Lord's Day Act, 1944: An Edmonton grocer is fined for selling a tomato, by Ruth Miller Nolan

My father, Israel Miller, was a pioneer farmer, a grocer, gardener, and a good cook. In 1944, our family moved to Edmonton from Alliance, Alberta. A year or so later, Dad opened a small convenience store on the north side of Jasper Avenue at about 106th street. The Lord’s Day act had decreed that businesses remain closed on Sundays, but convenience stores were allowed to stay open. However, only basic necessities were to be sold - bread, milk, eggs, vegetables.


One Sunday, a man approached Dad, handed him a piece of paper, and declared officiously, “You’ve broken the law. This is a summons. Pay the fine, or appear in court.”


So my speechless father, the most honest, conscientious person I’ve ever known – my father – the farmer, grocer, gardener and cook, was now a criminal. His crime? He had sold a tomato on Sunday. The tomato is a fruit, and fruit must not be sold on Sunday.


Not long after, Dad sold his business and opened a clothing store in northeast Edmonton, where a coat was a coat, a shoe was a shoe, and no one put tomatoes in a fruit salad!