LANGLEY (NEWS 1130) – The final hearing on whether law graduates from a faith-based university in Langley should be accredited to practice is about to get underway in Canada’s highest court.

Trinity Western University and the BC Law Society will be in the Supreme Court of Canada for the last word on the ongoing, controversial issue.

Related Articles

Trinity Western University loses appeal at Ontario’s top court

Trinity Western wins legal victory to open Christian law school

The highest court is actually hearing two appeals — Trinity Western is appealing a decision in Ontario that favoured that province’s law society, while the law society in BC is challenging the last decision made in BC that was in favour of the university. Back in 2015, a BC Supreme Court judge ruled in favour of the school to fight to have its law students practice in the province, reversing the law society’s decision not to accredit them.

NEWS 1130 Legal Analyst Michael Shapray says this situation is not unheard of, explaining separate legal issues can wind their way up from different parts of the country. “And if the timeline of those cases getting to that level are similar then it makes logical and practical sense for the Supreme Court of Canada to join them together.”

This all stems from the law societies’ disapproval of the school’s covenant, which requires all students to sign a so-called covenant pledging to abstain from sex outside of marriage between a man and a woman.

The case will be in Ottawa on Thursday and Friday.