Toronto Judge H. J.M. Donley has ruled that under Canadian law no municipality has the right to force retail shops to remain closed on religious holidays.
The case arose when some 25 retailers were summonsed on Good Friday last Spring for keeping their shops open. Among the shopkeepers were bakers, grocers and even a seller of Jewish prayer books and religious articles. All were doing business in Forest Hill Village, a suburb of Toronto.
When a local magistrate held that the retailers had violated a local ordinance, they took the case to a higher court. The definitive ruling here, based on an earlier decision of the Supreme Court of Canada, held that only the Federal Government had the power to enact laws forcing shop closings on religious holidays. The attorney for the defendants was S. M. Harris, chairman of the Ontario Joint Public Relations Committee of B’nai B’rith and Canadian Jewish Congress.
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