20 years on, lawyer looks back on same-sex marriage legalization in Canada
The Civil Marriage Act, which recognized same-sex marriage across Canada, became law in 2005
Douglas Elliott says he still gets hugs from complete strangers when they learn he played a part in bringing marriage equality to Canada.
Twenty years ago, same-sex marriage was recognized across Canada when Bill C-38, the Civil Marriage Act, passed in the House of Commons in a 163-138 vote.
Elliott, who is from the northern Ontario town of Elliot Lake, said that vote was the culmination of a long battle in the courts to recognize same-sex marriage.
In the early 2000s, he was the lawyer for the Metropolitan Church of Toronto, which became the first religious institution in the world to marry a same-sex couple, on Jan. 14, 2001. The courts recognized that marriage two years later.
Even within the Liberal Party of Canada, which formed government when the Civil Marriage Act passed, there was some opposition to same-sex marriage.
"I recognize the wish of homosexuals to have their union recognized by the state in one form or another in order to assert their status as a couple and give it a name. I do not believe, however, that breaking down the concept of marriage represents any kind of social progress," said Nickel Belt Liberal MP Raymond Bonin at the time.
But Elliott said that kind of language was discriminatory.
"It was discriminatory because the only reason they didn't want to call it marriage was to give us a second-class status," he said.
He said marriage is recognized in every country, while civil unions are not.
"If you have a Nova Scotia civil union, it's not recognized anywhere except Nova Scotia," Elliott said.
A few years after same-sex marriage was legalized in Canada, Elliott married his longtime partner on July 11, 2008.
"It was the happiest day of my life," he said.
"And I realized that one of the reasons that people fought against us having equal marriage is because they wanted to deny us that joy and that social recognition that comes with gathering your family and friends on your wedding day."
With files from Jessica Pope