CPAA Relieved That Polyamorist Relationships Are Not Criminalized

VANCOUVER — November 23, 2011 — The Canadian Polyamory Advocacy Association (CPAA) is relieved by BC Chief Justice Robert Bauman’s decision today clarifying the interpretation of Canada’s anti-polygamy law.

“Polyamorists are relieved they can be in loving egalitarian conjugal relationships without criminal sanction,” said CPAA legal counsel, John Ince, “Common law relationships are clearly not prohibited. Polyamorists who are dealing with immigration or family custody issues for instance now need no longer worry about being considered to be criminals”.

Many polyamorous women, as well as men, have multiple partners, and polyamorists think men and women have equal freedom to define their relationships. The CPAA says the decision will relieve most polyamorists but, alarmingly, will harm those who make certain formal commitments.

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With this court hearing generating a significant amount of discussion regarding Polyamory within Canadian society, this forum will allow present practitioners of Polyamory and those interested in learning more, an opportunity to discuss the benefits and pitfalls of this growing approach to consensual multiple person relationships.

FOR RELEASE NOVEMBER 08, 2010 VICTORIA, BC Polyamory Panel to Take Public Questions Should the government decide who we sleep with? That’s just one question on the minds of members of the growing polyamory movement, who feel they are under attack by a Canadian law that is under review this winter. The controversial law is considered a tool to target polygamists, but it could also be used to send others
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VANCOUVER — June 3, 2010 — The Canadian Polyamory Advocacy Association (CPAA) today filed its evidence in the BC Supreme Court case concerning the constitutional validity of section 293 of the Criminal Code of Canada. The CPAA will assert that the law is unconstitutional under the Canadian Charter of Human Rights.

Section 293 affects polyamorous families by seeking to criminalize “any kind of conjugal union with more than one person at the same time”, punishable by up to five years in prison.

The CPAA’s evidence includes court statements from polyamorous families in five provinces. Each of these families includes three or more adults living together in committed intimate relationships.

VANCOUVER — January 28, 2010 — Members of Canada’s polyamory community have applied to become an intervener in the B.C. government’s challenge of section 293 of the Criminal Code of Canada — Canada’s anti-polygamy law. The application, filed in BC Supreme Court yesterday, is on behalf of the Canadian Polyamory Advocacy Association (CPAA).

Polyamory, sometimes referred to as responsible or ethical non-monogamy, is the practice, desire, or acceptance of having more than one intimate relationship at a time with the consent of everyone involved. Section 293 forbids both polygamy and any kind of conjugal union with more than one person at the same time and as such infringes on people’s ability to practice polyamory if the relationships involve cohabitation.