Jehovah’s Witnesses win court battle against Quebec community

MONTREAL – The Quebec Court of Appeal upheld a lower-court decision yesterday, striking down a municipal bylaw restricting when Jehovah’s Witnesses can go door to door to promote their religion.

The city of Blainville, north of Montreal, had argued many of its residents don’t want Jehovah’s Witnesses at their door on weekends and in the evenings.

Justice Pierre Dalphond ruled that municipalities could adopt bylaws regulating door-to-door canvassing to guarantee the peace and safety of residents, but must be consistent with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

“The freedom of religion protected by the charter includes the right to manifest religious belief by teaching and dissemination,” Dalphond wrote.

“The impugned bylaw severely restricts the freedom of religion of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression of the citizens of Blainville by prohibiting door-to-door in the evening and during the weekends and by allowing it the rest of the time only if a person holds a permit.”

Dalphond’s ruling upheld a lower-court ruling that declared the bylaw unconstitutional.

However, both sides claimed victory in the case.

Glen How, the Witnesses’ lawyer, described the ruling as a “very good judgment.”

“The town council in Blainville was trying to dictate what people can meet and talk about,” he said. “It was just going too far.

“The Supreme Court has said that there’s a right of people to speak to one another. In a democracy, communication is very important and anything that cuts off the rights of Mr. Average Citizen to talk to his neighbours or anybody else is certainly damaging to democratic rights.”

Pierre Paquin, lawyer for the City of Blainville, said he doesn’t believe the decision is a total loss but noted he would probably not recommend appealing the case to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Read Another Article

10 Commandments stone removed from courthouse
Group gathers both acolytes, doubters

Related News Articles Topic(s): Jehovah's Witnesses Subscribe to Religion News Blog updates Subscribe to Religion News Blog [What is this?] Get Religion News Blog's headline by Email [What is this?] Follow Religion News Blog at Twitter Find Related Information Use our custom search engines to find additional research resources on religions and cults: ApologeticsSearch.com: Search for apologetics articles, books, videos, and other research resources across 135 Christian apologetics websites and blogs. CounterCultSearch.com: Search for information about (religious) cults, cult-like organizations, and cults experts -- as well as paranormal-, New Age, and pseudoscientific claims -- across 260+ websites, blogs and forums dedicated to cult research, spiritual abuse, ex-cult counseling & support. Find Related Religion & Spirituality Books at Amazon.com Jehovah's Witnesses Possibly related... or Most Popular Religion News Articles Kent Hovind: Evangelist arrested on federal charges Beast’s real mark devalued to ’616′ Muslim Woman Gives Sex Advice on Arab TV Michael Jackson Confirms Conversion to Islam Kent Hovind, ‘Dr. Dino,’ guilty on all counts The fall and rise of Carlton Pearson Search False prophet Harold Camping sets another date for rapture: May 21, 2011 Watch the film Theo van Gogh was murdered for Kent Hovind — Dr. Dino — sentenced to 10 years in prison

Search Religion News Blog