A B.C. lawyer is trying to drum up support to challenge the Law Society of B.C.’s recent decision to approve a faith-based law school at B.C.’s Trinity Western University.
A criminal lawyer based in Victoria, Michael Mulligan said he launched the initiative because he was frustrated by the society’s recent approval of the school, which would require students to sign a community covenant that, among other things, prohibits “sexual intimacy that violates the sacredness of marriage between a man and a woman.”
Mr. Mulligan believes that policy is discriminatory.
“It just sits wrong with me,” Mr. Mulligan said on Thursday. “It strikes me as a matter of principle that this is wrong and not in the interests of our profession. … Is approving an institution that has discrimination as a core value, is that likely to be of value to the profession? I think the answer to that question is no.”
The Law Society of B.C. on April 12 voted to approve TWU’s proposed law school, despite controversy over the school’s policy toward gays and lesbians.
Mr. Mulligan is collecting signatures from law society members in the hopes of forcing a special general meeting to have that decision reconsidered. Under society rules, a special general meeting is required when 5 per cent or more of members request a meeting.
Mr. Mulligan says he has been receiving many faxes and e-mails and believes he could have that many collected by next week.
“We just started sending out notices yesterday afternoon and the fax machine and e-mail is going off the hook,” Mr. Mulligan said.
The society has between 11,000 and 12,000 members in good standing, so Mr. Mulligan is hoping to collect roughly 600 signatures. “We want to make sure we have an adequate number,” he said.
A spokesperson for the Law Society said it was aware of Mr. Mulligan’s letter. He said the Benchers “arrived at their decision on April 11 through a process that was open, thorough and fair – from the beginning, right through to the decision. The Benchers considered legal advice from a number of advisers, existing case law, the Federation of Law Societies of Canada reports, the public submissions and the submissions of TWU.”
The society received nearly 300 submissions leading up to the meeting to discuss the proposed school, which has generated heated discussion within and outside the profession.
“Many Benchers [law society directors] spoke meaningfully about their personal struggle with the decision,” Law Society president Jan Lindsay said in a statement following the vote. “The necessity of balancing two Charter Rights; the right to equality and the right to freedom of religion, was discussed by many of the Benchers.”
The proposed law school has already cleared two major hurdles in receiving preliminary approval by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada (FLSC) and B.C.’s Ministry of Advanced Education. Provincial law societies now have final say, by way of individual decisions on whether to recognize the law school as an approved faculty of law.
A group of B.C. lawyers also filed a lawsuit against the B.C. government this month, seeking to quash provincial approval for the school.
Commentary by the Ottawa Mens Centre
The lawyers of Canada don't like being reminded of the lack of ethics in the
legal profession. A faith based law school is one glimmer of hope for Canadians
however just because anyone attended any faith based university is no guarantee
of their past present or future ethical standards.
In fact, anyone, lawyer judge or otherwise who starts waving a holy book of any
faith in front of suddenly increases the odds that you are being conned.
Some lawyers do deserve a mention for their ethics, especially those who took
part in the Ryerson University documentary "Powerful as God" that exposes the
corrupt criminal nature of the Children's Aid Societies of Ontario.
Ontario Children's Aid Societies employ a large number of the most unethical
lawyers and workers one can imagine. They are represented in court by the likes
of
Marguerite Isobel Lewis, an evidence fabricating, child abusing, pathological
liar who asks and gets Judges to rubber stamp her requests even when the same
judges are provided with sufficient evidence to gain a conviction of Obstruction
of Justice.
Our lawyers need to be concerned about the Judicial Selection Process that
hires, former lawyers from the Children's Aid Society where they continue to
fabricate evidence on behalf of their former employers once they become judges.
Ottawa Ontario Superior Court Judges Chambers is riddled with judges who don't
have the courage to find Judicial misconduct by other judges and or by corrupt
child abusing lawyers like Marguerite Isobel Lewis who, fabricates evidence on
behalf of "workers' who also fabricate evidence with pathological lies.
These "workers" include Phillip Hiltz-Laforge, Claudett Knuckle)Dougan who have
their criminal offenses of fabrication of evidence and child abuse, "supervised"
by the likes of Robert Godman, who engages in terror, harassment of parents to
ensure that justice is obstructed and children abused.
These are the unaccountable lowest forms of humanity that cost Ontario Billions
of dollars in direct and indirect costs, thanks to the legal profession and the
Judiciary of Ontario that "rubber stamp" requests of Ontario's largest Criminal
Organization.
The Attorney General of Ontario turns a deliberate blind eye to it's state
funded criminals such as Ottawa Crown Vikii Bair who Stays Charges against
unconvicted criminals like the lying evidence fabricator from hell, Marguerite
Isobel Lewis.
check out the documentary at blakout.ca
OttawaMensCentre
...