As many of you know, over the past season the Christian post secondary school Trinity Western University (TWU) has been in an intense battle for freedom of religion in Canada.
The battle has raged around the university's applications for their law school to receive accreditation by the various provinces. If accepted by a province, their graduates would be free to practice law there. If not accepted, they would not be allowed to practice there. Despite the fact that TWU has consistently received excellent academic ratings some provinces are refusing to recognize the law school because of their Community Covenant.
As a Christian university TWU asks its students to live by Christian values while attending the school (aka: the Community Covenant). This includes asking their students to abstain from sex outside of the Biblical model for marriage. Students who attend TWU do so of their own free will and agree to this covenant as an expression of their own conscience. Rather than viewing this as a reasonable expression of freedom of religion (a right granted by the Canadian Charter) some of Canada's Law societies have concluded the covenant discriminates against those who do not choose biblically based forms of s-xuality. As a result TWU has been denied accreditation in both British Columbia and Ontario.
This has propelled TWU into several legal battles fighting for freedom of religion in Canada.
Last week, after a heated legal battle, the Nova Scotia Supreme Court struck down the decision by Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society to deny the students the right to practice law. Alberta, Saskatchewan, PEI, Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick and Nunavut have all made the decision to accept TWU’s law graduates. For this we are grateful.
CANADA'S CORPORATE COMMUNITY WEIGHING IN AGAINST RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN CANADA
On March 26th, 2014, the Bank of Montreal (BMO) wrote a letter to the Law Society of Upper Canada requesting that they reject TWU's application. Click here to read this letter.
Many of Canada's largest corporations including Sobeys, Ford, Kelloggs, Coca Cola and many more, have since come together and have established a group called Legal Leaders of Diversity (LLD). They have agreed to 17 ways of promoting 'diversity' which shows little acceptance of freedom of religion, specifically in regards to christian s-xual standards. One of their initiatives is "creating a more inclusive profession for LGBT lawyers and staff." LLD's mission objective is to support vendors and suppliers whose ownership or employee base reflects a commitment to diversity and inclusion as they define it.
A new website has been launched to watch this issue called www.corporatediscrimination.ca
As an act of protest, on March 4th a large group of Canadians are planning to move their money from the Bank of Montreal to another financial institution not listed on the LLD.
ACTION POINTS:
1 - SHARE: Please share this information with your friends by posting this e-mail on your social media. Click here to get an on-line version now.
2 - CONTACT BMO: Email, call or send a hand written letter to BMO expressing your concerns regarding the actions they took against TWU.
BMO Financial Group
Corporate Communications
100 King Street West, 28th floor
Toronto, ON M5X 1A1
Tel: (416)867-6785
BMO President & CEO: corp.secretary@bmo.com
BMO Board of Directors: board.directors@bmo.com
3 - READ AND SHARE: To read a speech that Senator Donald Plett recently made in the Senate about Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion concerning Trinity Western University, click here.
4 - PRAY
