Ottawa, Canada, May 4, 2005 / 22:00 pm
Canada’s same-sex marriage bill passed second reading in the House of Commons yesterday, moving it one step closer to becoming law.
Members of Parliament voted 164 to 137 to send the legislation to a parliamentary committee for review. The bill now goes to public hearings before third and final reading.
The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), the Ontario Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Canadian Catholic Student Association are among the many pro-family organizations that have requested to appear before the committee.
The CCCB had issued a statement last month, urging the parliamentary committee to go across the country and to hear from parties representing a cross-section of Canadians. The committee had stated that it would hear from a narrow range of legal witnesses in Ottawa on technical aspects of the bill only.