interim policy and "recognize legal marriages of gay and lesbian couples performed in jurisdictions outside Canada for purposes of immigration in exactly the same way as the legal marriages of heterosexual couples are recognized"; the committee voted to recommend that the government do this. In late January 2007, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Diane Finley informed the committee that this would be done. In February 2007, the IRCC website was updated to reflect the fact that the policy had been updated. Military Since September 2003, military chaplains have been allowed to bless same-sex unions and to perform these ceremonies on a military base. Survivor benefits On December 19, 2003, an Ontario court ruled that survivor benefits for Canadians whose same-sex partners died should be retroactive to April 1985, the date the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms came into effect. The federal government appealed. On March 1, 2007, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the federal government must pay Canada Pension Plan benefits to surviving same-sex spouses. Initial news reports indicated that the court limited retroactive benefits to only 12 months' worth, but in fact, some survivors may be entitled to benefits dating back to 2000. Same-sex divorce in Canada On September 13, 2004, a lesbian couple known as "M.M." and "J.H." (the initials of their respective lawyers) in Ontario were granted Canada's first same-sex divorce. Their initial divorce application had been denied based on the fact that the federal Divorce Act () defined spouse as "either of a man or a woman who are married to each other". However, Madam Justice Ruth Mesbur of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled in M.M. v J.H that the definition of "spouse" in the Divorce Act was unconstitutional.M. M. v. J. H., 2004 CanLII 49968 (ON SC), retrieved on February 5, 2016 In June 2005, a lesbian couple residing in British Columbia obtained a similar ruling. The Civil Marriage Act in 2005 amended the Divorce Act to permit same-sex divorce. However, prior to 2013, a married couple (same-sex or opposite-sex) could file for divorce in Canada only if at least one spouse was then residing in Canada and had been for at least one full year when the divorce was filed. In 2012, after the Attorney General of Canada, Rob Nicholson, suggested in a divorce case brought in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice that non-residents of Canada did not have