On Friday Feb. 6th, 2004, Justice Minister Irwin Cotler announced that he wouldn’t be bringing back the bill to amend the Divorce Act which had been introduced prior to the Chrétien government adjourned in November, 2003. He said it would be premature to amend the Divorce Act now when it would likely have to be revised again in a few years to add a legal framework for same-sex divorces.

The proposed amendments would have eliminated the terms “custody” and “access” and would have set out legislative criteria for the best interests of the child. But it didn’t go as far as a joint Senate-Commons Committee wanted on a variety of issues.

Senator Anne Cools was quoted as saying that she was sure the Martin government wouldn’t bring the bill back in its current forma and that she felt any fresh revision would “be a lot better”. MP Roger Gallaway was quoted as saying he believed the Martin government would be more inclined that the Chrétien government to accept the work of all-party members, such as the one he headed which gave rise to the report For the Sake of the Kids, which spurred the proposed amendment.

For the Sake of the Kids Report

Jan. 2004