On July 24^th, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled against some of Alberta's Hutterite communities, ensuring they will no longer be exempt from being required to have photographs on their drivers licenses.

The Hutterites believe that photographs are prohibited by the second commandment. While that belief would seem to fall under their constitutional right to freedom of religion, the ruling states that being exempt from having their photograph taken on religious grounds does not satisfy Section 1 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which states that our rights and freedoms can be overridden if it can be "demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society." You can thank Trudeau for that one.

In his latest column written for the Western Standard, Pierre Lemieux examines the ruling and questions the need for photographs on government identification in the first place:

Even the Supreme Court recognizes that requiring photo identification is a violation of the Hutterite's right to freedom of religion. The Hutterites originally came to Alberta because it offered them the freedom to practice their religion as they see fit. Not anymore apparently.

Not only is it disgraceful for the Alberta government to challenge the exemption, which to my knowledge has not created many problems in the past, it is also wrong that the Supreme Court thought that limiting their freedoms was justified, supposedly to protect identity theft.

Pierre Lemieux's full article can be found at westernstandard.ca

Update: Rob Breakenridge recently talked to Pierre Lemieux about this issue. You can hear the interview via the player below:

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Tags: Hutterites  Alberta  freedom of religion  Supreme Court of Canada  Charter of Rights and Freedoms  

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