Mr. Speaker, it was 16 years ago in the special committee on the Constitution of Canada that I as a new member of Parliament having been elected in 1979 first introduced an amendment to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the equality rights section of the Constitution of Canada, section 15.
That amendment was to include the two words "sexual orientation". That amendment was defeated overwhelmingly. I will never forget the words of one of the committee members in speaking against that amendment. He said: "A family cannot include every barnacle and eavestrough in the Constitution of Canada".
I was then what he would have called a barnacle or an eavestrough. I am a gay man but it was not to be until the spring of 1988 that I came out publicly and affirmed that it was a part of who I am as a human being.
We have travelled a long road in 16 years. I recall another committee I sat on in 1985, a special committee on equality rights. That committee held hearings across Canada about what the meaning was of equality in Canada in section 15 of the charter of rights and freedoms. The committee was made up of five Conservative members of Parliament, one Liberal member of Parliament, the member for Mount Royal, and myself.
We travelled across this land. We held hearings on my private member's bill that would include sexual orientation in the Canadian Human Rights Act. That committee was moved by the power and the eloquence of those witnesses we heard, in some cases behind closed doors, appealing to their elected representatives to do the right thing and recognize that gay, lesbian and bisexual people in Canada are entitled to basic equality.
Basic equality, not special rights. How many times have we heard the suggestion that this amendment is about special rights? This amendment has nothing whatsoever to do with special rights or privileges. This amendment is simply sending out a signal from the Parliament of Canada that gay and lesbian people are entitled to be treated in law as equals. It is not a revolutionary change.
It will soon be 20 years since these changes were made in Quebec, in 1977. Quebec was the first province to list sexual orientation as a prohibited ground for discrimination in its charter of rights and freedoms.
Since then seven provinces and the Yukon territory have done the same thing. The courts have moved. Indeed in 1991 the Ontario Court of Appeal, in an appeal by Graham Haig and Joshua Birch, wrote in the words "sexual orientation" in the Canadian Human Rights Act. It said if Parliament was not prepared to ensure that equality was included, the courts would do it for Parliament.
Here we are today, five years after the courts have said this is what this section requires. I find it incredible that the two words "sexual orientation" should still generate such emotion. Gay and lesbian Canadians are not people from another planet. We are brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, neighbours, friends, mothers and fathers, and co-workers. We are saying that our time has come. Indeed, it is long overdue.
I want to make it clear that this day would not have arrived had it not been for the tremendous courage, strength and commitment of many gay and lesbian people across this land, people like Jim Egan and his partner Jack Nesbit. They have been together for over 40 years. They fought to the highest court of the land, the Supreme Court of Canada, for the right to have their relationship treated as equal, to have their relationship affirmed in law.
I think of people like Doug Sanders. He was there in the 1960s in one of the first groups, the Association for Social Knowledge, fighting courageously for awareness and for equality. I think of people like Michelle Douglas. She is a former captain in the Canadian Armed Forces. She was one of the finest young officers the forces had seen. She was told one day that her job was gone simply because she was lesbian. She fought back and she won. I think of people like Jane Rule, Timothy Findley and others who have put into such beautiful words, such powerful and eloquent words, the struggle of our people for equality and justice.
There are so many others who I cannot name, but who made it possible for me to take the step of coming out publicly in 1988 at a time when many of my colleagues suggested it would be political suicide. The people of Burnaby-Kingsway have re-elected me twice since then. They have sent a powerful message that what
matters is not one's sexual orientation, but one's ability to do the job. That is what this bill is all about. Nothing more, nothing less.
The bill sends a signal to the people of this country. While we cannot change their attitudes, if they want to send gay and lesbian people to the back of the shop, if they want to fire them from their jobs, if they want to deny them access to goods and services or to homes, they are not going to be allowed to do that solely on the basis of sexual orientation. For anybody who thinks that it does not happen, it happens all too often. This law will be a signal from the Parliament of Canada that it is not acceptable and there is a recourse in law to the Human Rights Commission.
As long as someone is afraid of losing their job or being thrown out of their home, that has a profound impact on another area as well. The committee that studied this bill heard from Chief Brian Ford of the Ottawa Police. I want to pay tribute to Chief Ford and to members of his hate crime section, Dan Dunlop, David Pepper and others. They pointed out that if someone is afraid of losing their job and if gay bashers beat them up, they are not going to report it.
Two weeks ago I was in Red Deer, Alberta. I was told about a gay man who was beaten up in Calgary the previous month. Both his arms were broken, his ear was cut off and he was in a coma. Why? Because he was gay. In some cases people like that are afraid to report the bashing because they do not want to lose their job. That is not good enough.
It is shameful that still today in some jurisdictions in this country fear exists because there is no human rights protection: Alberta, Prince Edward Island, the Northwest Territories, Newfoundland and Labrador. This is another reason for the bill, to send out that signal that this is not acceptable.
Some members of the House have asked about the possibility that this might recognize gay and lesbian families. Let me say that when gay and lesbian people are involved in committed loving relationships, caring relationships which survive against incredible odds, we as communities, we as a country should be affirming and celebrating those relationships and not denying them. If this bill in any small measure helps to affirm and to recognize those relationships, then I say that is a good thing.
The courts have ruled on discrimination. Supreme Court of Canada Justice Cory was supported by Judge Sopinka and a majority of the court when he said: "To treat persons of the same sex who represent themselves as a common law couple differently from persons of the opposite sex representing themselves as a common law couple is a differentiation which must be based upon sexual orientation". He is right.
I hope that this legislation, this modest amendment will be another means whereby the Human Rights Commission and the courts can indeed extend that equality to committed loving gay families. If anybody needs any proof of that love and commitment, look at the AIDS ward in a hospital in Toronto, Montreal or my own city of Vancouver. Look at the kind of compassion and love that is demonstrated in the face of this epidemic that we as gay people are living in. If those are not traditional family values, if those are not values that should be affirmed and celebrated, I do not know what is.
This bill is a response to the plea of my late friend Kevin Brown, one of the founders of the B.C. Persons with AIDS Society. He talked about how gay and lesbian people have to confront the HIV virus but they should not have to confront another virus, the virus of homophobia, of hatred, of fear. This bill is a small step in confronting that virus as well.
This bill is not the last word. This is a change in law which ultimately must change a society which allows widespread hatred and discrimination which is doubly profound and serious for those who have to face racism, sexism, anti-Semitism. Ultimately the bill is not about liberation, which is the ultimately objective of gay, lesbian and bisexual people, because there are many steps that remain to be taken.
We still have to recognize the struggles of trans-gendered people who too often are invisible, whose struggles are not acknowledged, in some cases even in gay and lesbian communities.
We cannot speak about full freedom and justice as long as gay, lesbian and bisexual youth still have levels of attempted suicide and suicide which are devastatingly high. Only aboriginal youth have comparable levels.
On the fear, the alienation that too many gay, lesbian and bisexual youth experience in their daily lives, the fear of coming out, we heard very powerful evidence from child psychiatrists before the committee about the impact this has.
I remind the House that alone, among all minority groups, gay, lesbian and bisexual youth in some cases cannot even turn to their own families for love and support. Their greatest fear is their families may find out, so they struggle alone in silence. They cannot even in some cases turn the church because they are condemned as sinners by too many of the churches.
I want to acknowledge and celebrate the struggle of those working within the churches to change those attitudes, people like Bill Siksay in the United Church, the Metropolitan Community Church, groups such as Dignity, Affirm, Integrity and many others, pleading with their churches to recognize and celebrate the reality.
I refer to a Catholic priest who wrote a letter to the Vancouver Sun at the time the member for Central Nova was speaking out in a particularly hateful way. In the letter, Father Norman Birch spoke about a young gay parishioner who had been rejected by his family. He was told by his father ``if I was there, I would kill you''. His mother said do not come home. Father Birch told the young man that God loved him and that Jesus rejected no one. Father Birch said the day after he met with him that this young man took his life.
At the prayers before the funeral his two sisters and his lover were there, but no parents. When the casket was opened, he said: "I looked at that young man and I realized that homophobia and hatred had put him there. We buried Eddie in a beautiful place at the Gardens of Gethsemani. May he rest in peace".
Father Birch said: "Then I read that the MP for Central Nova said people like Eddie defile humanity, destroy families and annihilate mankind. In this case the reverse happened. Eddie was annihilated by mankind, represented by good Christians like the member for Central Nova. Whatever happened to `love one another as I have loved you"'. I ask that question. What happened to "love one another as I have loved you?"
I feel a tremendous sense of privilege to stand before the House today as an out and proud gay man and to speak for equality, justice, dignity and for respect for a community which has too often been denied that.
The bill is not the last word, but it is an important word. It is important that members of the House from all parties affirm we as gay and lesbian people are entitled to equality. It is important because it may save a few young lives. It may prevent a few people from losing their jobs. It may encourage a few more people to be out, to be open. It may mean our communities, our neighbourhoods, our country are more decent and equal places.
We are global citizens. Of course there is still much to be done internationally. There are many countries, many jurisdictions in which it is a crime to be in any way openly gay. As our government has acknowledged in a variety of international fora, we must do far more at the international level. I commend the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the leadership he has demonstrated on this issue at the international level.
I thank the Minister of Justice for moving ahead with this legislation. It is an important step forward. For 16 long years I have been battling for this. The first bill I tabled was almost 16 years ago. I have sat on many committees, questioned many ministers.
For me as an individual, for me as a gay man and as a member of a community that has struggled for many years, this is an important day. As long as gay and lesbian people continue to be victims of bashings, as long as gay and lesbian youth are taking their lives and attempting suicide, as long as people are losing their jobs and are not treated as full and equal citizens, as long as our families are not recognized and celebrated, there is still much work to be done.
Today let us join in celebrating this very important step.
