Religious rights cited at Red Mass
Lawyers, judges hear of case that sparked LGBT ire
A controversial religious freedom case before the Supreme Court was the subject of a speech during the annual Red Mass ceremony, an event in Hamilton that seeks divine wisdom “for those who plead, interpret and apply the law for the welfare of all.”
After a mass for lawyers, judges and police representatives at St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral on Park Street North, the event heard from Toronto lawyer Daniel Santoro. He argued Trinity Western University in Langley, B.C., should have the right to expect student and staff to abstain from sexual activity outside a heterosexual marriage.
The case has raised the ire of LGBT rights groups who say the university’s requirement is discriminatory.
But Santoro, of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, argued the university is within its rights because of protections for freedom of religion and freedom of association in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The issue arose after law societies in Ontario, Nova Scotia and British Columbia announced they would not accredit the evangelical private university’s law program.
Trinity Western University took the issue to court, eventually with the Ontario Court of Appeal, which ruled a prohibition on sexual activity between same-sex married couples was degrading and discriminatory.
Now the stage is set for the Canada’s highest court to uphold or overturn the decision, probably in November.
“What this case is really about ... is moral disapproval, moral denunciation against evangelical Christians and their choice to study together in their own community that is governed by their own morals,” Santoro said.
And if the Supreme Court of Canada decides against the university’s accreditation, “this should be of concern to all of us regardless of our personal opinions.”
Santoro said associations should have the same protections as individuals. “Evangelical Christians have the right to live as they wish, therefore they have the right to form an association with each other and study in a community.”
He said a decision upholding the lowercourt determination would go some distance in encouraging “bureaucratic tyranny where administrative bodies have an ever-expanding mandate to decide cases according to an ever-evolving definition of their mandate to govern in the public interest.”
Peter Boushy, a Hamilton lawyer and organizer of the event, said: “The Red Mass is a 60-year-old tradition in Hamilton and we invite speakers to talk on legal topics that are topical, usually with matters that deal with freedom of conscience.”