SUPREME COURT OF CANADA CITATION: Alberta v. Hutterian ...

difficulties in respect of its interpretation and application. Perhaps, courts will never be able toexplain in a complete and satisfactory manner the meaning of religion for the purposes of theCharter. One might have thought that the guarantee of freedom of opinion, freedom of conscience,freedom of expression and freedom of association could very well have been sufficient to protectfreedom of religion. But the framers of the Charter thought fit to incorporate into the Charter anexpress guarantee of freedom of religion, which must be given meaning and effect.[181] That decision reflects the complex and highly textured nature of freedom of religion.The latter is an expression of the right to believe or not. It also includes a right to manifest one’sbelief or lack of belief, or to express disagreement with the beliefs of others. It also incorporates aright to establish and maintain a community of faith that shares a common understanding of thenature of the human person, of the universe, and of their relationships with a Supreme Being inmany religions, especially in the three major Abrahamic faiths, Judaism, Christianity and Islam.[182] Religion is about religious beliefs, but also about religious relationships. The presentappeal signals the importance of this aspect. It raises issues about belief, but also about themaintenance of communities of faith. We are discussing the fate not only of a group of farmers, butof a community that shares a common faith and a way of life that is viewed by its members as a wayof living that faith and of passing it on to future generations. As Justice Abella points out, theregulatory measures have an impact not only on the respondents’ belief system, but also on the lifeof the community. The reasons of the majority understate the nature and importance of this aspectof the guarantee of freedom of religion. This may perhaps explain the rather cursory treatment ofthe rights claimed by the respondents in the course of the s. 1 analysis. I will now turn to this aspect