Sunday Closings and the Canadian Bill of Rights

Hamilton, Ontario
January 14, 1962

What's someone to do for a good time in Hamilton on a cold winter day in 1962? Well, if it's a Sunday, it's not bowling.

Just ask Walter Robertson and Fred Rosetanni. Walt and Fred run a bowling alley in Steeltown. On January 14th, 1962, they opened their doors for business and broke the law. Doing business on a Sunday is a direct violation of section 4 of the Lord's Day Act.

Fred and Walter were charged with violating the Lord's Day Act. In their defense, they would spare no expense in their attempts to strike down the law. They argued the that section 4 of the Lord's Day Act violated the freedom of religion guaranteed them by the Canadian Bill of Rights.

The two lost their case in Ontario courts and ended up before the Supreme Court of Canada.

4 of the 5 judges agreed on the following:

• The Canadian Bill of Rights isn't concerned with "human rights and fundamental freedoms" in any broad sense, only with those "rights and freedoms" that existed in Canada immediately before it became law. In other words, if opening on a Sunday did not restrict religious freedom before the Bill, it can't after its passing.
• Laws protecting the "sanctity of Sunday" have existed in Canada from the earliest times and have never been considered as an interference with the kind of "freedom of religion" guaranteed by the Canadian Bill of Rights.
• It is the effect rather than the purpose of The Lord's Day Act that is important. Nothing in it affects freedom of religious thought or practice.
• non-Christians who observe a day of rest other than Sunday may experience a business inconvenience, but that was not a religious restriction, that was just a non-religious consequence.

In short, Fred and Walter lost their case.

Is this different from what the Court said in Henry Birks and Sons v. City of Montreal?

What to Know More?

See:
R. v. Robertson
Canadian Bill of Rights
Henry Birks and Sons v. City of Montreal