For Immediate Release October 15, 2003

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Quebec courts protect freedom of worship and speech

QUEBEC—On August 27, 2003, the Quebec Court of Appeal upheld a decision that a municipality cannot subject the door-to-door public ministry of Jehovah's Witnesses to a permit, nor can it decide whom citizens might receive at their home during the evening or on the weekend.

The Court of Appeal upheld an earlier decision of the Quebec Superior Court, which had ruled that a by-law of the town of Blainville, Quebec, requiring a permit for door-to-door solicitation cannot be applied to Jehovah's Witnesses. That Superior Court decision of April 17, 2001, also declared illegal the by-law's provisions to prohibit calling on homes of neighbors during evenings and on weekends. The town of Blainville appealed the Superior Court's decision to the Quebec Court of Appeal.

The Court of Appeal confirmed that the door-to-door ministry of Jehovah's Witnesses is a religious expression protected by the Canadian and Quebec Charters of rights and freedoms. The Court of Appeal ruled that the town's by-law also had severely restricted the freedom of thought, belief, opinion, and expression of the citizens of Blainville by prohibiting door-to-door visits to their homes in the evening and during the weekend.

The appeal court noted the evidence showed that the residents of Blainville were not complaining about the calls by Jehovah's Witnesses. The Court of Appeal issued a statement with its decision, which said, "There was no pressing and substantial need to regulate door-to-door canvassing for religious purposes." The appeal court further stated: "Moreover the measures enacted were negligently drafted and adopted in a hurry without prior consultation, and are irrational and disproportionate in their effects to the stated goal of protecting the privacy of the citizens."

The court's statement concluded: "In a free and democratic society, a city council should not play Big Brother in trying to decide who the residents may receive at their home during the evening or the weekend. The trial judge was right to declare the impugned by-law of no force or effect toward Jehovah's Witnesses."

United States Contact: J. R. Brown, telephone: (718) 560-5600
Canada contact: Mark Ruge, telephone: (905) 873-4100