Egan vs. The Odds

By Taha Qureshi, Victoria Pride Contributing Writer

Every day, strides to end discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender are being made. This is a fight that has been fought valiantly by many before us, including Vancouver Island-based LGBTQ2+ rights activist James “Jim” Egan, whose efforts provided immense progress for the recognition and acceptance of the LGBTQ2+ community in Canada.

Born in 1921 in Toronto, Ontario, Egan says he realized very early on that he was gay. Though he never graduated from high school, his interest in biology gained him a department technician job at the University of Toronto in the department of Zoology. However, he then enlisted in the merchant navy from 1943-1947.

Egan moved to Vancouver Island in 1964 with his lifelong partner, John Norris Nesbit. The two met in Toronto shortly after Egan’s return from the war and embarked on the journey to spend the rest of their lives together while paving the way for many other LGBTQ+ couples to do the same.

Egan began writing various letters, articles and op-ed pieces for local and national publications advocating for better lesbian and gay representation and equal rights. Initially he did this anonymously. But since Egan was self-employed, he realized he could use his voice to speak out without the fear of losing his job, which was a common struggle for many individuals at the time. In an article for Justice Weekly, Egan stated: “The acceptance and integration that every thinking, responsible homosexual desires will come someday.”

In 1987, after over 40 years of being a couple, Egan and Nesbit were denied spousal allowance benefits under the Old Age Security Act, based solely on their sexual orientation. The following year, the couple took their case to the Federal Court of Canada, where in 1991 they were ultimately dismissed as not fitting the criteria for a “spousal relationship.” But that was not it for Egan, who then appealed the court’s decision until the case was taken to the Supreme Court of Canada in 1995.

Although the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal as well, this was far from a loss for Egan and the LGBTQ2+ community as it created an important precedent that declared that sexual orientation is a prohibited ground for discrimination. The ruling provided protection to members of the LGBTQ2+ community in Canada and was also cited as a key precedent in Halpern v. Canada, which was one of the cases that ultimately led to the legalization of same-sex marriage in Canada.

Egan’s efforts were commemorated in a 2018 Canadian Heritage Minute. Before his death 20 years ago on March 9, 2000, Egan released a memoir outlining his trials and turmoils of fighting governmental and societal establishments for the day where people would have the right to love and live without the fear of inequality or judgement—hoping for that day to come soon.

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