Public Order

• Author: M.H. Ogilvie
• Pages: 188-196

188

CHAP TER 6

PUBLIC ORDER

A. INTRODUCTION

There are a small number of legal issues t hat cannot easily be accommo-

dated exclusively within either criminal or constitutional law because

they partake of some elements of both categories. In this chapter, these

topics are grouped together under the rubric “public order,” since pub-

lic order appears to be in some way a unif ying feature. Many of these

cases pose un ique criminal or constitutional issues; however, because

they appear to be out of the main streams of these areas, they have been

collected in this chapter. Each issue considered here ha s typically been

the topic of judicial adjudication on only one or a few instance s, so it is

diff‌icult to discern general themes or policies of the law in relation to

“public order” other than a determination by the courts to enforce it.

B. R ELIGIOUS SOLICITATION

In R. v. Big M Drug Mart Ltd.,1 the Supreme Court of Canada included

freedom of expression and freedom to proselytize as constituent ele-

ments in freedom of religion pursuant to sect ion 2(a) of the Charter.

This mean s that door-to-door pamphlet s olicitation is perm itted pursu-

1 [1985] 1 S.C.R. 295.