Source: Canadian Press, Calgary Herald, CBC News,

Edmonton, AB -- Reluctant gay rights activist Delwin Vriend traveled from his home in Paris to join Edmonton gay-rights advocates today to remind the Conservative government that, exactly 10 years after the Supreme Court of Canada's ruling on his landmark case, Alberta still hasn't formally included sexual orientation in its humans-rights law.

See in Qnews: Reluctant hero recalls the case that helped bring gay rights to Canada

Speaking Wednesday in Edmonton, Vriend called on the government to finally add equal rights into its laws.

"Ten years later I see a government that is still acting very childishly in not including sexual orientation in its human rights act," Vriend, 42, said as he and his supporters marked the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that ordered Alberta to protect gays from discrimination in its human rights laws.

"It's an embarrassment for Albertans and Canadians."

His was a case that sparked a firestorm of debate in the socially conservative province. Proponents hailed the ruling as a blow against bigotry while opponents warned it opened a Pandora's box of social chaos and legalized pedophilia.

It split the government caucus, led to death threats and saw then-premier Ralph Klein muse publicly about using the Constitution's controversial notwithstanding clause to opt out.

Vriend said he was a reluctant crusader. He left to live in Paris to escape the spotlight and said to this day he has an aversion to the telephone because of the unending stream of media calls.

But he said he would do it all again.

"This (legislation) was so backwards, it had to be changed."

Vriend was fired from his job as a lab instructor at King's University College in 1991 when the school discovered he is gay. The Alberta Human Rights Commission refused to investigate the case because the province's Human Rights Act did not cover discrimination based on sexual orientation.

As a result of their refusal, Vriend took the province to court in 1994, a case won by the government on appeal in 1996. Vriend continued the battle to the Supreme Court, and on April 2, 1998, the court ordered the province to legally protect its residents from sexual discrimination.

Although the province's Human Rights Commission has opened nearly 200 complaint files on grounds of sexual-orientation discrimination in the past decade, the government never amended its Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Act. Rather, it's implicitly "read in" to the law because of the 1998 court decision that forced Alberta to defend the rights of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and heterosexuals.

The now-iconic Vriend will again play the role of advocate while he's in Alberta, pressing the Stelmach government to amend the law as a symbolic goodwill gesture to the gay community, said Kris Wells, an organizer of today's news conference.

"What we're really calling for on this 10th anniversary is for the Alberta government to finally do what they were instructed to do and write the words into the actual legislation," said Wells, a researcher with the Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services at the University of Alberta.

Unlike a decade ago, when the Tories debated invoking the constitution's notwithstanding clause to shield themselves from the gay-rights measure, they'll seriously consider reopening its law this time, a cabinet minister said.

Full article: Legal trailblazer Delwin Vriend urges Alberta government to protect gays | Canadian Press
Alberta 'childish' in lack of gay rights protection, activist says | CBC News
Teacher returns to push Tories on gay rights | Calgary Herald