Jim Egan - Human Rights Advocate

Jim Egan and his precedent winning court case...

Egan James Leo (Jim) Egan, gay activist, writer, politician, environmental activist born 1921 in Toronto, is considered Canada's first prominent LGBTQ2 activist. In 1948 he met John “Jack” Norris who became his life-long partner.

Beginning in 1949, Egan wrote hundreds of letters, articles, and op-ed pieces to magazines and newspapers advocating equal rights for and criticizing inaccurate portrayals of lesbian and gay people. He also wrote to politicians, advocating for fairer treatment of lesbians and gays under the law. His letters appeared in such publications as Saturday Night and Time.  In 1954 he wrote: "The acceptance and integration that every thinking, responsible homosexual desires will come some day." By 1963, he was being published in mainstream publications, writing under his real name in the Toronto Daily Star that: "[t]he homosexual is the sole remaining minority who can be sneered at, reviled, libeled, and spat upon with virtual impunity." In 1964, he prominently featured in a Macleans article, "The Homosexual Next Door” which was the most positive portrayal of homosexuality ever to appear in a mainstream Canadian publication up to that time; even though Egan appeared in the article under a pseudonym.

Egan and Nesbit moved to the Comox Valley in 1964, starting their own business. Egan became active in local politics, serving as a representative for Electoral Area B (Comox North) on the Comox-Strathcona Regional District board from 1981 until 1993 when he chose not to seek re-election.

In 1986 Egan began collecting Canada Pension Plan benefits and applied for spousal benefits for Nesbit. The couple might have been better off financially if they collected separate individual pensions, but Egan felt their situation would make a strong test case for the legal rights of same-sex couples. After the spousal benefits were denied, they took the case to court and following losses at the Federal Court in 1991 and the Federal Court of Appeal in 1993, the case reached the Supreme Court in 1994. 
It 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. It unanimously ruled, however, to include sexual orientation as a prohibited grounds of discrimination under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This latter ruling proved a significant victory for LGBTQ2 rights in Canada, setting the stage for later successes in the courts. It is cited as a key precedent that ultimately led to the legalization of same-sex marriage in Canada. Because of their activism on behalf of the LGBTQ2 community, Egan and Nesbit acted as grand marshals for the Toronto Pride Parade.

Egan died of lung cancer in 2000, at his home in Courtenay, Jack Nesbit, died three months later. They had been together 47 years. Egan and Nesbit are the subject of the first Heritage Minute on an LGBTQ2 theme, released in 2018.