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Divorce
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Divorce Act




There was no divorce law in Canada until the 1960s. 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 a man or woman who are married to each other;

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. {Link without Title}


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