Precedent setting case appears in Regina

To some degree the question of whether equality trumps religion will be answered by Saskatchewan's Court of Appeal this morning.

The government put forward a reference about whether a marriage commissioner can decline gay couples.

The Charter doesn't indicate whether one right takes precedence over another.

So the government went to the court with two options for consideration.

That religion should be an exemption or that marriage commissioners working earlier than 2004, when same-sex marriage became legal, should be able to refuse gay couples.

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The court could rule that neither are lawful.

This started six years ago when Christian and long-time marriage commissioner Orville Nichols declined to marry a same-sex couple based on religion.

The Humans Rights Tribunal and the Court of Queen's Bench ruled that was discrimination.

Only Prince Edward Island has legislated that exemption, so today’s decision will likely set a precedent across the country.

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