Photo by: Andrei Sedoff for The Toronto Star
George Smitherman, in blue, smiles, holding hands with partner Christopher Peloso.
To their left is guest Meladina Hardy, while Charles Fox is at right.

Match 'heaven-made' for Ontario's deputy premier and Christopher Peloso, in northern Ontario.

From,
The Toronto Star
Aug 06, 2007 04:30 AM
Bruce Demara
Staff Reporter

ELLIOT LAKE–One groom wore white and blue; the other groom wore blue and white.

But this was no double wedding, and when it came time to express their "I dos," they exchanged them in a most unlikely setting.

Deputy Premier George Smitherman and his partner Christopher Peloso made it official, exchanging vows yesterday before about 200 family members and well-wishers at Laurentian Lodge, a rustic and idyllic resort north of this small former mining community.

The 40-minute ceremony was conducted by Ojibway spiritual advisor Ron Indian-Mandamin, who referred to the ancient concept of gay or "two-spirited people" who in generations past often served as tribes' mystics or medicine men.

"Truth is the most powerful of all things. We need to show that this is a beautiful thing. The blood that flows through each and every one of us is the same," Indian-Mandamin said.

Barrie-area Justice of the Peace Gerry Solursh conducted the civil portion of the wedding, followed by jazz/blues singer Molly Johnson, who sang a moving rendition of her song "If You Know Love."

Smitherman, who as provincial health minister is a senior member of cabinet and often mentioned on the shortlist of future candidates for mayor of Toronto, acknowledged that such a public pronouncement of love would have political overtones.

"We haven't sought to make it political. It happens to be who I am and what I've done for almost my entire adult life so it's no surprise that it is going to have some political elements to it," Smitherman said. "It was going to make a statement wherever it was.

"Christopher's a northern boy (from Sudbury) so it's pretty appropriate we do it here," he added. CONTINUED ...