The B.C. government has revoked consent for Trinity Western University’s (TWU) law school, which was set to open for enrolment in 2016, according to a statement from TWU.
Since the school was announced in 2013, provincial law societies across Canada have been opposed to the law school due to the university’s self-described “evangelical” Christian values.
All faculty, staff and students are required to sign a covenant stating, among other things, that “sexual intimacy is reserved for marriage between one man and one woman,” according to the TWU website.
Originally, the three provincial law societies who said they would let TWU’s law graduates practice in their provinces were B.C., Alberta, and Saskatchewan. In order to open, the school only needs consent from the B.C. law society, as well as the Federation of Law Societies and Amrik Virk, the B.C. minister of advanced education.
However, on Oct. 31 B.C. lawyers voted to retract their consent, leading Virk to retract his as well.
In a provided statement, Virk said he had warned TWU if a “substantive change to the program, such as a reversal of the B.C. Law Society’s initial approval” occurred, he would have to reconsider his consent.
In TWU’s statement, university president Bob Kuhn said TWU will “remain committed to having a School of Law” and will now “carefully consider” their options. He said TWU does not wish to enter any more legal battles, but that there are “important rights and freedoms at stake.”
If the law school were to open with only three provinces allowing TWU graduates to practice law, they would still be able to practice across Canada due to the national mobility regime, which states “a law license from any province allows each lawyer to practice, on a temporary or permanent basis, in every other province in the country,” according to Carsten Jensen, past president of the Alberta law society.
