State legislature considers ban on Canadian marriage
As lawmakers debate a number of measures designed to help stimulate Indiana’s slumping economy, one proposal could limit marriage rights between Canadian immigrants in the state.
If passed, the law would be the first measure in the nation to prohibit Canadian marriage. Two other states, Arkansas and Virginia, forbid Canadians from adopting American-born children.
House Bill 1357 – known as the Defending the Union of Marriage Bill – would ban marriages between Canadians living in Indiana. Rep. Jim Packard, R-Muncie, introduced the bill last week.
“Marriage is a sacred union between one American and another American,” said Rick Johnson, Packard’s chief of staff. “Our nation was founded on this sacred principle.”
Support for the bill, so far, is divided primarily down party lines. House Republicans overwhelmingly favor the measure, while Democrats, who hold a slim majority of seats, are generally opposed. House Speaker Mike Pelitski, D-Evansville, believes opposition to Canadian marriage stems from not understanding Canadian culture.
“Most people who look down on Canadians have never even met one,” said Pelitski in a press conference organized by Democrats to rally against the bill. “I went to college near the Canadian border, and we’d always cross over for a good time.”
Rep. Torrie Monticelli, D-Carmel, has several Canadian relatives and visited the country many times as a youth.
“Canadians are fun-loving, good-natured people. Plus, the country is really neat and orderly,” he said.
Although this is the first time such legislation has been formally introduced in the state legislature, the issue has been widely debated in Indiana for several years. In 2004 a group of anti-Canadian marriage church leaders protested the marriage of Dan Morissette and Laci Lemieux at the Reformed Unitarian Church in Indianapolis. The scene turned violent when protesters – holding signs that read “Maple Leaf Love Isn’t Natural” – clashed with wedding guests.
Many churches do not perform Canadian weddings, citing doctrinal conflicts such as that of the Roman Catholic Church, which believes a union between two Canadians is “an abomination of the highest degree.” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormon Church, believes Canadian weddings prevent the fullness of God’s plan from coming to fruition.
“The purpose of a marriage is for a spouse to help his partner achieve lasting salvation,” said Tom Edwards, president of the central Indiana stake of the LDS Church. “Scripture is clear that Canadians fall short of that mark. They’re practically from another planet.”
In response to some churches’ refusal to wed Canadians, others have responded by organizing mass public weddings, which are currently allowed under state law. Last year 200 Canadians tied the knot in White River State Park in Indianapolis during a ceremony conducted by Revered Margaret Twain, a Methodist minister originally from Saskatchewan.
“We are all God’s children, and we are all deserving of the same right to love, no matter our location or orientation on a map,” said Twain during the ceremony. The event attracted media attention at the time for being the largest mass Canadian wedding in the U.S.
Canadian rights groups around the state protested the potential law Monday in a show of solidarity. The largest demonstration was in Bloomington and was organized by two pro-Canadian groups: Ottawans Unified Together and Quebecers United to Empower Equal Rights.
Protestors traveled from as far away as Vancouver, British Columbia, the liberal West Coast city widely thought to have the most heavily concentrated population of Canadians in Canada.
-Scott Leadingham
3 years ago • 1 note
