Anti-suicide religious group files constitutional challenge against Waterloo, Que. [Video]

A Quebec religious group headed by a man who lost his son to suicide has filed a constitutional challenge against the municipality of Waterloo after it was ticketed for going door-to-door to share its message about suicide prevention.

Groupe Jaspe, a Christian group based in Magog, Que., received two tickets in February, worth over $900 after fees, for violating a city bylaw requiring non-profit groups to obtain a permit for “selling, collecting or soliciting in the municipality.”

But rather than pay the tickets, Claude Tremblay, the group’s president and founder, is taking the municipality to court for what he said is a violation of his Charter rights.

“The constitution gives us the right to share our faith,” Tremblay said in an interview.

The challenge argues that the bylaw’s provisions “constitute a non-negligible obstacle to its practice of door-to-door canvassing” and therefore infringe on the group’s freedom of religion and expression …