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Human Rights in Canada: An Historical Perspective

Open on Sunday : Revoking the Lord's Day Act

Calgary, Alberta
Sunday
May 30, 1982

If you're a high school student, you probably don't think twice about shopping or working on a Sunday. But if you remember the case of Roberts and Rosetanni, you should know that Sunday shopping is a relatively new development.

In that case, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the federal Lord's Day Act - which prohibited businesses from opening on Sundays - was valid. The court said that closing stores on Sundays didn't infringe freedom of religion. The store owner lost the case.

On Sunday May 30th, 1982, Big M Drug Mart picked up the challenge and opened its doors. They would be charged, go to court, and, unlike others in the past, win thanks to the new Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom.

Supreme Court of Canada Building
April 24, 1985



Supreme Court of Canada Building
When the Lord's Day Act was challenged 23 years ago, the Supreme Court only had the Canadian Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights didn't create new rights it affirmed the rights Canadians already had. This encouraged judges to interpret the Bill of Rights in a very narrow way. They saw that Canada was an overwhelmingly Christian country, and that Sunday closing laws had been accepted for years. Moreover, since the Lord's Day Act hadn't forced anybody to practice Christianity or prevent anyone from practising his or her own religion, the Supreme Court had upheld the law.

Unlike the Bill of Rights, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms enshrines freedom of conscience and religion regardless of existing federal or provincial laws.

So when Big M Drug Mart's challenge came before the Supreme Court of Canada in 1982, the judges would take a very different approach. They focused on the purpose of the Lord's Day Act rather than its effects. It concluded that the purpose of the Lord's Day Act was to protect the sanctity of the Christian Sabbath. In so doing, the act compelled all Canadians to observe Christian beliefs. That, in itself, offended freedom of religion and gave the appearance of discrimination against non-Christian Canadians.

The Supreme Court ruled that a religious value- keeping the Christian Sabbath- had been incorporated into a law that affected believers and non-believers alike. On the basis of Christian beliefs, non-Christians were prohibited from carrying out otherwise legal activities on Sundays. This was deemed inconsistent with the preservation and enhancement of Canada's multicultural heritage recognized in s. 27 of the charter.

At the end of the day, The Lord's Day Act was no more. Now, you are free to shop or work 'till you drop - 7 days a week.

Quotable quote

"...observance of the Sabbath is to the white man simply a matter of decency. The white farmer does only the absolutely essential things on Sunday, because he thinks that is the right thing to do. The Oriental has no such Code..."

From Shaw, 1924.