Person:John Shearer (30)

The Canadian Encyclopedia says: Shearer, John George

Shearer, John George Shearer, John George, Presbyterian minister, social reformer (b at Bright, Canada W 9 Aug 1859; d at Toronto 27 Mar 1925). Shearer left parish work in 1900 to become secretary of the LORD'S DAY ALLIANCE, editor of the Lord's Day Advocate and architect of the Lord's Day Act introduced in 1906. In 1907 he became the permanent secretary of the new Committee on Temperance and Other Moral Reforms (organized in 1909 as the Board of Temperance and Reform and renamed in 1911 the Board of Social Service and Evangelism) of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. From 1918 until his death he was full- time secretary of the Social Service Council of Canada, which he helped to establish. For his speeches and articles against unsafe housing and working conditions, abuse of women and children, alcoholism, venereal disease, prostitution and political corruption, Shearer was called the mouthpiece of the social conscience of Canadian Christianity.

Author JOHN S. MOIR Lord's Day Alliance of Canada (renamed People for Sunday Association of Canada in 1982), a lay organization founded in 1888 under the aegis of the PRESBYTERIAN Church and supported by the other Protestant churches to combat increasing Sabbath secularization. In the early phases of Canada's industrialization and urbanization, Sunday was usually the only day of rest: the issue was whether that day should be a holy day or a holiday. The churches faced growing competition for the loyalty of potential churchgoers: industrial concerns, such as railways, demanded Sunday labour from their employees. More important, new leisure pursuits beckoned. Technological advances, particularly electric urban transit systems, increased people's mobility, allowing them to escape the cities. Commercial recreation activities such as sporting events, ice cream parlours and theatres were equally tempting. Many Canadians seemed inclined to make Sunday a day both of religion and recreation. The Alliance became one of the most effective lobbies of the early 20th century. It gained the crucial support of the French Canadian Catholic hierarchy and, with its promise of a legislated weekly rest day, of organized labour. In 1906, this combination of forces and the Alliance's sophisticated lobbying techniques persuaded Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid LAURIER to introduce a Lord's Day Act. Although strong opposition existed among the transportation and manufacturing concerns and among French Canadians, the Act became law in March 1907 aiming to restrict Sunday trade, labour and recreation. The Alliance then struggled to secure enforcement: because the Act required provincial authorization for each prosecution, the Alliance battled in many arenas, with varying success. The Sunday shopping issue still provokes intense debate, uniting labour, retail merchants, churches and the People for Sunday Association in opposition. Canadians' pursuit of Sunday pleasure has doubtless defeated the association's main aim - Sunday is primarily a holiday and only partly a holy day.

See also SUNDAY SHOPPING.

Author SHARON P. MEEN Sunday Shopping from TCE Standard

    On 24 April 1985 the Supreme Court of Canada in the BIG M DRUG MART case struck down the Lord's Day Act on the grounds that it contravened the freedom of religion and conscience provision in the CANADIAN CHARTER OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS. Mr Justice Dickson concluded that the purpose of the Lord's Day Act was sabbatical observance and held that "To the extent that it binds all to a sectarian Christian ideal, the Lord's Day Act works a form of coercion inimical to the spirit of the Charter and the dignity of all non-Christians It takes religious values rooted in Christian morality and, using the force of the state, translates them into a positive law binding on believers and non-believers alike."  

Legislative Traditions The federal Lord's Day Act made it an offence to transact business on Sunday. It was part of a legislative tradition which started in the 17th century in England. An "Act for punishing divers Abuses committed on the Lord's Day," called Sunday, was passed during the reign of Charles I. John George Shearer may have had powerful impacts within the Shearer Family as well. His sister is known to have worked on a book written by one of his compatriots, Rev. Charles W. Gordon. I suspect he may have been an influential factor in several other family members settling in the west.

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Ada Jane Shearer and The Shearer Historians. Shearer Family History. (Created in Elma Township in 1938 and maintained by Shearer Reunion Historians. Information was reported by knowledgeable family members and was well maintained in the early years.).
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Isa Cleland. Information that Isa researched on the Shearers. (This information was gathered by Isa until her death in 1999. Most is copied from the Shearer Family Tree.).