During Canada’s first century, Christianity had a significant place in Canadian society and government. There were several explicitly Christian laws and policies, including prayer and Bible reading in many public schools.Christianity’s role in Canadian public life is now essentially gone. The main reason for this change was the adoption of Pierre Trudeau’s Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982. Adopting the Charter moved Canada towards a more “Americanized” relationship between church and state.The US Constitution contains an “Establishment Clause” that in recent decades has been interpreted to prohibit any perceived government support for religion, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” The Charter of Rights does not contain such a provision. However, the Canadian Supreme Court has interpreted Section 2(a) of the Charter (“2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms: (a) freedom of conscience and religion”) largely as though it contains the same principle as the Establishment Clause.This is the point made by Jeremy Patrick, a law professor at the University of Detroit, in his 2006 Tulsa Journal of Comparative and International Law article entitled, “Church, State, and Charter: Canada’s Hidden Establishment Clause.” He summarizes his argument this way, “Functionally, the Charter often mandates the separation of church and state in Canada. This ‘hidden establishment clause’ can be seen in court decisions invalidating prayer at city council meetings, religious education in public schools, and national Sunday closing legislation.”.Before 1982, Canada was very different than it is today. Although Canada did not have an established national church, there was a positive relationship between the government and Christianity.Historically, this relationship was rather close. As Patrick points out, “Between 1750 and 1802, Protestantism became the official religion in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, and it was a favoured religion in Newfoundland and Upper Canada (Ontario).” From 1791 until 1854, public land was set aside in both Upper and Lower Canada (Ontario and Quebec) for the support of Protestant clergy. This land was known as the Clergy Reserves.A national Lord’s Day Act was passed in 1906 to prohibit certain business and recreational activities in Canada on the basis of the Fourth Commandment. Some provinces required the reciting of the Lord’s Prayer and Bible reading in public schools. Some municipal councils began their meetings with the reciting of the Lord’s Prayer. This was normal, day-to-day life in Canada before the Charter.However, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau wanted a different kind of Canada, one without so many Christian trappings. He admired the American system and looked to it for inspiration in writing Canada’s Charter. Patrick notes, “The American Bill of Rights was an important influence on the wording of the Charter, and American court decisions continue to have an important impact on Canadian decisions.” Because the Charter was patterned on the American system, American judicial precedents became influential in interpreting Canada’s new constitution. In quick succession, one after another of Canada’s public Christian features was torn from the national fabric. First to go was the Lord’s Day Act. In the Big M Drug Mart decision of 1985, it was struck down specifically because it imposed a Christian religious obligation on the country..Then, in 1988 and 1990 respectively, two Ontario Court of Appeal decisions set precedents that affected education policy in most of the country. “In the first case, the Court of Appeal struck down the practice of beginning each school day with the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer and Bible readings; in the second case, the teaching of Christianity and its tenets as a matter of religious obligation was found unconstitutional.”A few years later, in a decision known as Freitag v. Penetanguishene, “the Court found that a city council’s commencement of each meeting with a recitation of the Lord’s Prayer violated the Charter’s guarantee of freedom of religion.”Taking all of this into account, Patrick suggests that the Charter contains a “hidden” establishment clause much like the Americans’ explicit Establishment Clause. He concludes that “a close examination of church and state cases decided under the Charter’s religious freedom guarantee appears strikingly similar in result and reasoning to those decided under the American Constitution’s Establishment Clause.” As a result, “the separation of church and state is the reality of and a requirement for Canadian democracy.”Of course, this is the result of Pierre Trudeau’s constitutional changes in 1982. Until then, there were numerous examples of government favouritism towards Christianity and Christian principles. Adopting the Charter provided legal tools for secularists to use to erase many of Canada’s public Christian elements. Patrick points out that this “move towards secularism in government affairs is bemoaned by many, but is now well-established both by law and social consensus.”By adopting the Charter in 1982, Pierre Trudeau changed Canada into a different kind of country, one that no longer recognized a role for God in public affairs. An intolerant secularism now pervades the government and guides many political decisions. Pierre Trudeau is long gone, but his harmful effect on the country is still clear for all to see.
