Subseries 3 - Quakers: Jerilynn Prior and the war tax

0.31 m of textual records

Subseries consists of records relating to two intertwining issues: the court case against Jerrilynn Prior (who refused to pay taxes that would fund the military) the more general issue facing conscientious objectors who must pay taxes for future wars.

The legal defence of Dr. Jerrilynn Prior was undertaken by Thomas Berger, with whom Dr. Franklin worked closely to establish the Quaker background to their conscientious objection to war and its implications on taxation during peacetime. According to Dr. Franklin, As well, and in parallel to the Jerrilynn Prior case, there were intense discussions within the Quaker community, the traditional peace churches and some lawyers and parliamentarians on the feasibility of redirecting the military portion of the income tax from conscientious objectors to designated peaceful purposes. Dr. Franklin was part of several delegations to members of the House of Commons on this issue.

Records include the legal documents by Berger, the judgments, and the responses. Records also include background material, papers and presentations, correspondence, press clippings, and parliamentary records relating to the issue of conscientious objection and efforts to introduce a Peace Bill, which would allow citizens to allocate their tax monies away from military purposes.

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See also: See cassette tape in Series 19 (B1996-0004/013S) for a CBC interview about the case.