Canadian Lawyer

w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 7 31 Saguil agrees that Trinity Western has "played by all the rules" in its quest to open an accredited law school. "I don't begrudge people on the other side," he says. But he expresses concern about the broader impact to the profes- sion if a law school that excludes gay and lesbian students is approved. "What does this say about our push for diver- sity and inclusion? What message are we sending to law students?" Saguil asks. These concerns are echoed by Bill Fla- nagan, dean of law at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont. He was the head of the Council of Canadian Law Deans when a letter was sent to the federation in the fall of 2012 about Trinity Western's applica- tion. The letter stated that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation was contrary to the core values of all Canadian law schools (this submission was the one criticized later by the B.C. Civil Liberties Association). Flanagan defends the actions of the law deans and the concerns that were raised. "I think it kick-started a very vigor- ous discussion," he says. "We wanted law societies to take the issue very seriously. The objection had nothing to do with it being faith based. The concern was about discrimination," says Flanagan. Law societies in B.C., Ontario and Nova Scotia all held votes in April 2014 on whether to accredit Trinity Western. The first to act was B.C., which initially voted in favour of accreditation with many benchers stating that they felt bound by the 2001 Supreme Court ruling about Trinity Western's teacher's program. Angered by the benchers' vote, some lawyers in the province invoked a rule of the Law Society that resulted in a special general meeting of all members. Ultimately, a referendum was held by mail-in ballot and nearly three-quarters of those who cast ballots voted against accreditation. The day after the results were announced, the benchers reversed their earlier approval of Trinity Western. The university sought judicial review and were successful when B.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Christopher Hink- son found that benchers improperly fettered their discretion and did not engage in any balancing of Charter interests before the second vote. The B.C. Court of Appeal disagreed with Approved: Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Newfoundland, P.E.I., New Brunswick Nova Scotia: Approved as a result of a decision of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal. The provincial Barristers' Society is await- ing the Supreme Court of Canada decision before deciding whether to revisit the issue. British Columbia: Law society seeking leave to appeal to the Supreme Court, after Court of Appeal ruled in favour of TWU. Ontario: TWU seeking leave to appeal after the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the law society to refuse accreditation. TRINITY WESTERN UNIVERSITY PROPOSED LAW SCHOOL STATUS At DW2, we pride ourselves on delivering the very best in IP/IT thinking on technology, pharma, or copyright matters to your clients. Count on DW2 to bring about their red letter day. DWW.ca Lawyers, Patent & Trademark Agents With DW 2 , your red letter day will be Green. ntitled-1 1 2017-01-13 12:38 PM

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