Failures to Comprehend...

The English language is a subtle language, filled with sweeping generalities and subtle shadings of meaning. Used well, it can produce some of the finest, most enduring poetry the world has ever known. Used poorly, it merely serves to obfuscate the topic at hand.

In my morning web travels, I read Michael Coren's column in the Sun newspapers. As I would expect, he was off ranting about how "traditional marriage" must be preserved. Ultimately, he pointed to a group, Enshrine Marriage Canada, that wants to amend the Constitution of Canada to specifically define marriage as the union of a man and a woman. I will grant this group that for a change they aren't using the language of Religious Expression to justify their position. I consider that to be a refreshing change. Their basic argument is that society should value heterosexual marriage above all other relationships because of its procreative nature. Their argument is essentially biological in form, and I'll get into that a bit later.

Their proposed amendment reads as follows:

Enshrine Marriage Canada recommends that Section 91(26) of the 1867 Constitution Act, which currently lists "marriage and divorce" as enumerated federal powers, be amended to read, “marriage, which is the union of one man and one woman, and divorce."

Sounds not too bad as amendments go (unlike some I have seen proposed). However, they create their own problem with this. By tying it to the enumeration of Federal powers in the 1867 Constitution Act, Enshrine Marriage Canada's proposal does not in fact define marriage, rather it only defines that aspect of marriage which the Federal Government has authority over. So, if the courts of the land declare that same-gender marriage should be legalized, it then becomes something that has to happen at the level of the provinces individually. Welcome to the slipperiness of the English language.

Further, the principles of the 1982 Constitution which are at play here are designed to be read inclusively. Therefore, if the Constitution were worded as proposed above, it could still be interpreted to include same-gender unions. It's difficult to create a solid exclusion when the framework you are working with is inherently inclusive in nature. (Anyone with a bit of mathematical set theory in their background will understand this almost immediately)

The Globe and Mail's website has a rather interesting article written by a pair of Sikh lawyers that live in Canada. It appears to be a response to the rather sharply worded proscription that Paul Martin was subjected to when he was in India last week. I won't go into a detailed analysis of the article here - they said two things that I believe are particularly noteworthy:

Unfortunately, given the highly emotional nature of the same-sex debate, many people have been misled or have misunderstood the issue. We believe the issue is no longer merely one of religious doctrine or moral values; it is now about the interpretation and application of the Charter.
...
In other words, legalizing same-sex marriage reflects the spirit of the Charter and protects the right of each person to believe and be as they are. Sounds like Sikh philosophy to our ears

These are possibly the two most rational paragraphs I have seen written on the subject since it emerged on the national scene last year.