Topic spans: 1960 - 1998
Splitting Up: Canadians Get Divorced
Having concrete proof of adultery was once the only way to get a divorce in Canada. That meant a detective's photograph of a cheating husband. Or witnesses in a dirty motel room. Then in 1968, a new divorce law gave couples trapped in bad marriages an easy way out. The law started a divorce trend that continues to this day, in a time when it's so simple to break the knot, you can even do it online.
Image of divorce papers ©Frith's Photography. Image from BigStockPhoto.com
5 television clips
9 radio clips
Don't get married for love, says divorce expert
Broadcast Date: June 24, 1975
People are getting married for all the wrong reasons, explains Dr. Benjamin Small in this CBC Radio clip. The happy couples this psychotherapist encounters have relationships based on trust, respect and tolerance — but not love. Most people in modern Canada get married for love and attraction. But Dr. Small didn't get caught in the love trap. He has a simple "deep affection" for his wife, and hates drippy terms of endearment.Dr. Small counsels couples at Chicago's divorce court. He says every one of them has "messy marriages" because of a romanticized view of love carried over from childhood. There's also a psychological need to correct a defective childhood self-image. Couples are "hoping to get from the person we marry, the good feelings we should have gotten from our parents," he explains.
Don't get married for love, says divorce expert
• According to The Canadian Encyclopedia, romance hasn't historically been a primary consideration for getting married in Canada. Early Canadians more often married on the basis of ethnicity, religion or personal attraction.• Until the late 1800s, marriage most often occurred after a set of courtship rituals. Potential suitors would "call upon" the daughters of middle-class families. Parents only granted entrance to men they thought were most suitable for marriage.
• Families of working class singles were less involved in courtship rituals because teenage city dwellers often worked and lived away from home.
• At the time, "coming out" rituals were also popular for young girls in rural and urban Canada. Coming out signalled to bachelors that a girl's parents deemed it okay for courtship to begin.
• The Canadian Encyclopedia also found that before the 1880s, a daughter who married against her parents' wishes was often banished from the family.
Don't get married for love, says divorce expert
Medium: Radio
Program: As It Happens
Broadcast Date: June 24, 1975
Guest(s): Dr. Benjamin Small
Host: Barbara Frum, Alan Maitland
Duration: 6:21
Last updated:
July 14, 2009
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14 clips in this topic . page
Radio
2:57
March 22, 1945
Minister of National Health and Welfare Brooke Claxton introduces Canadians to the Family Allowance program.
Television
5:29
Oct. 28, 1971
In a combative TV interview, the famous feminist defends some of the ideas in her best-selling book The Female Eunuch.
Don't get married for love, says divorce expert.
The CBC Digital Archives Website.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Last updated: July 14, 2009.
[Page consulted on Feb. 15, 2012.]