Mr. Speaker, these petitioners and residents of Canada draw to the attention of the House that the institution of marriage is the permanent union of one man and one woman excluding all others, that it is the most stable foundation of families, the best setting for bringing up children, and predates all states, governments and parliaments.
They also remind us that the Marriage for Civil Purposes Act encourages adults to violate the equality rights enshrined in section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by intentionally depriving, in the case of same sex marriage, certain children of the natural right to know and to be raised by both their mother and father, a right recognized by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and ratified by Canada in 1991.
These petitioners call upon Parliament to reopen the issue of marriage in this Parliament and to repeal or to amend the Marriage for Civil Purposes Act in order to promote and defend marriage as the lawful union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others.