Browse Items (11 total)

This document is the front page of the Canada Gazette from July 4, 1940. It publishes an Order in Council declaring Jehovah's Witnesses to be an illegal organization.

The War Measures Act gives the government the authority to take extensive measures to protect Canada, including measures that violate civil and human rights.
In 1940, The Jehovah’s Witnesses as a religion and organization was banned and made…

This document is an illustrated text of the Canadian Bill of Rights, which preceded the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Canadian Bill of Rights committed the federal government "the recognition and protection of human rights and…

This program features an interview of Frank Roncarelli who challenged Quebec Premier Duplessis's revocation of his liquor licence. Duplessis cancelled Roncarelli's licence after Roncarelli continued to post bail for Jehovah's Witnesses who had been…

Photograph of Maurice Duplessis during the 1952 Quebec provincial electoral campaign.

This is a newspaper article published in the Globe and Mail. The article reports on Roncarelli's successful lawsuit against Premier Duplessis.

This is a link to a decision of the Supreme Court of Canada. Laurier Samur, a practicing Jehovah’s Witness challenged a City of Quebec by-law that forbade
the distribution in the street of the City of any book, pamphlet, booklet, circular,…

This is a hyperlink to a decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in the Chaput v. Romain (1955) case. The case involved members of the provincial police who broke up a meeting that was conducted by a minister of the
Jehovah’s Witnesses in the…

This is the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in Roncarelli v. Duplessis (1959). Roncarelli had provoked the ire of Premier Duplessis by posting bail for members of the Jehovah's Witnesses who had been arrested for distributing pamphlets. Duplessis…

This is a hyperlink to the Supreme Court of Canada decision in Lamb v. Benoit (1959). Louise Lamb was arrested in 1946 while distributing pamphlets on the street in Quebec. Police believed she was distributing the pamphlet “Quebec’s Burning…

This is the first page of a tract distributed by Jehovah's Witnesses in Quebec. Premier Duplessis had members of the Jehovah's Witnesses arrested for handing out these tracts in the name of "public order".