1. Conflicting Decisions: Why the Privy Council Drifted from Precedent in Deciding Cunningham v Homma.
- Author
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Szemok-Uto, Keita
- Subjects
Suffrage -- Laws, regulations and rules ,Election law -- Evaluation ,Japanese Canadians -- Demographic aspects ,Aliens -- Laws, regulations and rules ,Naturalization -- Laws, regulations and rules ,Race discrimination -- Laws, regulations and rules ,Cunningham v. Homma (1900 B.C.S.C. 368) ,Government regulation - Abstract
Introduction I. Homma through the courts II. Union Colliery v Bryden III. Homma before the Privy Council IV. Explaining the Privy Council's departure from Union Colliery 1. Features and limitations [...], This paper highlights the structural barriers to voting rights that Japanese-Canadians in BC faced in the early 20th century. It documents Tomekichi Homma's challenge of provincial legislation which prevented the Japanese from voting in local elections. His fight went to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, then the highest court of appeal in Canada. While Homma challenged the law because it denied voting rights based on racial grounds, the courts made little to no reference to race or ethnicity in hearing the issue; their focus was on questions of constitutionality and the division of powers. The Privy Council employed questionable legal reasoning in dismissing Homma's appeal, and departed from a recent precedent of theirs, Union Colliery, which promoted the employment rights of Chinese-Canadians in BC. This paper attempts to understand and explain why Homma was not successful before the Privy Council in the face of the Union Colliery decision. Cet article met en lumi re les obstacles structurels au droit de vote auxquels les Canadiens d'origine japonaise ont t confront s en Colombie-Britannique au d but du XXe si cle. Il documente la contestation par Tomekichi Homma de la l gislation provinciale qui emp chait les Japonais de voter aux lections locales. Son combat a t port devant le comit judiciaire du Conseil priv , qui tait alors la plus haute cour d'appel du Canada. Bien que Homma ait contest la loi parce qu'elle refusait le droit de vote pour des motifs raciaux, les tribunaux n'ont gu re fait r f rence la race ou l'appartenance ethnique lors de l'examen de la question; ils se sont concentr s sur les questions de constitutionnalit et de r partition des pouvoirs. Le Conseil priv a utilis un raisonnement juridique discutable pour rejeter l'appel de Homma et s'est cart d'un de ses pr c dents r cents, Union Colliery, qui a promu les droits l'emploi des Sino-Canadiens en Colombie-Britannique. Cet article tente de comprendre et d'expliquer pourquoi Homma n'a pas eu gain de cause devant le Conseil priv , compte tenu de la d cision de Union Colliery.
- Published
- 2024