For one hundred and fifteen years, Canada was governed by the British North America Act (BNA Act), as enacted by the British Parliament. In 1982, all that changed when, under then Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Canada adopted its own constitution, known as the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This document clearly defines the rights and freedoms of Canadians, and Canadians are justly proud of it.
However, in the preamble of the Charter, it states in part: “Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law. . .” This section was hastily added after extensive lobbying by a few religious groups and some Members of Parliament.
In 1997, Fern Wayman, her husband, Laurie and Ray Blessin, from the small town of Revelstoke, British Columbia, discussed how insulting the reference to ‘God’ in the Charter’s preamble was to atheists. Fern proposed sending a petition to Parliament requesting that the reference be removed. Member of Parliament Svend Robinson (NDP, Burnaby—Douglas) agreed to present the petition. The Humanist Association of Canada (HAC) helped distribute it, and it eventually gathered approximately 1,000 signatures.
Once the media learned about the petition, the phones started ringing off the hook in Svend’s office, Ray’s home, and the Humanist Association of Canada office.
On Tuesday, June 8, 1999, Svend presented the petition in the House of Commons. Humanists were taken completely by surprise and were unprepared for the outrage the petition sparked. Svend was met with jeers and catcalls from fellow Members of Parliament. Alexa McDonough, then NDP leader, shocked many by relegating Svend to the back benches as punishment.
As the petition was being presented in Parliament, a group of Humanists from the Ottawa area staged a demonstration on the steps outside the Parliament Buildings.
Normally, five to ten petitions are presented in Parliament each day, and most receive little or no attention. The Humanist Association of Canada submitted one mentioning ‘God’, and all hell broke loose.
At the beginning of this episode, the fundamentalists rallied around condemning the petition but as the story progressed more tolerant and open-minded voices were heard. However, the religious right was also influential. The HAC office received anonymous telephone calls saying they were asking Revenue Canada to revoke HAC’s charitable status and sure enough HAC got audited.
The Government responded to the petition saying that the non-religious were protected by the Charter and that there were no plans to amend the Charter.
We lost that fight. However, one lasting historical significance remains: Humanist Canada became part of the permanent parliamentary record through Hansard, the official record of Parliament.