CPAC Special
Joint Committee on the Constitution – Sexual Orientation
CPAC presents key debates and testimony from the 1980–81 Special Joint Committee on the Constitution of Canada. In this episode, we look at testimony that focuses on sexual orientation and the proposed equality-rights clause in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Adam Dodek, a professor of law at the University of Ottawa, joins host Peter Van Dusen to provide historical analysis. On December 11, 1980, the committee hears testimony from Peter Maloney, Christine Bearchell, George Hislop, Paul-François Sylvestre, and Monique Bell, representing the Canadian Association of Lesbians and Gay Men.
