Moving Beyond the Bedrooms of Our Nation: Redefining Canadian Families from the Perspective of Non-Conjugal Caregiving

• Author: Jamie Wood
• Position: Is a third year law student at the University of Victoria
• Pages: 7-13

APPEAL VOLUME 13 n 7

COMMENTARY

MOVING BEYOND THE BEDROOMS OF OUR

NATION:

REDEFINING CANADIAN FAMILIES FROM THE

PERSPECTIVE OF NON-CONJUGAL CAREGIVING

By Jamie R. Wood*

CITED: (2008) 13 Appeal 7-13

Good evening, Canada. Tonight’s guest is Jamie Wood, author of Moving Beyond the

Bedrooms of Our Nation.1 Her book is hailed by some as a model for a more inclusive, care-

centred Canada and criticized by others as a recipe for family destruction and social chaos.

Welcome, Ms. Wood. Why did you make this call for the “desexualization” of family?

It has been forty years since Pierre Trudeau told Canadians on the CBC evening news that

“There is no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation.”2 Trudeau made this statement

in response to press questions about a controversial bill he introduced in Parliament to decrimi-

nalize private homosexual acts. Since then, his purpose in coining this phrase has been met and

surpassed.3 Yet, the state has not vacated Canada’s bedrooms; it has merely become a little

more tolerant of the types of partners it sees as legitimate in the boudoir.

One peek between our sheets reveals bedbug laws that, among other things, def‌ine family

and family breakdown from the perspective of the marital or “marital-like” dyad,4 give special

recognition and privilege to conjugal dyads, require consummation to form a valid marriage,

afford special consideration to adultery in divorce, and assign unmarried conjugal cohabitants

roles, rights and responsibilities associated with marriage.5

At a fundamental level, I believe that family’s value as an institution primarily resides in its

caregiving functions. I am joined in this belief by other scholars, including American Martha

Fineman.6 It is in the state’s interest to recognize and reward relationships of care, regardless of

* Jamie R. Wood is a third year law student at the University of Victoria. She graduated in 2003 with her Masters of Arts

degree in Family Studies from the University of British Columbia.

1 This article assumes the format of an imaginary interview about a f‌ictional book.

2 “There’s no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation” CBC Television (21 December 1967), online: CBC Archive

.

3 See e.g. EGALE Canada Inc. v. Canada (Attorney General), 2003 BCCA 251.

4 Note: A dyad is an ongoing relationship between two people.

5 See e.g. Criminal Code, R.S.C. 1985, c.C-46, ss. 290, 291 & 293; Divorce Act, R.S.C. 1985 (2nd Supp.), c. 3; Family Rela-

tions Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 128; Income Tax Act, R.S.C. 1985, c.1; Marriage (Prohibited Degrees) Act, R.S.C., 1990 c.46.

6 Martha Albertson Fineman, The Neutered Mother, the Sexual Family and Other Twentieth Century Tragedies (New York:

Routledge, 1995).