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MP blasts Sask. court for gay marriage decision

By ALTHIA RAJ, Parliamentary Bureau




OTTAWA — A Conservative MP is lashing out at the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal after it ruled the province's marriage commissioners have to perform gay marriages regardless of their personal or religious convictions.

The Court of Appeal said Monday that the commissioners’ religious freedom was not affected because they were still free to hold their beliefs.

"The Court has hereby belittled religious faith by writing it off as something 'you do in your head or on weekends' without it impacting all of a person’s life," Conservative MP Maurice Vellacott wrote to the province’s Justice Minister Don Morgan Tuesday.

"It’s a serious misunderstanding of Christian faith or any faith for that matter," Vellacott told QMI Agency in an interview.

"The inference here (is) you can hold these beliefs and freedom to worship just long as it doesn't affect your life or how you live out your life. And that obviously is a serious problem," he said. "It sets up a hierarchy of rights saying these same-sex rights are more important than freedom of conscience and religion."

The Saskatoon MP, a Christian who opposes same-sex marriages, urged Morgan to set up a system similar to Ontario's, which allows commissioners to excuse themselves on religious grounds while ensuring that no same-sex couple is denied services.

Vellacott said he believes the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal decision violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the federal Civil Marriage Act, which includes a provision stating no one should be subject to any obligation or sanction because of their belief that marriage is the union of a man and woman to the exclusion of all others.

Commissioners who hold a "traditional or heterosexual" definition of marriage should not be forced to find another career or be subjected to fines and punishment, Vellacott said.

"We talk about people being in the closet, well now they are saying somebody of a faith perspective is supposed to keep it in the closet," he said.

althia.raj@sunmedia.ca