Canadian Constitutional Law

Recent events in the Muslim world have occupied front page news for weeks.  Between the violence generated by the cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, and the recent capital case against the Afghan who converted from Islam to Christianity, questions about the nature and humanity of Islamic law loom large.  Each instance, however, seems to be a symptom of a larger problem: namely, defining what Sharia is and its place in modern constitutional society.

A few weeks ago, an odd thing appeared on the New York Times weddings page. There were three wedding announcements, but the same husband appeared in each one. It took a few moments for you to realize that it was actually an ad for the premiere of Big Love, HBO's new drama series on polygamy (which runs on The Movie Network in Ontario).

The series is created and produced by creative and romantic partners Mark V Olsen and Will Scheffer, two gay men who are rather obviously and provocatively riffing on the controversies around same-sex marriage.

The mock announcements nicely demonstrate the connection: the New York Times has been announcing gay and lesbian unions since 2002, two years before same-sex marriages were legal anywhere in the US. A wedding announcement in the New York Times is the ultimate sign of arrival, status writ large - even if there is nothing legal about it. The fake announcement of the three fictitious Big Love marriages played on the same gap between cultural and legal recognition.

“The West wants in” was often repeated by Prime Minister Stephen Harper during his years in opposition.  A principal Western Canadian grievance has been the under- representation of Western Canada in the federal House of Commons.  Alberta and British Columbia continue to attract immigrants and migrants from the rest of Canada and to grow in size relative to the rest of the country.  But, the argument goes, the number of Members of Parliament they send to Ottawa has not kept pace with new demographic realities.

However, the situation is far more complex that that.  The Conservative Party platform promises to address the under- representation of not only Alberta and British Columbia, but also Ontario, with good reason.   Actually, it is Ontario that is vastly under-represented in the House of Commons. 

The David and Goliath story continues; Goliath is still winning.

Little Sister's Bookstore's protracted struggle with Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) — formerly called Canada Customs — just keeps hitting the wall, thanks in large part to the Supreme Court Of Canada.

In its latest decision the Supreme Court last month refused to award Little Sister's with advance costs to fund its ongoing lawsuit over repeated seizures of its books by border cops.

It's not like the Supreme Court hasn't acknowledged that CBSA discriminates against Little Sister's. The seizures go back 20 years. In 2000 the Supreme Court told the agency in no uncertain terms to stop violating Little Sister's Charter rights by targeting lesbian and gay material. But the court upheld the border cops' censorship regime.

In 2002 Little Sister's filed an appeal against the seizure of two collections of gay adult comics, some with SM themes. Border cops then seized a few more titles, this time gay erotic fiction collections. Preparing once again to go into battle against an opponent with very deep pockets (funded by us taxpayers), Little Sister's lawyer Joe Arvay asked the judge to make a rarely used order for advance costs, to help Little Sister's pay for its formidable legal bills.

Adam Sandler’s new film I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry is causing quite a stir.   In the film, Chuck (Adam Sandler) and Larry (Kevin James) are New York fire fighters (it doesn’t get any more heroic) who enter into a sham gay marriage.  Although the film might not to be everyone's taste (typical Sandler slapstick comedy with lots of homophobic jokes thrown in for good measure), it may tell us alot about the politics of same sex marriage in America.