NOTWITHSTANDING CLAUSE EXPIRES - Equal marriage advocates call on Klein not to re-impose

(Edmonton) A group of equal marriage supporters is calling on Premier Ralph Klein to respect the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and reconsider his decision to illegally re-impose the notwithstanding clause - a clause that seeks to explicitly override a minority group’s Charter protection.

The notwithstanding clause that is included in Alberta’s Marriage Act officially expires today, five years after it was invoked. Pressured by his Conservative caucus, Klein is poised to re-impose the Notwithstanding Clause on residents of Alberta. Canadians for Equal Marriage is urging Klein to re-think his decision, tell his caucus they’re wrong and take the high road on this important human rights issue.

“Today, the notwithstanding clause that symbolically excludes gays and lesbians from Charter protection expired,” said Murray Billett, spokesperson for Canadians for Equal Marriage in Alberta. “Ralph Klein’s announcement to once again use the Notwithstanding Clause to pick and choose who has rights - and who does not - may, in his view, be politically advantageous but in our view it’s just plain wrong. Can't they just for once do the right thing? How shameful to use human rights for political gain."

Premier Klein has admitted that in this instance the province has no legal authority to use the notwithstanding clause, and has stated he personally does not support it. And yet he’s buckling under pressure from his 62 Conservative MLAs who voted behind closed doors to renew the Act before it expires on Wednesday.

“I ask Ralph Klein to tell the people of Alberta which of his own constitutional rights are ‘notwithstanding’,” said Michael Phair, an Edmonton city councilor who supports equal marriage. “We hope Albertans realize that the only thing the notwithstanding clause symbolizes is the trampling of civil rights.”

CEM is a national coalition of organizations whose memberships comprise millions of Canadians including the Canadian Association of Social Workers, Canadian Labour Congress, Egale Canada and the Canadian Federation of Students. CEM has been vocal throughout the country in its support of the equal marriage bill.

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