Law Matters Law Opinion The loyalty being asked of us are to Canada’s organizing constitutional principles. Share: The requirement to take an oath of allegiance to the sovereign remains a requirement for being called to the Bar in some provinces, including Alberta. Does it violate deeply held religious beliefs? Can it even violate those beliefs? Past decisions out of Ontario dealing with the oath as a condition of acquiring Canadian citizenship can offer some guidance. In McAteer v. Canada (AG) , a series of individuals objected to taking the oath of allegiance to the sovereign (then Elizabeth II) as a condition of acquiring Canadian citizenship on various Charter – based grounds. They argued, unsuccessfully, that taking such an oath conflicted with their deeply held religious beliefs or political convictions. Not that their beliefs were unworthy of protection. But the purpose of the oath was secular ––directed at the symbolic head from which the principles of democracy, the rule of law and egalitarianism flow. Canada’s constitutional underpinnings provide the very support for their freedom to hold and exercise their beliefs. In sum, there is no, and arguably cannot be any conflict between a sincere adherence to republicanism, egalitarianism or Rastafarianism […]
