''Re Drummond Wren''
945
Year 945 ( CMXLV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
* January 27 – The co-emperors Stephen and Constantine are overthrown barel ...
O.R. 778 (Ont. H.C.) is a decision by the
Ontario High Court, presided by
Justice Mackay, regarding the validity of a racially motivated
restrictive covenant. The Workers' Educational Association purchased the lot in East York. The covenant prohibited the land to be sold to "Jews, or persons of objectionable nationality". Drummond Wren brought forward an action to have the restrictive covenant declared invalid. Wren was the general secretary of the Workers' Educational Association. He was represented by John Cartwright and Irving Himel. J. M. Bennett appeared as legal counsel for the Canadian Jewish Congress, assisted by
Bora Laskin,
Jacob Finkelman, and Charles Dubin.
Ruling
Justice Mackay found the covenant to be invalid as a violation of public policy. He cited the recent signing of the ''
United Nations Charter
The Charter of the United Nations (UN) is the foundational treaty of the UN, an intergovernmental organization. It establishes the purposes, governing structure, and overall framework of the UN system, including its six principal organs: the ...
'' by the United Nations, to which Canada was a signatory, as a determining factor for public policy. He went on to state:
''"...It appears to me to be a moral duty, at least, to lend aid to all forces of cohesion, and similarly to repel all fissiparous tendencies which would imperil national unity..."''
Justice Mackay further stated:
"...nothing could be more calculated to create or deepen divisions between existing religious and ethnic groups in the Province, or in this Country, than the sanction of a method of land transfer which would permit the segregation areas, or conversely, would exclude particular groups from particular business or residential areas."
Justice Mackay confirmed that the covenant was an improper restraint on alienation. Moreover, the wording in the covenant was uncertain, as the phrase "persons of objectionable nationality" lacked legal meaning.
Aftermath
The Michigan Supreme Court in 1947 cited ''Drummond Wren'' in a decision finding that a property covenant against African Americans was invalid.
Shortly after the case was considered, but not followed, by Justice Schroeder in ''
Noble v. Alley''.
In 1979, Justice
Bertha Wilson, then at the Ontario Court of Appeal, cited ''Drummond Wren'' in the ''
Bhadauria'' case. Justice Wilson recognized a tort of discrimination. In 1981, the Supreme Court of Canada overturned Justice Wilson's ruling, finding instead no tort of discrimination in Canadian law.
[Seneca College v. Bhadauria, ]981
Year 981 ( CMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
Births
* Abu'l-Qasim al-Husayn ibn Ali al-Maghribi, Arab statesman (d. 1027)
* Giovanni Orseolo, Venetian ...
2 SCR 181
References
External links
*
Ontario case law
1945 in Canadian case law
1945 in Ontario
Discrimination in Canada
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