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Peace tax denied
Year Published: 1990Resource Type: Article Cx Number: CX3923 Abstract: Dr. Jerilynn Prior, a conscientious objector who was seeking to redirect the portion of her taxes destined for the military to other purposes, has been denied leave to present her case to the Supreme Court. About 550 Canadians have deposited money in a Peace Tax Trust, administered by Conscience Canada, and all of them were waiting to hear the outcome of the case. Despite the ruling, many of the conscientious objectors intend to continue to defy the government. They will attempt to present the money in the Peace Tax Trust to the government in Ottawa in return for a pledge that the money will not be spent for military purposes. Conscience Canada members are also pursuing a complaint of discrimination through the Canadian Human Rights Commission, but are experiencing difficulty because the Human Rights Act focuses on discrimination, rather than on human rights per se. As they point out, even torture would not be considered a violation of human rights under the Act, as long as all Canadians were equally subject to torture without discrimination. -- Conscience Canada, March 20, 1990. Conscience Canada can be contacted at Box 601, Station E, Victoria, British Columbia V8W 2P3, (604) 384-5532 |