https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/mlj/1900-v1-n1-mlj1811048/1005136ar/This third category could be interpreted broadly to protect idiosyncratic spiritual beliefs that are not associated with an identified religious community. If it is interpreted in this manner, to bring these two questions together, what evidence can the state require to assess a claim that is not associated with an identified religion, in a situation where sincerity is at issue, and the harm posed by an insincere claim is significant? This question formed the basis of Alberta’s and Ontario’s critiques of Amselem, to which we now turn.
Alberta’s reading of Amselem is troubling. How can the Charter prevent the government from distinguishing between fraudulent and sincere religious beliefs, given their dramatically different normative values to society? The presence of religious minorities is a value to be preserved,[30] while those who make fraudulent claims to obtain false documentation undermine the state’s ability to protect its citizens and should be prevented. Alberta thus problematically intimated in these passages that the Court’s construal of subsection 2(a) in Amselem prevented the province from recognizing the religious minorities the Charter obligates it to protect.
