Thursday, April 24, 2014

Ontario law society votes against accrediting B.C. Christian university

TORONTO – Graduates of a planned law school at a Christian university in British Columbia that forbids sexual intimacy outside heterosexual marriage cannot practise in Ontario, that province’s law society decided Thursday.

Many members of the Law Society of Upper Canada’s board of directors condemned the policy as “abhorrent,” though several said they would still vote in favour of allowing graduates to practise in Ontario. Ultimately there were 28 votes against accreditation to 21 in favour.

Trinity Western University, which plans to open a law school in the fall of 2016, requires students to abide by a covenant that includes requiring them to abstain from gossip, obscene language, prejudice, harassment, lying, cheating, stealing, pornography, drunkenness and sexual intimacy “that violates the sacredness of marriage between a man and a woman.”

Students can face discipline for violating the covenant, either on or off campus, according to the school’s student handbook.

University president Bob Kuhn appealed to the Law Society of Upper Canada to avoid penalizing his students for their beliefs as it would signal to millions of Canadians with religious views that they are “not welcome in the public marketplace,” he said.  (more...)

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