Demythologizing Sunday Shopping: Sunday Retail Restrictions and the Charter

MIKE BRUNDRETT

ABSTRACT

In the political realm, the issue of whether we should be allowed to work, shop, or open a store on Sunday is extremely contentious in Canada. The author argues that this debate has spilled over into Charter jurisprudence and that vested economic interests are behind many of the moves to strike down provincially-enacted Sunday retail restrictions as unjustified violations of religious freedom. The result is a curious debate in which legal arguments are often made for political and economic purposes, and individual freedom of religion guarantees conflict with the collective societal objectives of common pause day legislation. The author concludes that, if constitutional protection of religious pluralism is taken seriously, the sanctioning of Sunday laws with limited sabbatarian exemptions in the leading decision of R. v. Edwards Books & Art Ltd. represents a failure in degree. Open sabbatarian exemptions for retailers holding genuine religious beliefs must be required by the courts, especially in light of s. 27. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court's recent softening of minimum impairment scrutiny under s. 1 makes this an unlikely result.

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Citation: (1992) 50(1) U.T. Fac. L. Rev. 1.
Copyright © 1992. University of Toronto Faculty of Law Review.
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