MalahatTwo7
02-20-2008, 08:59 AM
Ok I'm not one to normally use profanity in a public forum, and I apologize in advance for that, but....... :mad: This sort of thing frosts my whatzits.
Oath to Queen could be on the way out. Ontario Court of Appeal rejects attempt to have lower court's ruling overturned
Joseph Brean, Canwest News Service Published: Wednesday, February 20, 2008
TORONTO -- The Queen's place in Canada is going to trial, now that the federal government has failed to stop a Charter of Rights and Freedoms challenge of the citizenship oath's reference to the monarchy.
Three judges of the Ontario Court of Appeal denied the federal attorney general's request yesterday to dismiss the case by overturning a lower court ruling that allowed it to proceed.
Brought by Charles Roach, a Toronto lawyer who objects to the monarchy's connection to slavery, the case has rallied the diverse forces of Canadian republicanism, from Irish and Indian nationalism to casual distaste for monarchies.
Without even hearing from Roach's lawyer and daughter, Kikelola Roach, the judges upheld an earlier ruling, and dismissed the government's appeal, calling the case a "straightforward, charter-based constitutional challenge of a federal law," and not a dispute over the conduct of federal officials.
As Associate Chief Justice Dennis O'Connor put it: "There's nothing, quote, citizenshippy about it."
To overturn this ruling, the government would now have to go to the Supreme Court of Canada.
The ruling means the class action, in which damages of $5,000 are being sought for people who have refused to swear the oath or swore it under duress, now can proceed in the Ontario Superior Court.
As the test case, Roach, 74, a permanent resident of Canada who was born a British subject in Trinidad and emigrated to Canada more than 50 years ago, argues the requirement to swear an oath to the Queen violates the charter's freedom of conscience provision.
New Canadian citizens must swear an oath to "be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, her heirs and successors."
© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2008
As some of our Esteemed Colleagues have said: "You don't like it? GO BACK HOME!"
Oath to Queen could be on the way out. Ontario Court of Appeal rejects attempt to have lower court's ruling overturned
Joseph Brean, Canwest News Service Published: Wednesday, February 20, 2008
TORONTO -- The Queen's place in Canada is going to trial, now that the federal government has failed to stop a Charter of Rights and Freedoms challenge of the citizenship oath's reference to the monarchy.
Three judges of the Ontario Court of Appeal denied the federal attorney general's request yesterday to dismiss the case by overturning a lower court ruling that allowed it to proceed.
Brought by Charles Roach, a Toronto lawyer who objects to the monarchy's connection to slavery, the case has rallied the diverse forces of Canadian republicanism, from Irish and Indian nationalism to casual distaste for monarchies.
Without even hearing from Roach's lawyer and daughter, Kikelola Roach, the judges upheld an earlier ruling, and dismissed the government's appeal, calling the case a "straightforward, charter-based constitutional challenge of a federal law," and not a dispute over the conduct of federal officials.
As Associate Chief Justice Dennis O'Connor put it: "There's nothing, quote, citizenshippy about it."
To overturn this ruling, the government would now have to go to the Supreme Court of Canada.
The ruling means the class action, in which damages of $5,000 are being sought for people who have refused to swear the oath or swore it under duress, now can proceed in the Ontario Superior Court.
As the test case, Roach, 74, a permanent resident of Canada who was born a British subject in Trinidad and emigrated to Canada more than 50 years ago, argues the requirement to swear an oath to the Queen violates the charter's freedom of conscience provision.
New Canadian citizens must swear an oath to "be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, her heirs and successors."
© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2008
As some of our Esteemed Colleagues have said: "You don't like it? GO BACK HOME!"