BRIAN TESKEY’S RELIGION would keep him from being king, and he’s not happy about it.
The 25-year-old University of Ottawa law graduate recently brought forward an application to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to change the rules of succession so that a potential heir’s religion would not be a factor.
His application came on the heels of a meeting between the heads of government from the British Commonwealth during which two rules of succession were changed. The first change was to end the system of male preference with regards to the throne. This change means that a younger son in line for the throne cannot displace an older sister.
The second change removes the provision that renders anyone who marries a Roman Catholic ineligible to rule.
As a Catholic, Teskey is adamant that while he may never be in line for the throne, and while the second change does loosen the religious restrictions when it comes to marriage, it still discriminates against anyone in line for the throne who is a practising Catholic.
The Canadian government has already introduced and passed the Succession to the Throne Act of 2013 with the changes, although it has yet to come into force.
Ontario Superior Court Justice Charles Hackland, bound by an Ontario Court of Appeal decision on a similar case, dismissed the application, stating that the matter was not under the review jurisdiction of the court.
—KayCie Gravelle
