Freedom Party of Ontario Archive

AUDIO – DESCRIPTION:

Beginning June 7, 1988, Freedom Party of Ontario Action Director Marc Emery spent 4 days in jail for having refused to pay a $500 fine that was imposed upon him by a court for having opened his bookstore on a Sunday, contrary to provincial law. He had opened his store as an act of civil disobedience, in conjunction with his efforts as Action Director of the Freedom Party. In the face of organized proponents of the ban on Sunday shopping – including organized religion, organized business interests, and all three of the political parties holding seats in the Ontario Legislature – Emery was the front man for Freedom Party of Ontario’s lonely, but ultimately successful, campaign against the Sunday shopping ban.

In this radio broadcast, “Radio Docs” host Mario Circelli mentions that Emery has just been released from jail to join him on the program (that makes June 10, 1988 the most likely date of the broadcast; Freedom Party president Robert Metz recalls having brought money to the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre in the early morning hours of a June Friday to pay the money [collected from supporters as “Pennies for Principles”] necessary to secure Emery’s release). Arguably, the fact that Emery has just emerged from jail can be heard not so much in Emery’s voice, as in his words on the program. This arguably is Emery in his finest form.