Nova Scotia Appeal Court rules in Trinity Western University's favour

TWU had similar court battle over its teachers' college

OTTAWA (CCN)

Trinity Western University welcomed a decision by the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal July 26 requiring the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society to accredit its law school graduates.

The Court of Appeal held that regulating TWU's internal policies is outside the society's jurisdiction, pointing out the evangelical Christian university is a private institution not governed by the Charter of Rights or the Nova Scotia Human Rights Code.

The court ruled the legislation establishing the Society did not empower it to engage in determining Charter or human rights code compliance of parties outside Nova Scotia.

The only reason TWU's proposed law school graduates would be denied society membership is the university's community covenant, that among other requirements asks faculty and students to abstain from sexual activity outside traditional marriage, it said.

In the decision, Justice J.A. Fichaud pointed out the Society had no objections to the quality of the education a law graduate would receive, only the existence of the covenant.

"The Community Covenant is a core part of defining the TWU community as distinctly Christian," said Amy Robertson, a spokeswoman for the university, in a statement. "We are not making a statement about LGBTQ people; we are making a statement about traditional Christian marriage, which is sacred to us."

"The same covenant calls for all members of the TWU community to respect the dignity of others regardless of their background," she said. "Loving one another without exception is one of the most important principles of the Christian faith."

Robertson pointed out LGBTQ students can and do attend the university and find it "a safe, welcoming place."

The Court upheld Justice Jamie Campbell's Superior Court decision of January 2015 that said: "Allowing the decision to stand would have a chilling effect on liberty of conscience and freedom of religion."

"We're happy with the decision," said Constitutional lawyer Albertos Polizogopoulos, who represented the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada in its intervention. "We did, hope, however, the Court would address the religious freedom issues or questions arising out of the Barristers' Society's decision."

"The Court of the Appeal was able to resolve the appeal without going that far, and dealt solely with the jurisdictional questions," he said.

"The Justices explained they are ruling differently than Ontario's Court of Appeal, which ruled against TWU in June," Polizogopoulos said. "Both decisions are related to the provincial legislation that creates the bar societies. In Ontario, the justices ruled the legislature gave the law society wider authority to deal with law schools than Nova Scotia did."

The Catholic Civil Rights League, which intervened in the case, was concerned that the decision "did not address Charter arguments on the need for respect for authentic pluralism."

It said out the decision will allow Nova Scotia to adapt its legislation so the barristers' society has the same jurisdiction over law schools as Ontario's, allowing it to discriminate against graduates of a Christian law school.

"By engaging in a broad discussion of possible proposals toward a pathway of rejecting accreditation of TWU, the court seemed to invite a future clash of competing Charter rights," the League said.

TWU awaits one more Appeal Court decision from British Columbia. All other law societies in Canada have accredited the proposed law school.

TWU underwent a similar court battle over the accreditation of its teachers' college that went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. It ruled against the B.C. College of Teachers that had denied accreditation, saying there was no basis to determine TWU graduates would be discriminatory in the classroom.