One of the hottest controversies of the legal profession in decades, Trinity Western University’s (TWU) application for law school accreditation has generated vibrant debate amongst lawyers across the country. Under scrutiny for its controversial Community Covenant Agreement, which requires students to abstain from “sexual intimacy that violates the sacredness of marriage between a man and a woman”, TWU’s proposed law school was rejected by the law societies of Ontario and Nova Scotia, and British Columbia lawyers voted to overturned their own law society’s decision to accredit the school. TWU graduates would not be permitted to pursue articling positions or write the bar exam in these provinces.
TWU is off to court to fight what it deems a threat to freedom of religion.
We bring you two major positions of this debate, in brief, presented side-by-side. TWU’s own Janet Epp Buckingham presents the university’s perspective. Second is a piece by Douglas Judson, co-author of the motion carried by OBA Council, which recommends that the LSUC forbid discrimination in legal education (read it at oba.org/equality).
In order to provide the authors an equal platform, the following articles were written independently.
TWU has followed the rules, now so should the Bar
Janet Epp Buckingham
Douglas Judson