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Jehovah's Witnesses
Overview Organizational structure Governing Body Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society Corporations History Bible Student movement Leadership dispute Splinter groups Doctrinal development Unfulfilled predictions Demographics By country
Beliefs Practices God's name 144,000 Salvation Eschatology Faithful and discreet slave Memorial of Jesus' Death Blood Discipline Hymns Literature The Watchtower Awake! New World Translation Bibliography Places Kingdom Hall Gilead School
People Watch Tower presidents W. H. Conley C. T. Russell J. F. Rutherford N. H. Knorr F. W. Franz M. G. Henschel D. A. Adams R. L. Ciranko Formative influences William Miller Henry Grew G. W. Stetson George Storrs N. H. Barbour J. N. Darby Notable former members R. V. Franz O. R. Moyle Notable scholars George Chryssides James Penton Zoe Knox
Criticism Handling child sex abuse Unfulfilled predictions
Opposition Persecution in Nazi Germany Supreme Court cases by country
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Jehovah's Witnesses experienced religious persecution in Canada during World War II because of their evangelical fervour and objection to compulsory military service. In 1940, Jehovah's Witnesses were banned as an illegal organization under the War Measures Act.

Radio stations

In the early 1900s, radio stations were operated by individual congregations in Saskatoon, Edmonton, Vancouver, and Toronto. In 1927, Arthur Cardin revoked the licenses for these radio stations because they shared airtime with the Ku Klux Klan in Canada. According to Gary Botting, this "strange alliance" was formed due to a mutual opposition against the Roman Catholic church. In response, Joseph Rutherford bought airtime from other radio stations. When Hector Charlesworth banned this activity as well, he was "indirectly attacked" in an issue of the Golden Age and Jehovah's Witnesses launched a petition to regain their licenses that resulted in 406,270 signatures. Charlesworth's actions were debated by the House of Commons in 1933. While multiple members expressed concern that this prohibition was censorship of free speech, the ban was not lifted.

World War II

During the late 1930s, Witnesses were tried for sedition because their literature attacked the clergy and political leaders of the country.

In 1940, one year following Canada's entry into World War II, the Jehovah's Witnesses denomination was banned under the War Measures Act. This ban continued until 1943. During this period, some of their children were expelled from school; other children were placed in foster homes or juvenile detention and members were jailed. Men who refused to enter the army were sent to work camps. Twenty-nine Witnesses were convicted and sentenced to terms averaging one year.

Quebec

Non-Catholic religious minorities were persecuted after World War II, particularly during the Duplessis era. Quebec's population at the time was 95% Roman Catholic. Jehovah's Witnesses preached regularly while denouncing Catholicism and their publications depicted the pope as a whore. The group was considered to be a "seditious" and "subversive" religion. Through the Padlock Act and other legal measures, the activities of Jehovah's Witnesses were legally restricted. In 1947, Jehovah's Witnesses launched a preaching campaign condemning these restrictions and advocating the rights of religious minorities. The Legislative Assembly of Quebec responded to this campaign with increasing severity through the control of "subversive" materials. Individual municipalities also passed legislature restricting religious activities. Rabbi Solomon Frank, a founding member of the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC), advocated for the religious freedom of Jehovah's Witnesses, criticizing Quebec's government of being "anti-democratic."

Saumur v The City of Quebec

In 1953, the case of Saumur v Quebec (City of) (1953) 25 CR 299 (in which a Jehovah's Witness challenged a Quebec City bylaw prohibiting public distribution of literature without a permit) left the question of religious freedom undecided as: "both Parliament and the provinces could validly limit freedom of worship providing they did so in the course of legislating on some other subject which lay within their respective powers." It is considered to be a landmark case for religious freedom in Canada.

This decision was part of a series of cases the Supreme Court dealt with concerning the rights of Jehovah's Witnesses under the Duplessis government of Quebec. Previous to this there was the case of R. v. Boucher S.C.R. 265 that upheld the right to distribute pamphlets.

Roncarelli v Duplessis

Subsequent to Saumur was the case of Roncarelli v Duplessis S.C.R. 121. The court held that in 1946 Maurice Duplessis, both Premier and Attorney General of Quebec, had overstepped his authority by ordering the manager of the Liquor Commission to revoke the liquor licence of Frank Roncarelli, a Montreal restaurant owner and Jehovah's Witness who was an outspoken critic of the Roman Catholic Church in Quebec. Roncarelli provided bail for Jehovah's Witnesses arrested for distributing pamphlets attacking the Roman Catholic Church. The Supreme Court found Duplessis personally liable for $33,123.56 in damages plus Roncarelli's court costs.

Other cases

In several other cases, including Chaput v Romain (1955) and Lamb v Benoit (1959), Jehovah's Witnesses successfully sued the police for damages. In Chaput v. Romain, police had raided a home where a religious service by Jehovah’s Witnesses was being conducted, seized bibles and other religious paraphernalia, and disrupted the service despite not having a warrant and no charges being laid. In Lamb v. Benoit, a Jehovah's Witness, was arrested for distributing religious pamphlets in Verdun, Quebec, in 1946, along with three other members of the religion. She was accused by the plaintiff of distributing copies of Quebec's Burning Hate, but the Supreme Court found no evidence of that specific pamphlet being distributed. Lamb was detained for a weekend without access to legal counsel. Local authorities offered to release Lamb if she would not hold them responsible for her detention, but she refused. She was then charged with conspiracy to publish sedition, but this was dismissed by a trial judge and that decision was upheld when appealed.

Canadian Bill of Rights

In order to obtain religious freedom, Jehovah's Witnesses in Canada helped promote the creation of a national bill of rights. In 1946, a provincial bill had been enacted ensuring religious freedom through the Saskatchewan Bill of Rights. On June 9, 1947, Jehovah's Witnesses presented a petition to Canada's parliament for the enactment of a similar bill, followed by a similar petition in 1949. John Diefenbaker became an advocate of the bill. The Canadian Bill of Rights was the precursor to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms which is part of the Canadian constitution.

See also

• Jehovah's Witnesses and governments
• Jehovah's Witnesses in the United States
• Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Nazi Germany
• Internment of Japanese Canadians
• Italian Canadian internment
• Ukrainian Canadian internment

References

1. Kaplan, William (1989). State and Salvation: Jehovah's Witnesses and Their Fight for Civil Rights. University of Toronto Press. p. 15. ISBN 0-8020-5842-6.
2. Botting 1993, pp. 21–23.
3. Botting, 1993 & pages-23-25. sfn error: no target: CITEREFBotting1993pages-23-25 (help)
4. Penton, James (2007). "Jehovah's Witnesses and the Second World War". Journal of Mennonite Studies: 81. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
5. "CANADIAN WRONGS: QUEBEC'S ATTACK ON JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES". University of Toronto Libraries. University of Toronto. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
6. Kaplan, William (1989). State and Salvation. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
7. ^ Rainville, Paul-Étienne (2018). "Au nom de l'ordre ou de la liberté? Le Congrès juif canadien face à la répression des libertés civiles et des droits des minorités religieuses au Québec (1945–1954)". Canadian Historical Review (in French). 99 (2): 196–224. doi:10.3138/chr.99.2.02. ISSN 0008-3755. S2CID 159979384.
8. ^ Beaman 2008, p. 22.
9. Miron, Janet (2009). A History of Human Rights in Canada. Canadian Scholars' Press Incorporated. p. 49. ISBN 9781551303567. Jehovah's Witnesses, whose religion led them to viciously attack the Roman Catholic Church (often on people's doorsteps)
10. Beaman 2008, p. 21.
11. Russel, Peter (1989). Federalism and the Charter: Leading Constitutional Decisions. McGill-Queen's Press. p. 300.
12. Scott, Stephen A. (2006-02-07). "Roncarelli v Duplessis". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
13. ^ Lamb v. Benoit et al.; S.C.R. 321 (January 27, 1959) (Report). Canadian Government News.
14. The Protection of Fundamental Rights by the Constitutional Court. Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. 1996. p. 241. ISBN 9789287129604.
15. The Saskatchewan Bill of Rights Act, 1947, SS 1947, s. 19.
16. "Part 24—Expanding in the Western Hemisphere". The Watchtower. December 15, 1955. p. 742.
17. "CANADIAN WRONGS: JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES AND THE ERA OF RIGHTS". University of Toronto Libraries. University of Toronto. Retrieved 20 August 2022.

Sources

• Beaman, Lori (2008). Defining Harm: Religious Freedom and the Limits of the Law. UBC Press. ISBN 978-0-7748-1429-4.
• Botting, Gary (1993). Fundamental Freedoms and Jehovah's Witnesses. University of Calgary Press. ISBN 1-895176-06-9.

• Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses
• Canadian freedom of religion case law
• Religiously motivated violence in Canada
• Christian nonviolence
• Conscription crises
• Conscription in Canada
• Military history of Canada during World War II