What is the case law on spousal support for unmarried same-sex couples?

This Court has also readily recognized that some de facto spouses share the functional characteristics of those in formal marriages. In the context of spousal support obligations, Cory and Iacobucci JJ. held in M. v. H. that unmarried same-sex couples, unmarried opposite-sex couples, and married couples, can all fulfill the “generally accepted characteristics of a conjugal relationship [which] include shared shelter, sexual and personal behaviour, services, social activities, economic support and children, as well as the societal perception of the couple” (para. 59). And in Pettkus v. Becker, Dickson J. acknowledged that there was “no basis for any distinction, in dividing property and assets, between marital relationships and those more informal relationships which subsist for a lengthy period” and that the unmarried parties “lived as man and wife” (p. 850).