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RECENTLY, a letter of considerable public interest was dropped into my lap.

The letter, written last month by Mary-Woo Sims, Chief Commissioner of che Human Rights Commission, is addressed to the Honourable Ujjal Dosanjh, B.C,"s Attorney General (AG) and Minister Responsible for Human Rights.

T must say, Ms. Sims is a woman of many faces. Her words to the public are invariably so measured and diplomatic, one almost for- gets they mask a sweeping totalitarian vision of human rights,

Not in this missive though. Addressing an insider rather than the public, Ms. Sims fails to disguise her shrill, even dogmatic pitch.

One minute she is demanding the AG end “dis- criminaticn suffered by gays and lesbians and other non- traditional faniilies in B.C.,” via the introduction of an omnibus bill.

In the next breath she gently cajoles the AG, “applauding” him for the changes he has made so far to existing legislation. In Ms. Sim’s assessment, the inclu- sion of same-sex relationships in B.C. statutes is proceeding at too incremental a pace.

Ms. Sims refers to a report by the BC Law Institution on the Recognition of Spousal and Family Status, conclud- ing that “in many cases provincial statutes draw unsustainable distinctions between persons who are matried and those of the same or opposite sex who live in non-traditional marriage- tike relationships.”

And this, by the way, is the last mention Ms. Sims, a public servant, makes of com- mon-law heterosexuals. The rest of her epistolary fumes are reserved for fighting the good fight: the fight for gays, bisexuals, and transgendered pcople only.

_ The BC Law Institute’s Report on Recognition of Spousal and Family Status was tabled for the AG The institute’s scholars, who con- veniently left the public out of the loop, point out that

fair comment

the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, in combination with human rights legisiation and a host of provincial and tederal jurisprudence — have

“If giving same-sex

and other types of

domestic partners

assorted benefits will cripple it, then business should be able to opt out.”

made it impossible (and cost- ly) to exclude same-sex rights trony law.

Benevolently, the institute has decided not to tamper with the institute of marriage just vet, but rurn instead to regulating non-traditional

mailpox

Don’t sink

Dear Editor:

North Vancouverites should hurry down to Lonsdale Quay to have a last look at a disappearing part of their city’s history.

The former HMCS Cape Breton, moored at the Burrard Dry Dock site, is the last sur- viving Second World War Canadian freighter and it was built in North Vancouver.

Fort-class freighters used innovative welded construc- tion from prefabricated com- ponents forced on the Allies by their losses to enemy sub- marines.

The Cape Breton might have been a floating maritime museum, a visible memorial to the city’s major wartime industry — shipbuilding, or it could have been 2 monument

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relationships.

Pay “regulating,” since J see a tumbling, albeit well- meaning, attempt aloot in the name of equigy, to regulate the lives of ways, lesbians and any cohabiting adults.

Naturally, the proposed legislative changes are couched in the deceptive lan- guage of balancing nights and freedoms with obligations and responsibilities: the loss of individual freedoms being presented ostensibly as a way to protect the vulnerable.

The institute proposes the proclamation of a Domestic Partner Act, which will enable the law to recognize the variety of non-traditional relationships currently not accorded tull entitlements,

Here is how it works more or less: nwo (for now) adults can make a domestic partner declaration by officially regis- tering their relationship. A sexual relationship needn’t be part of this configuration so, in my understanding, brother and sister, or two friends can become bona fide domestic partners.

People sharing voluntarily in such living arrangements will be able to avail them- selves of the myriad of gov- ernment-provided benefits, social assistance, grants, tax

N. Van Gi

to Canada’s merchant marine. Its intended fate is otherwise: it is to be gutted and sunk as an artificial shipwreck for the amusement of divers. It will be the fifth, and certainly the oldest and most historic, naval vessel ‘to be deliberately sunk in B.C. waters.

The Americans had the good sense to save their last Liberty ship, the Jeremiah O’Brien, in San Francisco; we are going to send ours to a watery grave which will result

Bras as ang

ic Dal

relict and employer-based benefits available to tradition- il families, once they have cohabited for avo years.

Let's be clear, F see no reason te deny the same-sex partner of a pension plan- member emploved in the public sector access to a pen- sion, [f common-law hetere- sexuals can have that right, denying it to a same-sex part- ner is to flout the principles of natural law and justice

Private business, however, should not come under the acgis of such legislation.

If giving same-sex and other types of domestic part- ners assorted benefits will cripple it, then business should be able to opt out. OF course, this presupposes that we live in a society where freedom to contract is a human night as well — but we don’t!

If the putative non-tradi- tional partners don’t want to “come out” to government and get registered, that’s fine. But should they wish to enter a relationship with no finan- cial bondage — they can’t. By default, their relationship will be subsumed under the act so that when it is over, partners can appeal to the courts for a piece of the action.

heritage

in destruction and pollution. In 18th-century Britain noblemen, built artificial ruins on their estates, much like the creators of the artificial ship- wrecks.

What were these structures called? ~ “Follies.” Future generations of Canadians who will marvel that our genera- tion’s best idea for using a his- toric vessel was to sink it and, thereby, destroy it.

Prof. Peter Moogk UBC

Friday, June 18, 1899 — North Shore News ~ 7

This pertains equally to the other type of catchment relationship the institute is careful to specify: the one involving adults that live together in a marriage-like relationship. The upshot being that domestic partners and people in marriage like relationships wiil all be enu- ted to the same rights, privi- leges and obligations as mar- ricd couples while their rela- tionship lasts.

On separation, partners in a registered or non-regis- tered, sexual or non-sexual relationship will be able to tie up the courts and engorge the wallets of attorneys by suing their partners.

The financial implications of the proposed Domestic Partner Act on taxpayers and employers will undoubtedly be considerable. Youre talk- ing government and employ- er-based entitlements, not to mention lawsuits for posteri- ty.

The cost to personal liber- ty will also be staggering. Keeping two households might be prudent because once you terminate 6 live-in

nersh

ips

relationship you become open season.

Finally, the BC Law Institute is suiting up for a bold future.

“A significant minority of the institute’s members,” wants to allow a person to have more than one domestic partner. This is where this venerable institute, in my estimation, indicates it is guided by human appetites and not by the requisites of a civilized society,

Primitive, promiscuous hordes will be able to rake hold in the community; 3 throwback to a time wher the survival of Homo sapiens depended on the frequency of insemination.

If this comes to pass, nothing will prevent a bisexu- al fom bunking with nwo people of her chonsing, just as nothing will prevent swingers assembling a couple of their favourite bosom bud- dies under one roof to reap the financial benefits,

As usual, those imperiled will be the children of these hordes.

~~ gnone@attcanada.net

— a

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