Summary Of Trinity Western V. Law Society Of Upper Canada

The Trinity Western v. Law Society of Upper Canada case occurred between Trinity Western University and the Law Society of Upper Canada. To begin the appellant Trinity Western University (“TWU”) is a long established and well respected private university located in British Columbia. The school's mandate is anchored in an evangelical Christian philosophy. Which means that TWU’s education is to be taught with “a fundamental philosophy and viewpoint that is in accordance with the Christian tradition.” Accompanying the school's core Christian beliefs is their community covenant, The Community Covenant is a code of conduct which encompasses TWU’s Christian religious values. This covenant encourages behavior that evangelical Christians believe to

Although members of the (“LGBTQ”) community are allowed to apply to the school, students will not be allowed admission unless they are willing to read, understand and agree to abide by the terms set out within the Community Covenant. By agreeing to accept the Covenant, members of TWU commit themselves to abstain from various activities, including “sexual intimacy that violates the sacredness of marriage between a man and a woman.” The repercussions of the covenant are that students in the LGBTQ community are discriminated against, in admission to, and life at, TWU. However TWU, on the contrary, believes that the Community Covenant is protected by its right to freedom of religion granted under section 2 of the Canadian charter of rights and freedoms. The respondent The Law Society of Upper Canada was created in 1797 to provide support and preserve the constitution of the province of upper Canada. Since its establishment, the Law Society of Upper Canada has been the one and only authority available for determining who is eligible to practice law in Ontario, and the requirements associated with

TWU presented its proposal to the Federation Approval Committee for a law school to open, in which TWU was granted preliminary approval by the federation. Following the preliminary approval, TWU requested for the LSUC to accredit its law school, and when deciding whether to accredit a law school, the LSUC is not restricted simply to considering standards of competence; a broader spectrum of considerations with respect to the public interest is engaged; The LSUC deciding not to accredit TWU’s proposed law school because of the discriminatory code of conduct would infringe TWU’s freedom of religion under s. 2(a) of the Charter; however In assessing the “public interest”, the LSUC is entitled to consider that the impact of TWU’s Community Covenant on members of the LGBTQ community is contrary to the equality rights protections in the Charter, therefore upon further consideration balancing TWU’s freedom of religion granted under section 2 of the charter, on one hand with the equality rights of the LGBTQ community granted under section 15 of the charter. Ultimately with a vote of 28 to 21 with one abstention The Law Society of Upper Canada decided not to accredit TWU due to the fact that it was found not to be in the public interest to provide accreditation to a law school with discriminatory admissions