JW Canada: Struggle for original freedom in Quebec daunting proposition | Barry Bussey

[Guest Indiana]

But, there is a way out. First, as a country we need to get back to the basics of our history and the history of the struggle for religious freedom. It seems to me that we are simply repeating the mistakes of our forefathers. In the past, individual conscience was denigrated to such an extreme that every citizen had no choice but to accept the religious views of the monarch and his or her established church. That program was a dismal failure, as the European wars of religion amply illustrate. 

Second, we need to be educated about the legal significance of freedom of conscience and religion. Throughout the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s, Quebec was the site of some of the greatest challenges to this right. The Jehovah’s Witnesses (JWs) were maligned and mistreated for their anti-Catholicism, and Premier Maurice Duplessis decided something had to be done. Not only did he arrest the JWs for distribution of their literature, he broke up their religious meetings and denied any government approvals, such as liquor licences, to any JW sympathizers. 

In affirming the rights of JWs, Justice Ivan Rand in Saumur v. Quebec (City of) [1953] 2 S.C.R. 299 pointed out that religious freedom has been recognized in the Canadian legal system “as a principle of fundamental character.” He also pointed out that freedom of religion was among the “original freedoms” that was a necessary attribute and mode of human self-expression which forms the primary conditions of “community life within a legal order.” 

In other words, freedom of religion and conscience is integral to our individual and national well-being.

Quebec’s “secular” position today is eerily similar to the discriminatory stance it took decades ago. Despite the reluctance of our political leaders to intervene, we can still hope that the outcome will once again be a legal and social recognition of the foundational importance of religious freedom.

https://www.thelawyersdaily.ca/articles/15934/struggle-for-original-freedom-in-quebec-daunting-proposition-barry-bussey

[Arauna]

Thanks for article.