Letters to my MP

Last night, I decided that it was time to take my MP (Jason Kenney - ugh!) to task on the same-gender marriage conversation. Here's what I sent him:

Dear Mr. Kenney,

Having listened to, and considered carefully the issues being discussed in the debate over the legal recognition of same-gender marriage in Canadian Law, I am writing to you as a constituent to request that you consider the following in your decision on how to vote on the much anticipated legislation on this matter:

1) Harm to society. I find it difficult to believe that irreparable harm to Canadian society will result from permitting same-gender marriages to be recognized in law. The understanding of marriage has changed dramatically over the course of the last 100 years or so, and at no time has the foundation of society crumbled as a result of any of those changes. I fail to see how legal recognition of same-gender unions is likely to occur in sufficient numbers to ultimately affect the overall fabric of Canadian society. (Even the most optimistic estimates of the Gay and Lesbian population is somewhere below 5%)

2) Inclusiveness. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is clearly a document which is highly inclusive in form and wording. The authors of the Charter of Rights were clear in their wording that the document shall be interpreted in an inclusive manner. The Gay and Lesbian community in Canada should no more be marginalized than the Chinese living in this country. Our nation is made strongest by including all of our citizens, not relegating small groups to the margins where resentment can fester.

3) Cost. Ultimately, one thing is clear in the civil rights discussion in this country. If Parliament does not move to clarify the legal situation, each law which uses the word Marriage will sooner or later be subject to challenge before the courts. This would be little more than a 'death of a thousand cuts'. The Canadian Taxpayer - of which I am one - is not going to be pleased with the parliamentarians who subject Canada to such a costly waste of their time and money when the outcome is clear.

4) Many have suggested a prohibition backed by invoking the so-called "NotWithstanding" clause in our Charter. Not only is such a prohibition unnecessary, it is going to do no more than defer the subject by 5 years, and force the country to re-open an old wound at that time. Again, this is a very expensive, and generally pointless strategy as it does nothing to resolve the legitimate legal issues that are being challenged.

5) The last point of discussion is that of Religious Freedoms. Those are guaranteed, and protected under the Charter every bit as strongly as the civil rights questions that have been put before the courts. Therefore, it seems unlikely, and unreasonable to allege that there is some impact on Freedom of Religion. In fact, the Supreme Court commentary on the proposed legislation this fall was eminently clear about that. In this regard, I might expect the government's proposed legislation to make some statement about the freedoms of the churches in this regard (although that is bounded by the provincial authority over the solemnization of marriage).
6) Tradition. The argument that we are changing a "tradition" that has not changed in millenia is at best specious. At one time in our not so glorious past, marriage was a property contract between a man and the wife's father. Further, at various times, other societies have engaged in polygamous marriage. The notion of marriage we have been working with has been in use by Western European society for a few thousand years. Prior to that, Greco-Roman civilization had a much different view of it. Therefore, when the argment of "tradition" is brought forward, it seems to me that the counter question is "whose traditions?".

In short, I ask you to treat this as a matter of legal and civil rights, and not as a matter of morality or artificial social tradition. To legislate against legal recognition of these unions simply marginalizes a contributing segment of Canadian society, whilst continuing to burden that segment of society with the expectation that they will contribute to the well-being of this country just like any other citizen.

It will be interesting to see how Mr. Kenney responds to this. Last time I wrote to him on a subject, it resulted in a silent hiatus from the community newspaper for nearly six months. Somehow, I'm not optimistic that I'll see any kind of intelligent response...