Today is Thanksgiving! To celebrate this special occasion, a bunch of Asian friends and I are going to have Korean barbeque for lunch! Walking down Bloor St., most of the shops are closed for the occasion, while only a handful remain open for business. What’s that about?
Under the Retail Business Holidays Act retail stores in Ontario, except those exempted under the legislation, must close on the eight holidays specified.
These holidays include:
- New Year’s Day
- Good Friday
- Victoria Day
- Canada Day
- Labour Day
- Thanksgiving Day
- Christmas Day
- Easter Sunday
Looking through the list, you’ll find that some of the holidays are civil in nature, such as New Year’s Day, Canada Day and Labour Day, while others contain strong religious connotations, like Good Friday, Easter Sunday, and Christmas.
Given that Canada is a secular country and that people enjoy freedom of religion under the Constitution, are the mandatory retail closing constitutional?
This issue has been litigated before the Courts.
When the Constitution 1982 first came into force, a retail store challenged the mandatory retail closing provisions in the Lord’s Day Act, the legislation that mandated retail stores to be closed on Sundays and other Christian holidays at the time. The Lord’s Day Act was found to be unconstitutional because it compelled observance of Christian holidays.
The government quickly re-named the Lord’s Day Act as the Retail Business Holidays Act, and re-enacted substantially similar provisions that mandate retail stores to be closed on Sundays and other holidays.
The retail stores challenged the new law again. However, the second time around, the courts found a valid secular purpose to the mandatory closing of the stores, in that it provided a common day of pause among retail workers. The retail stores’ challenge was dismissed.
The Retail Business Holidays Act has since been revised and no longer compels retail stores to be closed on Sundays in Ontario. However, Thanksgiving Day remains a mandatory holiday for all applicable retail workers.
