By Zanoah Plummer

Like any nation, Canada has an expansive history of laws that dictate our love and sex lives. From misogynistic divorce laws to becoming the fourth country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage, our home and native land has had a long history of progress, reform and regression. 

1884 The “Married Women’s Property Act” grants married women the same legal rights as men in Ontario, permitting them to sign contracts and buy property.

1890 The age of consent is raised to 14 from 12.

1890 Polygamy is banned in Canada. The act impacts many Indigenous communities where having multiple wives is a common traditional practice. Despite being used as a strong support system in the home, settler colonialists saw it as “a form of abuse” and believed it to be a result of “sexual desire.”

1892 The “Gross Indecency Act” passes. The law is intentionally vague and often interpreted as condemning sexual and romantic acts between two men. The law is almost always used in order to prosecute gay men. 

1900 The “Married Women’s Property Act” is enacted in Manitoba. The act allows for married women to buy and sell their own property and pursue legal action like lawsuits. 

1925 The “Divorce Act” is amended to permit women to divorce for the same reasons men could. Prior to this law, men could only divorce because of adultery while women had to prove another transgression in addition to adultery to be granted a divorce.

1928 Alberta passes the “Sexual Sterilization Act.” The act targets institutionalized people with mental disabilities for forcible sterilization and results in over 2,800 sterilizations—Indigenous women are vastly overrepresented in these numbers. The act is later amended in 1937 to remove the requirement for consent to be sterilized and to consider sterilizing disabled people who are not institutionalized.

1933 British Columbia passes “An Act Respecting Sexual Sterilization.” Like Alberta’s “Sexual Sterilization Act,” this act permits the forcible sterilization of institutionalized people living with disabilities.

1953 The “Gross Indecency Act” is amended to criminalize female homosexuality.

1964 Quebec signs the “Married Women’s Property Act.” Women in Quebec are granted full legal autonomy under the act, and equal rights are given to both parents. The change comes after Quebec elects their first female member of the Legislative Assembly.

1968 The “Divorce Act” introduces no-fault divorce through adding “marriage breakdown” as grounds to file for divorce. Couples who file for marriage breakdown must be separated for three years before they are granted a divorce. 

1969 Homosexuality is decriminalized nationwide for those aged 21 or older by Bill C-150. In spite of this, police violence against the Queer community continues as is the case of Toronto’s bathhouse raids, the Brunswick Four and more.

1972 Alberta repeals the “Sexual Sterilization Act.” A year later, B.C. does too. However, sterilizations in B.C. continue into the 1980s.

1983 Bill C-127 passes, criminalizing formerly legal forms of sexual assault. The bill no longer limits the legal definition of sexual assault by gender and abolishes an exemption that made sexually assaulting a spouse legal.

1985 Bill C-31 amends the “Indian Act,” allowing for Indigenous women to keep their status when married to non-Indigenous men. The bill also allows for women and children to re-apply for status lost through a marriage. As a result, the number of people registered under the act doubles from 360,000 in 1985 to over 778,000 in 2007.

1986 The “Divorce Act” is amended to allow joint filings of divorce. Couples that file on the grounds of marriage breakdown must now be separated for one year before they are granted a divorce.

2005 The “Civil Marriage Act” is passed, legalizing same-sex marriage in all Canadian provinces and territories.

2008 Age of consent is raised to 16.

2011 The Supreme Court of B.C. upholds the ban on polygamy. The judge rules it a threat to “women, children, society and the institution of monogamous marriage.”

2022 Bill C-4 bans conversion therapy in Canada.