The Law Society of Ontario Flirts with Despotism

Trinity Western University in British Columbia requires students to abide by the rules of normal marriage, that is between a man and a woman. Because it disagrees with this rule, the Law Society of Ontario refuses accreditation to graduates of TWU law school. The Supreme Court of Canada agrees with the Law Society.

The only worthy intelligence to emerge from this contorted decision of the court comes from one of the dissenting judges who stated that law societies should concern themselves with legal training and, by implication, not intrude into social matters unrelated to law. This, especially against a private institution not subject  to outside influence such as the execrably misapplied Charter of Rights.

This same Supreme Court said that "for better or for worse, tolerance of divergent beliefs is a hallmark or a democratic society." That was in 2001. The weather vane atop the Supreme Court building recently caught a different breeze. A majority of the judges turned with the change of wind.

By expanding its authority into non-legal matters, the Law Society of Ontario has entered the early stage of despotism. Under the influence of special interest activists, it has extended its power into a matter beyond the scope of legal education. It has appointed itself arbiter of matters beyond its mandate.

What's next? Control of political opinion? Recently, that same Law Society of Ontario demanded all its members sign up for its version of social values. We have entered the era when silence may result in loss of licence to practice law, or send you to jail for refusing to use certain pronouns, or exclusion of participation in a summer student aid program. The Supreme Court of Canada is complicit in this malaise, this nascent despotism.

Our human rights system has broken down, abused by feel-good rights tribunal officers, self-appointed rights enforcers in the legal system, and special-interest activists.

No institution can demand respect. It gets such respect its actions warrant.