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“People have the right to attend a private religious university that imposes a religiously based code of conduct,” he wrote. “That is the case even if the effect of that code is to exclude others or offend others who will not or cannot comply with the code of conduct. Learning in an environment with people who promise to comply with the code is a religious practice and an expression of religious faith. There is nothing illegal or even rogue about that.”

In trying to shun TWU students, the court said, the law society exceeded its authority. Its mandate to regulate legal practice in Nova Scotia does not include the power to order universities or law schools to change their policies. There is no indication TWU students would be inadequately trained, yet the law society would ban them anyway, Judge Campbell noted. If TWU did not exist, the same students holding the same beliefs would be free to obtain law degrees elsewhere.

He also rejected the notion that TWU would be violating the Charter. In fact, he wrote, it is the legal community that has failed to adequately respect the Charter.

“The [Bar Society] has characterized TWU’s community Covenant as ‘unlawful discrimination’. It is not unlawful. It may be offensive to many but it is not unlawful,” wrote Justice Campbell.

“Like churches and other private institutions [TWU] does not have to comply with the equality provisions of the Charter. It has not been found to be in breach of any human rights legislation that applies to it. … The Charter is not a blueprint for moral conformity. Its purpose is to protect the citizen from the power of the state, not to enforce compliance by citizens or private institutions with the moral judgments of the state.”

These are important words and should be taken to heart by the law societies in B.C. and Ontario that continue to oppose the school. Five other provinces and Nunavut have all indicated they will accept TWU graduates. As Judge Campbell writes, people have a right to study among others who share their faith. Denying that is a violation of religious freedom. It is the lawyers who are out of line, not Trinity Western.

National Post

KellyMcParland