Canada’s Supreme Court Cites “Aguna” Precedent Won by NIF Grantee

January 14, 2008

Last month Canada’s Supreme Court awarded Stephanie Bruker $47,500 compensation because her husband had refused her a Jewish get (religious divorce) for 15 years. In their ruling, the Canadian judges cited as precedent a Jerusalem District Court decision in December 2004 ordering a man to pay $100,000 damages to his wife for refusing her a divorce. That ruling was won by NIF grantee Center for Women’s Justice, which is also a member of the SHATIL coordinated and NIF supported International Coalition for Agunah Rights (ICAR).

Bruker, 58, from Montreal, married Jason Markovitz in 1969. The couple divorced in 1980 but Markovitz only granted Bruker a civil divorce and refused her a get even though this was stipulated in their prenuptial agreement. He did not grant the get until Bruker was 46 in 1995, and she then successfully sued him for $47,500 damages in the Quebec Court on the grounds that she had been denied the right to remarry and have more children within the Jewish faith.

A demonstration on behalf of Agunot in Israel.

 
But Markovitz appealed to the Quebec Court of Appeals, which overturned the decision on the grounds that secular courts should not interfere with religious matters. The matter was finally concluded in Bruker’s favor in December in Canada’s highest court.

Before appealing to the Canadian Supreme Court in Ottawa, Bruker contacted Susan Weiss, founder and director of Center for Women's Justice, after hearing about the Jerusalem verdict. Weiss helped Bruker translate the Israeli verdict from Hebrew into English.

"The Canadian decision is a victory for women worldwide," Weiss told the Jerusalem Report, "for women who reside in religious communities in Western, as well as developing countries, and whose rights are compromised by patriarchal religious law."