Jim Egan (activist)

Jim Egan (1921 - March 9, 2000) was a Canadian LGBT rights activist, best known for his role in the landmark Supreme Court of Canada case Egan v. Canada.^[1]

Background

Born and raised in Toronto, Ontario,^[2] Egan realized he was gay at a young age.^[3] He met John Norris "Jack" Nesbit, his lifelong partner, in 1948.^[4]

Early activism

Beginning in 1949, Egan was a regular writer of letters to publications, criticizing inaccurate portrayals of lesbian and gay people, and to politicians, advocating for fairer treatment of lesbians and gays under the law.^[5] His letters appeared in daily and weekly newspapers, and in magazines such as Saturday Night and Time.^[5]

He later went on to contribute journalism pieces about homosexuality to publications such as True News Times and Justice Weekly.^[2]

In 1964, he was prominently featured in Sydney Katz's "The Homosexual Next Door", a Maclean's article which was the most positive portrayal of homosexuality ever to appear in a mainstream Canadian publication up to that time;^[6] even though Egan appeared in the article under a pseudonym, Nesbit — a more private person who was uncomfortable with Egan's public visibility — demanded that Egan give up his activism if he wanted to continue their relationship.^[7]

Move to British Columbia

Although Egan initially refused and the couple broke up, Egan soon decided that he wanted to reunite with Nesbit and dropped his activist pursuits.^[7] Egan and Nesbit moved to Vancouver Island in 1964, starting their own business.^[1] Egan was also active in local politics, serving as a representative for Electoral Area B (Comox North) on the Comox-Strathcona Regional District board from 1981 to 1993.^[2]

Supreme Court case

Having reached retirement age, Egan began collecting Canada Pension Plan benefits in 1986,^[4] and applied for spousal benefits for Nesbit the following year.^[4] The couple would actually have been better off financially if they collected separate individual pensions, but chose the spousal benefits route as they felt their situation would make a strong test case for the legal rights of same-sex couples.^[4] After the spousal benefits were denied, they took the case to court;^[4] following losses at the Federal Court in 1991 and the Federal Court of Appeal in 1993,^[4] the case reached the Supreme Court in 1994.^[4] The case was argued before the Supreme Court on November 1 of that year.

The Supreme Court ruled on May 25, 1995.^[8] The court ruled against Egan on the issue of spousal benefits, finding that the restriction of such benefits to heterosexual couples was a justified infringement because the core purpose of such benefits was to provide financial support to women who had spent their lives raising children rather than in paid employment^[8] — however, they ruled unanimously to include sexual orientation as a prohibited grounds of discrimination under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.^[8] The latter ruling was seen as a significant victory for LGBT rights in Canada despite the loss on the benefits issue itself,^[8] setting the stage for later successes in the courts; it came to be cited as a key precedent in important later court decisions such as M. v. H.,^[9] Vriend v. Alberta,^[10] Little Sisters Book and Art Emporium v. Canada,^[11] and Halpern v. Canada.^[12]

Later years

Egan and Nesbit were subsequently named as grand marshals of Toronto's 1995 Pride Parade.^[13] The following year, they were the subjects of David Adkin's documentary film Jim Loves Jack.^[14]

Egan published the memoir Challenging the Conspiracy of Silence: My Life as a Canadian Gay Activist in 1998.^[7] In the same year, a portrait of Egan by artist Andrew McPhail was added to the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives' National Portrait Collection in honor of his role as a significant builder of LGBT history in Canada.^[15]

Egan died on March 9, 2000 at his home in Courtenay, British Columbia.^[1]

References