OTTAWA, Nov. 27 (UPI) -- The Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled Canada violated the rights of gays and lesbians by depriving them of more than $85 million in survivor benefits.
The court said limitations that denied benefits to those whose partners died before 1998 harmed the survivors both emotionally and financially, the Globe and Mail reported Saturday. They said the limitations were rooted in the mistaken belief that notions about same-sex equality came into being only in recent years.
"The impairment of the rights of same-sex survivors cannot be said to be minimal," a 3-0 majority ruled Friday. "The denial of equal access to such a fundamental social institution constituted a complete non-recognition of these same-sex survivors as full members of Canadian society."
R. Elliott, a lawyer for the plantiffs, told the press at least 1,500 surviving spouses will benefit from the ruling.
"And we've always said this case was about equality," he said. "It's about equal pensions for equal premiums paid. No one gave us a gay and lesbian discount when we were paying into the Canada Pension Plan, and so we shouldn't have a gay and lesbian discount when we get paid out of the Canada Pension Plan."
