- Detailed analysis by scholars involved in the
development of voluntary history education stan-
dards to be incorporated in elementary and high
schools. Discusses how these standards became
enmeshed in the politics of the era.
Marilyn Tobias
See also Children’s Television Act of 1990; Bush,
George H. W.; Clinton, Bill; Conservatism in U.S.
politics; Culture wars; Educate America Act of 1994;
Education in Canada; Homeschooling; Left Behind
books; Liberalism in U.S. politics; Race relations;
School violence; Supreme Court decisions; Tele-
communications Act of 1996; Year-round schools.
Egan v. Canada
Identification Canadian Supreme Court decision
Date Decided on May 25, 1995
When Canada granted equal protection to same-sex cou-
ples, it signified a move in North America toward allowing
sexual minorities to share in many of the rights that the het-
erosexual community already enjoys. Pressure increased for
the United States to extend equal protection to gays and
lesbians.
Egan v. Canadainvolved sections of the Old Age Se-
curity Act, which provides an allowance to the
spouse of a retiree, provided that the income of the
couple falls below a fixed level. James Egan and John
Norris Nesbit were a gay couple who had lived to-
gether since 1948. When Egan reached age sixty-five
in 1986, he began to receive old age security and
guaranteed income supplements under the act. On
reaching age sixty, Nesbit applied for a spousal allow-
ance. The application was rejected because the rela-
tionship between the men did not fall under the pro-
visions of the act, which stated that a spouse is “a
person of the opposite sex who is living with that per-
son, having lived with that person for at least one
year, if the two persons have publicly represented
themselves as husband and wife.” After losing their
case in the Trial Division and the Federal Court of
Appeal, Egan and Nesbit brought an appeal to the
Supreme Court. They argued that the act violated
the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by
discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation.
The Supreme Court applied a three-part test to
determine whether or not the act amounted to dis-
crimination. It looked at whether the law drew a dis-
tinction between the claimant and others, whether
the distinction resulted in a disadvantage to the
group of people to which the plaintiff belongs, and
whether the distinction was based on an irrelevant
personal characteristic. The justices found that the
act made a distinction between the claimant that re-
sulted in a disadvantage but that the distinction was
relevant because it was grounded on the unique so-
cial relationship of marriage. The court based this
finding on the fact that only heterosexual couples
are capable of procreation. The court then dis-
missed the appeal.Impact Although Egan and Nesbit lost, the court
made a landmark decision in support of equal rights
for gays and lesbians. It ruled that discrimination on
the basis of sexual orientation was prohibited by sec-
tion 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Free-
doms. Canada’s expansion of human rights to ban
discrimination on account of sexual orientation of-
ten is cited by proponents of gay and lesbian rights in
the United States.Further Reading
Lahey, Kathleen A.Are We “Persons” Yet? Law and Sex-
uality in Canada.Toronto: University of Toronto
Press, 1999.
MacDougall, Bruce.Queer Judgments: Homosexuality,
Expression, and the Courts in Canada.Toronto: Uni-
versity of Toronto Press, 2000.
Car yn E. NeumannSee also Baker v. Vermont; Canada and the United
States; Defense of Marriage Act of 1996; Domestic
partnerships; Homosexuality and gay rights. EgyptAir Flight 990 crash
The Event A New York-Cairo-bound flight crashes
into the ocean, killing 217
Date October 31, 1999
Place About sixty miles south of Nantucket
Island, Massachusetts, in the Atlantic OceanThe federal government’s determination of intentional pi-
lot action as the cause of the crash led to cultural and politi-
cal controversy with Egypt, a strategic U.S. ally, and criti-
cism by the Egyptian media and the public.290 Egan v. Canada The Nineties in America