A covenant that prohibited the sale of certain properties in Ontario to any person of the Jewish faith was declared invalid by the Supreme Court of Canada in a six-to-one decision. Only one judge did not think that the Supreme Court should interfere with the judgments of the provincial courts.
The convenant has been in effect since 1933 when a group of people banned together and bought property at the Beach of Pines. They all agreed that the property should never be sold to anyone of "Jewish, Hebrew, Semitic, Negro or colored race blood."
In 1948, Mrs. Annie Maud Noble of London, Ontario, who had agreed to the terms of the covenant originally, sold her property at the resort to Bernard Wolf, of the same city, and a Jew. The sale price was $6,800.
Mr. Wolf asked Mrs. Noble’s lawyers to get a court order declaring the covenant in the deed of sale void. The lawyers presented a motion before the Suprsme Court of Ontario for an order that the restrictive covenant did not constitute a valid objection to title of the land, and the lower court upheld the contention.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
