Religious Group Opposed to Suicide Launches Constitutional Challenge Against Waterloo, Quebec
A Quebec religious group is challenging the municipality of Waterloo in a constitutional battle after one of its members was fined for spreading their message about suicide prevention door-to-door.
Groupe Jaspe, a Christian group based in Magog, Que., was issued two tickets in February for violating a bylaw that requires non-profit organizations to obtain a permit for activities such as “selling, collecting or soliciting.”
The group argues that this bylaw infringes on their freedom of religion and expression as guaranteed by Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Claude Tremblay, the group’s founder, who lost his son to suicide, believes it is his religious obligation to go door-to-door to help prevent others from taking their lives.
A lawyer representing Groupe Jaspe mentions that the group had not received tickets since winning a similar battle in 2015 in another Quebec municipality on the basis of religious freedom. However, in the current case, the municipality of Waterloo is citing Quebec’s secularism laws.
The municipality of Waterloo has not yet provided a comment on the matter.
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