Polyamory is the practice, desire, or acceptance of having more than one intimate relationship at a time with the knowledge and consent of everyone involved. Among the concepts critical to the understanding of consent and of ethical behaviour within polyamory are gender equality, self-determination, free choice for all involved, mutual trust, and equal respect among partners.
The Canadian Polyamory Advocacy Association (or CPAA) advocates on behalf of Canadians who practice polyamory. It promotes legal, social, government, and institutional acceptance and support of polyamory, and advances the interests of the Canadian polyamorous community generally.
We’re here because we have a right to live with the people we love. While Provincial Family Law has begun to see and understand the best interests of children in polyamorous homes, Canadian law doesn’t recognize multiple partner relationships, indeed. Section 293 of the Criminal Code of Canada appears to outlaw polyamorous people living together as families. It penalizes us as soon as we make a serious commitment to one another.
The CPAA is a volunteer run nonprofit society, incorporated in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Our formal corporate documents are our:
Our society includes people from across Canada. Many of our leaders and volunteers are well known in Canadian polyamorous communities. All of them respect the values of that community. Our elected directors list, our membership policy, and other information about our people can be found on our Who is the CPAA page.
The CPAA started in 2009 with discussion by members and moderators of the Vanpoly group. Those Vanpoly members circulated a “call for interveners” in response to the province of British Columbia’s test case (formally in law called a reference) of Section 293 of the Canada’s Criminal Code.
Those Vanpoly members were quickly joined by members and facilitators of the VanIsle-Poly group, and then by others who founded the society and prepared court documents to participate as a collective “intervener”. Our collection of documents to brief the court was appreciated by the Attorney General of BC and continues to be a resource for research world wide. We now have active volunteer members and supporters from across Canada.
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