The first Jehovah’s Witnesses arrived in Canada at the end of the nineteenth century and were mainly concentrated in the Toronto area, which was and is the economic capital of Canada. Under the influence of Dr Rutherford, the JWs adopted the same missiological and legal strategies as in the United States; they challenged many controversial issues in court, using decisions and legal interpretations from American courts and legislation. However, while the two states share many common legal values and cultural pluralism, Canada is profoundly different in its management of religious diversity and its interpretation of religious freedom.
In 1851, Canada promulgated its first law on religious freedom, which established a modus vivendi defining the absence of proselytism among religious denominations. Canada is a confederation of provinces with their own legislation, and religious matters fall under both federal and provincial jurisdictions. Canada was part of the British Empire and for a long time the decisions of the British courts were the primary source of comparative jurisprudence. Canada is a pluralistic country with French, British and Aboriginal roots, with strong immigration from very diverse cultures, united in a multicultural policy.
When the JWs began their door-to-door work, proselytizing to other Christians and distributing leaflets, almost everything about this religious movement was different from other denominations and in part contradicted the modus vivendi of 1851. At that time, JWs faced hostility from many denominations and especially from Catholics.
The legal and social treatment of JWs is both converging and diverging. From a legal perspective, we can distinguish three moments in cases involving JWs. The war period up to 1945 was a time when JWs were described as unpatriotic. Other religious minorities, such as the Hutterites, remained united behind the war effort, even if they opposed any military involvement. From 1945 to the 1970s, the period of the Charters of Rights, the JWs won many trials for their proselytizing activities and, through much effort and pain, were recognized as a religious denomination. After this period, the trials dealt more with family and health matters, and then JWs were treated like other religious groups and minorities. In other words, the treatment of JWs doesn’t look different from other religious cases. From a social perspective, the situation is somewhat different.
Prejudice against JWs remains strong. For decades, JWs have distinguished themselves from others on the issues of patriotism, missiology and refusal to accept blood transfusions. Even though court decisions have regularized the JWs as a religious community, the social representation of them retains a kind of hostility. It seems that responsibility lies not only with the public’s perception but also with the social and legal strategies promoted by the JWs.
Our research attempts to paint an objective picture of the JWs through court decisions and social integration. The results may lead to a better understanding of the underlying gaps.
Research on Jehovah’s Witnesses in Canada often uses American data to analyze their status. Although the two countries share many legal values and cultural pluralism, Canada is very different in its management of religious diversity and its interpretation of religious freedom. Our research attempts to paint an objective portrait of the JWs through court decisions and does the same for the social integration of the communities. To do so, we distinguish the court decisions between three different periods and follow the evolution of the JWs as a religious group. We will cross-reference these results with social perceptions of the JWs. The results may provide a better understanding of the underlying gaps.