Celebrating 80 years ...

On Aug. 12, 1990, a new law was proclaimed in Canada. That law dealt with an amendment to the Federal Divorce Act, with the result that it gave powers to the court to, in certain circumstances, remove barriers to a religious remarriage,” began the article by Ken Glasner in the Dec. 6, 1990, issue of the Jewish Western Bulletin.

Kim Campbell, minister of justice and attorney general of Canada at the time, was quoted as saying to the House of Commons in a May 4 address: “The purpose of this bill is to assist Jewish citizens whose spouses are withholding a religious divorce, which is called get, in order to obtain concessions in a civil divorce.”

The article then goes on to describe the history of how the issue came to the attention of the federal government, as well as how various courts have dealt with “recalcitrant” husbands and the situation in British Columbia, where there was no similar legislation at the time.