EDITORIAL: Throne for a loop by an oath to the King

A baffling ruling by Alberta’s Court of Appeal recently declared that the province’s requirement that new lawyers swear an oath to King Charles III was unconstitutional. This is a curious decision in a constitutional monarchy with a king as head of state.

A refresher for those who slept through Grade 9 Civics: Parliament comprises three parts — the elected House of Commons, the Senate and the Crown. That’s the bedrock of our democracy. Instead of electing an all-powerful president, where the country is vulnerable to his foibles, this country has a balanced system of government. Our prime minister is our elected head of government. Our head of state is a constitutional monarch. He’s the embodiment of this country and its Constitution. Swearing allegiance to the Crown is swearing allegiance to Canada.

Alberta is the only province that makes such a pledge from prospective lawyers mandatory.

Prabjot Singh Wirring said that taking the oath would compromise his faith and identity, as he has already made an absolute oath to Akal Purakh, the divine being in the Sikh tradition.

It’s difficult to see how pledging allegiance to the country he lives in — whose laws he will uphold as a lawyer in a court that operates under the aegis of the Crown — can be seen as a religious restriction. Yes, in the past, the monarch was “Defender of the Faith.” Charles, however, has made it clear he’s “Defender of Faith,” generally, and the rights of all people to worship in the manner they so choose. That’s the great thing about having a living, breathing, intelligent being as your head of state.

The Alberta Law Society said it supports making the oath optional to “remove inequitable barriers to the practice of law.”
Canada is envied around the world for its stable government. We enjoy freedoms other countries can only dream of.

The constitutional monarch is an intrinsic part of that.

When U.S. President Donald Trump was musing about annexing Canada, we demanded Charles come to open Parliament to demonstrate our differences. In the midst of his cancer treatment, the King of Canada duly did just that, demonstrating that a pledge of allegiance cuts both ways.

Like it or not, we’re a constitutional monarchy — all the time. Not just when it suits us.