Religious Freedoms and Canadian Law: Fair or Unfair?

Another chapter has been added to the religious aspect of the Reasonable Accommodation debate by the demands for religious freedoms from polygamist communities within Canada, claiming that under the Freedom of Religion act, their practices of marrying multiple people should not be considered an illegal act.

However, retired Supreme Court of Justice Claire L’Heureux-Dubé does not believe that polygamy should be allowed within Canada under the guise of ‘religious freedoms’. The justice, who appears to show a liberal mindset when considering the human rights of minority groups, ruling in favour of same-sex marriage, believes that Polygamy does not fall into the same category, and that the laws in the Canadian Criminal Charter clearly state that Polygamy is a criminal act. The Justice is not taking her stance to be intolerant, but a line must eventually be drawn in regards to what reasonable accommodation is and what it is not for groups within Canada.

Reasonable accommodation of religious differences is important, but above all it must be reasonable, and must not favour one group over another. Within the article, the justice references a previous encounter where reasonable accommodation has come into discussion, citing the event of where a local YMCA was forced to frost all of its windows facing a Hasidic synagogue at the behest of the religious group, due to the Hasidic Rabbi stating that the youth were becoming offended and being exposed to ‘public nudity’ while on their break in the alley, referring to the men and women in work-out clothes while exercising. Members of the private gym were outraged, and stated that exercise room did not even face the Synagogue; and that the youth saw the exercisers while smoking and taking a break in the alley where the windows were. L’Hereux-Dubé suggests that a more reasonable form of accommodation would be for the Hasidic practitioners to simply close their eyes and pay it no attention.

The Liberal representative for south shore Lapinière states that “religious extremists evoke freedom of religion to block democratic rights”, ending with “Don’t be fooled.”

This article from the Montreal Gazette doesn’t serve a biased viewpoint, only stating the facts about the law within Canada, and letting people with enough information create their own conclusions.