The Sunday store debate has been running as rampant throughout Tisdale as it has been throughout the province. On the one hand, many feel that Sunday is the day when the majority of the population celebrate the Sabbath and therefore Sunday is the day that the stores should be closed. On the other hand, many groups do not celebrate the Sabbath on Sundays and are therefore violated against by having to work on their day of worship.
Feeling it had voted its final word, the Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s Bench ruled Aug. 20, [1987] that the existing Sunday closing legislation was unconstitutional.
As a direct result of this ruling, stores, especially larger chain stores in Saskatoon and Regina, opened their doors Sunday, Sept. 6, and – much to the surprise of many Tisdale residents – so did the local Zellers store in Tisdale.
It was therefore a great relief to Zellers manager Peter Wright and his staff that shoppers did arrive for Sunday store opening in Tisdale. In fact, according to store employees, the shoppers were as abundant during the 12:00 to 5:00 Sunday shopping hours as had been witnessed during many Monday shopping days.
For employees being forced to work on their day of worship – Sunday – no such thing occurred in Tisdale. According to Wright, and later confirmed by a Zellers’ employee, management discussed Sunday shopping with each employee on a one-to-one basis. Those who did not wish to work on Sunday and who expressed this wish to management, did not work Sunday.
The Tisdale Chamber of Commerce, however, was not pleased with the information that Zellers planned to open its doors on Sundays, as stated in a letter to Town Council which reads:
“We are hereby submitting our formal objection to Town Council in allowing any store in the Town of Tisdale to remain open on Sundays, unless provided for by the Urban Municipality Act under section 121 (4) (5). We, are the executive of the Tisdale and District Chamber of Commerce, insist that if Zellers or any other store opens their doors on Sunday, September 6, 1897 or any Sunday thereafter, that charges be brought against that store.
However, according to Sgt. Terry Chilibeck of the Tisdale RCMP, no charges were brought against Zellers, and that because of the Court of Queen’s Bench ruling, RCMP in Tisdale merely checked the store to see if it was indeed open.
As of Sept. 4 however, the Provincial government feels that it has sufficiently smothered the Sunday shopping subject by sanctioning a bill in the Saskatchewan Legislature aimed at protecting the province’s right to legislate for Sunday as a common day of rest.
The amendment to the Urban Municipality Act is in response to the Aug. 30 ruling of the Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s Bench.
According to Urban Affairs Minister Jack Klein there is a significant difference between the legislation ruled invalid and the proposed amendment.
On the front page of the September 5 Weekend edition of the Star Phoenix, it states that the new store hours legislation is immensely popular and that even the New Democratic Party “supports the new legislation in principle.”
What does this mean to Tisdale? It probably means that unless the Zellers store is less than the size of 500 square metres and its owner celebrates the day of rest on a day other than Sunday, the one day of Sunday shopping in Tisdale will remain a memory.
