Greens consider, then reject, poly motion at convention

At its national convention this weekend, the Green Party of Canada put forward a motion to decriminalize polyamory, the Ottawa Sun reported. The idea was presented first at a working group, which voted 14-8 on Aug 21 to introduce the motion at the next day’s plenary. Plenary discussed it before rejecting the motion by a margin of 82 to 18 percent.

From the Sun report:

Party leader Elizabeth May says she used to practice family law and isn’t
convinced the Criminal Code makes polyamorous relationships illegal. She
urged the party to reject the motion.

“I have huge issues with not knowing what this (motion) means,” she said.

“I’m very unclear as to what kind of rights would ensue to a polyamorous

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unit as a family and what that means for the interests of a child and how
that gets judged in terms of custody issues.”

May said there’s “a morass of questions” for which she’s confident they
don’t have the answers.

In Vancouver, a group of polyamorists is seeking intervenor status in a charter case before the Supreme Court of BC.

Last year, Xtra published an extended feature about why the poly question matters to gays:

When it comes down to it, this debate is about freedom of choice.
Blackmore and Oler may be practising polygamy in unsavoury ways, but
they remain part of the spectrum of nonmonogamy that informs so many
queer relationships.

The dominant view — reinforced by Canada’s polygamy law — is that
relationships are for two people to the exclusion of all others.

In queer circles, terms like “open” and “polyamorous” are used to
describe people who don’t fit that template. Polyamorists who engage
in multiple romantic relationships often distain polygamists, whose
rigid sense of gender limits the possible permutations to one man and
multiple women.