Canada’s Sunday Law Appeal

International Religious Liberty Association · Chicago · Jun 21, 1900

FromThe American Sentinel, The Sentinel of Liberty, Vol. 15, No. 24.

Canada’s Sunday Law Appeal

As noticed a few weeks ago, the contest for religious freedom in Canada has reached a critical stage, and the outcome is awaited with much interest by both parties in the controversy. The question of the validity of the Sunday law passed some years since by the Ontario legislature, is to be determined by the Court of Appeals, and the decision given will vitally affect the situation in that province and exert a powerful influence for or against Sunday enforcement throughout the Dominion. Should the Ontario law be upheld, persecution of seventh-day observers, at whom the law is directly aimed, will be given a new impetus and the enemies of religious freedom will become bolder than ever before. But should the law be declared invalid, on the other hand, the whole matter of Sunday legislation will be thrown into the Dominion parliament, and the enactment of a new Sunday law by that body will have to be secured before the prosecution of seventh-day keepers can safely be proceeded with. The expected decision has already been delayed longer than was anticipated, and will probably be announced soon, though no prediction upon this point can be made with certainty.