Divorce Act

Canada's Divorce Act (R.S., 1985, c. 3 (2nd Supp.)) is the federal Act that governs divorce in that country. The Constitution of Canada has explicitly made marriage and divorce the realm of the federal government rather than of the provinces.

There was no divorce law in Canada until 1968. Before that the only way to get divorced was to apply to the Canadian Senate where a special committee would undertake an investigation of a request for a divorce and if they found that the request had merit, the marriage would be dissolved by an Act of Parliament. The Divorce Act of 1968 widened the reasons for divorce from adultery to include mental or physical cruelty, desertion, separation for three years or having an imprisoned spouse. In 1986, the separation period was revised to one year.

Section 2 of the Act currently reads as follows:

"spouse" means either of two persons who are married to each other;

The amended term of "spouse" in the Divorce Act has been in force since 2006, for amendments to include two persons. Prior to this, it was "man and woman". Prior to 2006, this effectively disallowing gay divorce. However a judge in Ontario (in September 2004) and a judge in British Columbia (in June 2005) both agreed that this section of the act was discriminatory and granted divorces, as same-sex marriage was legalized in the whole of Canada in 2005 and provided in some provinces since 2002 [1]

External links

• Divorce Act of Canada
• Extracts from the Code of Rules of the Senate of Canada regarding Bills of Divorce published in the Canada Gazette.
• http://dsp-psd.tpsgc.gc.ca/Collection-R/LoPBdP/CIR/963-e.htm