermath
The Archbishop of Winnipeg, James Weisgerber, condemned the court ruling, stating that the prohibition of same-sex marriage was "a foundational principle of our society....It is difficult to understand how the unique importance of marriage to both children and society will not be gravely undermined by including in the definition of marriage unions which are not equipped for reproduction." Kevin Kisilowsky, a marriage commissioner whose certification was cancelled in 2005 when he refused to return his certificate of registration, subsequently filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission, arguing that performing same-sex marriages would violate his religious beliefs, but the Commission dismissed his case in 2005. Kisilowsky filed a legal challenge, Kisilowsky v. Manitoba, with the Court of Queen's Bench in September 2016, again arguing that the government's requirement was unconstitutional. Justice Karen Simonsen ruled for the government in November 2016, stating that Kisilowsky "can practice his faith as he chooses but is simply not permitted to use his faith as a basis to refuse to marry couples whose weddings, due to religious or moral views, offend him." Justice Simonsen said Kisilowsky could apply for temporary certification or register as a religious official, which would allow him to perform marriages to whomever he wishes. The Manitoba Court of Appeal upheld Simonsen's decision in February 2018.
In 2015, Richard North filed a discrimination complaint with the Manitoba Human Rights Commission when the government again refused to register his 1974 marriage to Chris Vogel. The Commission subsequently referred the case to an adjudicator, who heard the complaint in November 2017. The adjudicator ruled against the couple in January 2018. In June 2021, Justice Gerald Chartier of the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench agreed with the adjudicator's decision, ruling that the province had not discriminated against the couple by failing to recognize their 1974 marriage. The marriage certificate issued to them by the Unitarian Church in 1974 is now on display at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.
Provincial legislation
Since 2001, same-sex couples have had access to government-sanctioned relationships. While not as extensive as the rights and benefits of marriage, these common-law relationships provide some important benefits to unmarried couples, including in the areas of alimony, financial information and property. These written agreements, recognized by the Family Maintenance Act and the Family Property Act, outline the rights and responsibilities of common-law partners. However, common-law partners lack some of the rights and benefits afforded to married couples. Notably, goods that were purposely intended and acquired for common use by the couple will generally be divided upon separation, but goods acquired by one partner only will generally not be divided and only the partner that purchased the goods will be entitled to them. This is not the case for married couples who enjoy an equal division of property.
On 2 October 2008, the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba amended the Marriage Act () and several other acts relating to family law. Specifically, it replaced references to "husband and wife" with the gender-neutral language term "spouses" in various sections of the act. The legislation was assented by Lieutenant Governor John Harvard on October 9, making Manitoba the fourth province, after Quebec, Ontario and Prince Edward Island, to bring its marriage laws in line with the legalisation of same-sex marriage. Subsection 7(3) was amended to read that each of the parties to the marriage, in the presence of the marriage commissioner and the witnesses, say to the other:
First Nations
While the Indian Act governs many aspects of life for First Nations in Canada, it does not directly govern marriage or provide a framework for conducting customary marriages. Instead, marriage laws are primarily governed by provincial and territorial legislation. However, the Indian Act has some indirect impacts on marriage, particularly regarding band membership and property rights on reserves.
While there are no records of same-sex marriages being performed in First Nations cultures in the way they are commonly defined in Western legal systems, many Indigenous communities recognize identities and relationships that may be placed on the LGBT spectrum. Among these are two-spirit individuals—people who embody both masculine and feminine qualities. In some cultures, two-spirit individuals assigned male at birth wear women's clothing and engage in household and artistic work associated with the feminine sphere. Historically, this identity sometimes allowed for unions between two people of the same biological sex. )—are regarded as "esteemed persons with special spiritual powers" and are "noted shamans". It was likely that they were able to marry cisgender men, though David G. Mandelbaum reported in 1940 that an named Clawed Woman had remained unmarried her entire life. The Ojibwe refer to two-spirit people as (), a term that inspired the modern umbrella term "two-spirit". Many were wives in polygynous households. They are known as () in the Dakota language. Many married cisgender men without indication of polygyny, but some remained unmarried and lived in their own tipis, and were visited by married men for sexual intercourse when the men's wives were pregnant or menstruating, and therefore when sexual intercourse was forbidden to them. The 2016 Canadian census showed that 1,710 same-sex couples were living in Manitoba.
Religious performance
In July 2019, the synod of the Anglican Church of Canada passed a resolution known as "A Word to the Church", allowing its dioceses to choose whether to bless and perform same-sex marriages. That same month, Bishop Geoffrey Woodcroft said that clergy in the Diocese of Rupert's Land would be permitted to perform same-sex marriages from January 2020. Bishop William Cliff of the Diocese of Brandon supports same-sex marriage, but has said that he would only allow same-sex marriages to be performed in his diocese with the support of the diocesan synod. Currently, the canons of the diocese state that "no cleric within the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Brandon shall solemnise a marriage between two persons except as provided for in the canons of the General Synod". Bishop Lydia Mamakwa of the Indigenous Spiritual Ministry of Mishamikoweesh, encompassing First Nations communities in northeastern Manitoba, opposes same-sex marriage, and the diocese does not perform same-sex marriages.
Some other religious organisations also perform same-sex marriages in their places of worship, including the United Church of Canada, Quakers, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, and the Canadian Unitarian Council. In 1974, Unitarian Reverend Norm Naylor officiated at the marriage of Chris Vogel and Richard North in Winnipeg, marking the "first same-sex marriage in Canada". In March 2023, the Jubilee Mennonite Church, a congregation of the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches located in Winnipeg, was expelled from the denomination over its decision to affirm same-sex marriages.
See also
- Same-sex marriage in Canada
- LGBT rights in Canada