Freedom of religion in Canada is a constitutionally protected right, allowing residents the freedom to assemble and worship as each sees fit without coercion, limitation or interference. The Seventh Day Adventist Church's minority status increased its sensitivity to religious freedom early in its history. Shortly after its birth in 1860, the American Civil War and later "Sunday legislation" in the 1880s and 1890s raised concerns about religious liberty. That sensitivity accompanied the church's expansion into Canada.
Timeline
1904, Lornedale Academy Workers arrested for violating Sunday Law
1904, International Sunday Rest Conference, St. Louis
1906, An Act Respecting the Lord's Day. 1950, The Shops Act (UK) 1952, Lord's Day Act, R.S.C. 1952, c. 171, s. 4. 1961, June 26. Lewis E. Gordon, owner of a coin-operated laundry business, held in violation of the Lord's Day Act by the Supreme Court of Canada. 1960s, Walter v. A.G. Alberta 1985, The Supreme Court of Canada finds the Lord's Day Act unconstitutional in R. v. Big M Drug Mart Ltd
1904 arrest of Lornedale Academy workers for violating Sunday Law
The September 1, 1904, edition of The Messenger (Adventist newspaper) reported: "On Monday, August 15, Brethren Charles Sweeten and Fred Boettger, who for more than a year past have been employed on the Lorne Dale Academy farm, were summoned to appear before the Magistrate in answer to a complaint made against them for working on 'the Lord's day, commonly called Sunday, in violation of the law.' The summons was made returnable on Friday, August 19 at 2 o'clock p.m., at Cooksville.
The defense attorney failed to appear at the trial. Sweeten did not want to proceed without his attorney. However, the Crown attorney demanded his pay for the day plus compensation for the large number of witnesses he had called. Sweeten relented and the trial began. Eugene Leland helped present a defense of the two men's "not guilty" plea. As the trial proceeded, the witnesses were unclear as to what they had seen. "The only witness put on the stand who could bear positive testimony was a memher of the S. D. Adventist church, a young girl who had been employed at the farm picking berries, who reluctantly testified that Bro. Sweeten was in the patch on the day specified and was carrying berries."
Leland's defense was that the 1845 law did not include "farmers". Both Boettger and Sweeten testified that they were farmers. Leland concluded his defense by stating some principles involved in Sunday laws in general and showing that there was no Biblical authority requiring Sunday observance. The Magistrate made remarks that convinced the men that they would be convicted. He expressed sympathy for "this people" because he believed they were sincere, but he "did not believe that anybody had a right to set a day apart different from the majority of people, on which to worship, but should conform to the day on which the majority worshipped." The trial was adjourned until the August 25th for a decision.
The September 8, 1904 edition of the Review and Herald reported, "ELDER EUGENE LELAND writes us from Lorne Park, Ontario, under date of August 26, that Brother Charles Sweeten, manager of the Lornedale Academy farm, and Brother Fred Boettger, a student in the academy, have been arrested and fined five dollars each and costs, with the alternative of a term in the county jail, for the same crime (?) of having failed to observe Sunday as the Sabbath."
1906, The Lord's Day Act
The Lord's Day Act, which since 1906 had prohibited business transactions from taking place on Sundays, was struck down as unconstitutional in the 1985 case R. v. Big M Drug Mart Ltd. Calgary police officers witnessed several transactions on a Sunday at the Big M Drug Mart. Big M was charged with violating the Lord's Day Act. A provincial court ruled that the Act was unconstitutional, but the Crown appealed all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. In a unanimous 6-0 decision, the Lord's Day Act was ruled an infringement of the freedom of conscience and religion defined in section 2(a) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Apocalyptic View of Sunday Legislation
Canadian Seventh-day Adventists saw apocalyptic foreshadowing in Sunday law. Seventh-day Adventists teach that the command to worship the image of the beast found in Revelation 13 predicts Sunday observance legislation at the end of the Earth's history.