Supreme Court Issues a Strong Decision on Freedom of Religion in Loyola v. Quebec « Canadian Civil Liberties Association

Supreme Court Issues a Strong Decision on Freedom of Religion in Loyola v. Quebec « Canadian Civil Liberties Association

The CCLA intervened in the case in light of its importance to the
more general understanding of freedom of religion in Canada.  Before the
Court, CCLA argued that while freedom of religion is often thought of
as an individual right, it also has significant associational and
expressive components.  Therefore, in certain cases, where an
institution is primarily a vehicle through which individual members
exercise their own freedom of religion, the institution itself can make a
claim under the Charter.  CCLA also argued that the Minister
was required to consider freedom of religion in making its determination
on the exemption.  The Supreme Court decision contains two sets of
reasons, but both affirm that freedom of religion has communal aspects
that will benefit from Charter protection and that the Minister had to consider freedom of religion in making the exemption decision in this case.