The Supreme Court of Canada has handed down judgments in Law Society of British Columbia v Trinity Western University 2018 SCC 32 and Trinity Western University v Law Society of Upper Canada 2018 SCC 33.

Readers will recall that the two Law Societies had declared that they would not license graduates from Trinity Western Law School to practise because the University requires all students to agree when they register to abide by a so-called “community covenant” that, inter alia, prohibits sexual activity outside heterosexual marriage. The two societies concluded that the covenant amounted to discrimination.

The Court of Appeal for Ontario upheld the position of the Law Society of Upper Canada, while the British Columbia Court of Appeal found in favour of Trinity Western, on the grounds that the Law Society of BC had acted unreasonably by infringing the Law School’s right to freedom of religion and that it had imposed its views on a minority “in a manner that is in itself intolerant and illiberal.”

By seven votes to two, the Supreme Court ruled against Trinity Western in both judgments, Continue reading →