What is the litigation about?
The Attorney General of BC has asked the court to decide whether section 293 of the Criminal Code, Canada’s so-called “polygamy law”, is constitutional. S. 293 prescribes criminal penalties for all multi-person conjugal relationships, not just for formal marriages.
S. 293 subjects polyamorists to imprisonment for living together in committed relationships. We believe that the section breaches fundamental guarantees of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and so do many independent lawyers and legal scholars.
It violates the basic human rights to love, sex, and marriage.
If you win, will polygamy be legal in Canada? Will multiple marriages be recognized?
Removing section 293 will not change Canada’s definition of marriage or cause multiple marriages to be recognized. Adults living together in committed relationships just won’t be subject to imprisonment simply for having multiple partners.
It will also be easier to get the freedom to marry if criminalization is removed.
Is s. 293 or the court case about sex?
Section 293 isn’t about sex. As far as the law is concerned, Canadians can have sex with as many people as they like… as long as they don’t try to act married. We’re criminalized only when we form committed families.
And that’s wrong. People should be free not only to enjoy sex with each other but to live together if that is what they want, and, if they want, to be married.
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