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In saying that public safety takes precedence over religious freedom, Quebec's highest court stated the obvious last week. But in barring a 14-year-old Sikh student from wearing his kirpan, a ceremonial dagger, to his public school, the Court of Appeal made a grievous error. It accepted the most speculative of dangers as a reason for undermining religious freedom, a freedom explicitly protected in both the Quebec and Canadian charters of rights. When rights collide in Canada, as they often do, the courts are not free simply to choose the right they prefer. They need to examine the evidence to determine whether the two rights can live together. This was the case in 1994 when the right to a fair trial came up against the right to free speech, in a case involving a fictional CBC movie about child abuse and some accused abusers.
Approximate Word count = 499
Approximate Pages = 2
(250 words per page double spaced)
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