Same-sex couples win partial pensions victory in Canada Supreme Court

What has been cast as the lastgreat battle for same-sex equality ended Thursday with a partialvictory in Canada’s highest court.  While the Supreme Court said same-sex partners widowed before Jan.1, 1998, were wrongly denied Canada Pension Plan survivor benefits foryears, it limited retroactive compensation to one year.  The judges ruled 7-0 against extending those payments all the wayback to 1985 when equality rights took effect under the Charter ofRights and Freedoms.  Instead, the judgment makes any same-sex partner widowed after 1985eligible for CPP survivor benefits averaging about $500 a month, plus12 months’ arrears.  That’s far short of the compensation sought by about 1,500 claimants or their estates who fought a class-action battle.
The high court essentially said that Ottawa, unless it has acted inbad faith, can’t be asked to reach far back in time to legally apply amodern-day understanding of rights.  “Achieving an appropriate balance between fairness to individuallitigants and respecting the legislative role of Parliament may meanthat charter remedies will be directed more toward government action inthe future and less toward the correction of past wrongs,” says thejudgment.  The high court struck down part of a law passed in 2000 that grantedCPP survivor benefits only to gay partners widowed after Jan. 1, 1998,calling it an unjust breach of equality rights. However, the rulinggives the federal government credit for what it calls a “good-faith”effort to update its laws.

Source/full story:  Halifax Chronicle Herald, http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/562131.html