By Lily Nguyen
As a divorced Roman Catholic, Marcel Joanisse knew he couldn’t have his wedding in his church because it doesn’t remarry divorced people.
He turned to the City of Ottawa, expecting they could provide him with a civil ceremony. He was told by a city clerk that wasn’t a possibility either. Justices of the peace at the courthouse in Ottawa no longer perform wedding ceremonies.
It’s not certain whether Joanisse, 28, and his fianceé will live happily ever after, but this story does have a happy ending. The couple will be married Feb. 27 by Rev. Casey McKibbon, a United Church minister who also performs non-religious ceremonies.
“He was our ultimate choice, our only choice,” says Joanisse. “There’s a limit where you can go, since the judges don’t do weddings anymore.”
In October 1998, a tradition of civil ceremonies performed by justices of the peace that stretched back to the mid-’70s ended.
Darrell Bartraw, a senior justice of the peace at the provincial courthouse, says there was a shortage of justices of the peace and the attorney general decided not to hire more.
“I had to use the ones I had for more important duties. Your brother gets put in jail for something — do you do a wedding or do you do a bail hearing?” he says.
Because only judges, justices of the peace and the clergy can perform legally-binding marriages, a couple who can’t get or doesn’t want a church wedding must find a non-denominational minister to tie their legal knot.
“It’s the only way,” says Bartraw.
“With the economy, the way the government does things, it’s not surprising,” says Joanisse, who said he was glad to find someone like McKibbon who could fill the void.
McKibbon co-ordinates All Seasons Wedding Ceremonies, a group of 14 ministers of varying cloths who perform non-denominational and civil weddings. The wedding company, in operation for four years, is a branch of the Clergy Support Network, an organization that finds work for ministers without congregations.
The recent courthouse policy has increased business, said McKibbon. Although he won’t say how much business it has added, he estimates the wedding group does an additional 10 weddings a week from courthouse referrals. Those weddings can be held anywhere, but many still take place at City Hall, where All Seasons rents space on the weekend for weddings.
Bartraw says before the courthouse shut down the service, Ottawa justices of the peace did 16 weddings a week. Now, the only weddings performed by justices of the peace or judges are for their families or close friends.
Bartraw says he’s married about 100 couples. But he doesn’t miss doing weddings, unlike some of his colleagues.
He says although justices of the peace and judges are still legally able to perform ceremonies, they have little incentive because they can’t accept payment. Non-denominational ministers can charge $200 or more for a ceremony.
“If I knew you really good, I want to give my time to do it, I’d do it (but) they’re really not my bag,” he says.
That suggests that couples who reject religion and have no friends on the bench are being left high and dry. But McKibbon says that’s not so.
“People think because the officiant is a reverend, it has to be a religious ceremony. But no. Clergy will do civil weddings.
“So there’s no problem if they’re atheist. The reason they come to us is they can’t get married in a church, so we don’t lay the church trip on them.”