Slim Majority (54%) Support Same-Sex Marriages

Toronto, ON - On Tuesday June 10th Ontario's Court of Appeal ruled in favour of same-sex marriages deeming the Canadian law definition on traditional marriages unconstitutional. This Ipsos-Reid/CTV/Globe and Mail survey asked Canadians in the days that followed whether they "support or oppose same-sex couples being allowed to marry and register their marriage with their provincial government," finding that a slim majority (54%) of Canadians say they support same-sex marriages, while 44% say they are opposed to the proposition. The proportion of Canadians who support same-sex marriages remains unchanged from June 1999 (55%), which had nominally increased since August 1996 (49%).

Courts in British Columbia and Quebec have also ruled as unconstitutional the Federal law that only recognizes opposite-sex unions for marriage. The courts have given the Federal Government until July 2004 to revise the law to include same-sex unions in the definition of marriage. Considering this and that the Federal Government has a number of options regarding this issue, 40% of Canadians believe the Federal Government should "change the Federal law as required by the Provincial Court decisions to recognize same-sex unions in a definition of marriage," 35% believe it should "invoke the `Not Withstanding Clause' of the Canadian Constitution, which would allow the current definition of marriage to remain unchanged," and 22% think the Federal Government should "appeal the Provincial rulings to the Supreme Court of Canada for a final decision on the issue of same-sex marriage" indicating that Canadians cannot reach a consensus on options for immediate Federal response.

These are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid/Globe and Mail/CTV poll conducted between June 10th and 12th 2003. The poll is based on a randomly selected sample of 1055 adult Canadians. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within 177 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult Canadian population been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were statistically weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 2001 Census data.

Asked whether they "support or oppose same-sex couples being allowed to marry and register their marriage with their provincial government," a slim majority (54%) of Canadians say they support same-sex marriages, (31% "strongly support", 24% "somewhat support") while 44% say they are opposed to the proposition (31% "strongly oppose" and 13% "somewhat oppose"). The proportion of Canadians who support same-sex marriages remains unchanged from June 1999 (55%), which had nominally increased since August 1996 (49%).

• Residents of Quebec (65%) and British Columbia (64%) are more likely than residents of Ontario (49%), Atlantic Canada (49%), Alberta (47%), and Saskatchewan/Manitoba (43%) to support same-sex marriages.

• Canadians living in urban regions (56%) are more likely than those living in rural regions (46%) to support same-sex marriages.

• Young adults (71%) are more likely than middle-aged (56%) and older (36%) Canadians to support same-sex marriages.

• Women (60%) are more likely than men (48%) to support same-sex marriages.

• Canadians in a common-law relationship/living with a partner (77%) and single or never married Canadians (64%) are more likely than widowed (37%), married (47%), and divorced or separated (48%) Canadians to support same-sex marriages.

• University graduates (65%) are more likely than others (50%) to support same-sex marriages.

Considering that courts in British Columbia and Quebec have also ruled the Federal law that only recognizes opposite-sex unions for marriage as unconstitutional and that they've given the Federal Government until July 2004 to revise the law to include same-sex unions in the definition of marriage, Canadians were asked what they think the Federal Government should do--there is no consensus on options for immediate Federal response. Four in ten (40%) Canadians believe the Federal Government should "change the Federal law as required by the Provincial Court decisions to recognize same-sex unions in a definition of marriage," 35% believe it should "invoke the `Not Withstanding Clause' of the Canadian Constitution, which would allow the current definition of marriage to remain unchanged," and 22% think the Federal Government should "appeal the Provincial rulings to the Supreme Court of Canada for a final decision on the issue of same-sex marriage."

• Residents of Quebec (50%) and British Columbia (47%) are more likely than residents of Alberta (32%), Ontario (35%), Saskatchewan/Manitoba (36%), and Atlantic Canada (37%) to say the Federal Government should "change the Federal law as required by the Provincial Court decisions to recognize same-sex unions in a definition of marriage," while residents of Alberta (45%), Atlantic Canada (44%), Saskatchewan/Manitoba (42%), and Ontario (37%) are more likely than residents of Quebec (26%) and British Columbia (30%) to think the Federal Government should "invoke the `Not Withstanding Clause' of the Canadian Constitution, which would allow the current definition of marriage to remain unchanged."

• Canadians living in rural regions (45%) are more likely than their counterparts living in urban regions (32%) to believe the Federal Government should "invoke the `Not Withstanding Clause' of the Canadian Constitution, which would allow the current definition of marriage to remain unchanged."

• Young adults (53%) are more likely than middle-aged (40%) and older (27%) Canadians to say the Federal Government should "change the Federal law as required by the Provincial Court decisions to recognize same-sex unions in a definition of marriage," while older (45%) and middle-aged (36%) Canadians are more likely than their younger (24%) counterparts to think the Federal Government should "invoke the `Not Withstanding Clause' of the Canadian Constitution, which would allow the current definition of marriage to remain unchanged."

• Women (44%) are more likely than men (36%) to think the Federal Government should "change the Federal law as required by the Provincial Court decisions to recognize same-sex unions in a definition of marriage," while men (40%) are more likely than women (31%) to think the Federal Government should "invoke the `Not Withstanding Clause' of the Canadian Constitution, which would allow the current definition of marriage to remain unchanged."

• Canadians in a common-law relationship/living with a partner (59%) and single or never married Canadians (45%) are more likely than widowed (28%), married (34%), and divorced or separated (41%) Canadians to think the Federal Government should "change the Federal law as required by the Provincial Court decisions to recognize same-sex unions in a definition of marriage," while widowed (44%), married (41%), and divorced/separated (35%) Canadians are more likely than Canadians in a common-law relationship/living with a partner (19%) and single or never married Canadians (30%) to think the Federal Government should "invoke the `Not Withstanding Clause' of the Canadian Constitution, which would allow the current definition of marriage to remain unchanged.

• University graduates (47%) are more likely than others (40%) to think the Federal Government should "change the Federal law as required by the Provincial Court decisions to recognize same-sex unions in a definition of marriage," while Canadians without a university degree (39%) are more likely than those with (26%) to think the Federal Government should "invoke the `Not Withstanding Clause' of the Canadian Constitution, which would allow the current definition of marriage to remain unchanged."

To view the release and the detailed tables, please open the attached PDF documents.

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For more information on this news release, please contact:
John Wright
Senior Vice-President
Ipsos-Reid Public Affairs
(416) 324-2900