Canada must end child marriages now
David Matas is a Winnipeg-based international human rights lawyer and member of the board of directors at Beyond Borders ECPAT Canada, an organization advancing the rights of children to be free from sexual exploitation.
Legally in Canada, at the age of 16 children are free to marry. This is an injustice. Canadian law should not allow for child marriages, full stop. Since 2015, there has been legislation stating children cannot be forced to marry against their wishes. But nothing stops the marriage of children who are pressured to do so.
According to this legal arrangement, Parliament is, in principle, responsible for setting the age of marriage. The House of Commons exercised this power in 2015 when it enacted an amendment to the Civil Marriage Act that set the age limit for marriage in Canada to 16. Prior to this legislation, Canadian courts allowed provinces to set their own individual age limits.
The current federal legislation is also problematic because it has created a disconnect between the human rights that Canada promotes abroad and what we tolerate at home.
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