Don’t recognize law grads from faith-based B.C. school, Nova Scotia panel told
HALIFAX – Lawyers and legal experts argued today in Halifax that future graduates from a proposed law school in British Columbia should not receive accreditation in Nova Scotia because of a policy they say discriminates against people who are gay.
They made the remarks before the province’s bar association on whether it should recognize degrees from the faith-based Trinity Western University in Langley, B.C.
The school has prompted debate nationally because of its covenants that prohibit intimacy and marriages between same-sex couples, which can lead to expulsion or dismissal.
The Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society is the first legal group in the country to consider accrediting future law graduates and more are expected to follow.
Elaine Craig, a faculty member at the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University, told the society panel that endorsing the institution would amount to sanctioning blatant and explicit discrimination and is not consistent with Charter values.
The panel will hear from religious and gay rights leaders today, and has received more than 100 letters on the matter before it expects to make a decision in April.
Trinity Western University is due to respond to the society panel on March 4.
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