Mr. Glen How

This oral history interview with W. Glen How provides a comprehensive overview of his remarkable career as counsel for the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Canada from 1943 onwards. How discusses his early life, education at University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall Law School, and his decision to dedicate his legal career to defending the religious liberty rights of Jehovah’s Witnesses during a period of significant persecution and legal challenges.

The interview covers How’s involvement in numerous landmark constitutional cases that helped establish religious freedom in Canada. Key cases discussed include the wartime ban on Jehovah’s Witnesses, ministerial exemption cases during World War II, the Hamilton flag salute case, and the extensive Quebec litigation of the 1940s-1960s including Boucher, Saumur, Chaput, and Roncarelli. How also describes his later work on medical consent cases involving blood transfusions and custody disputes.

How’s narrative provides valuable insights into Canadian legal history, particularly the development of civil liberties jurisprudence before the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. His accounts reveal the religious and political tensions of wartime Canada, the influence of the Catholic Church in Quebec politics under Duplessis, and the gradual evolution of constitutional protection for minority religious rights through Supreme Court of Canada decisions.

This description was written by AI and may contain some inaccuracies.