Yom Hashoah Marked By Obama, Canadian Prime Minister

Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) on the Jewish calendar began last night at sundown.  President Obama issued a Statement (full text) marking the day.  In addition to paying tribute to those who perished in the Holocaust, and those who survived it, the President also focused on contemporary anti-Semitism, saying:

Today, and every day, we stand in solidarity with the Jewish community both at home and abroad.  We stand with those who are leaving the European cities where they have lived for generations because they no longer feel safe, with the members of institutions that have been attacked because of their Jewish affiliations, and with the college students forced to confront swastikas appearing on their campuses.  And we call upon all people of good will to be vigilant and vocal against every form of bigotry.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also issued a statement (full text) marking Yom Hashoah.

Canadian Court: Grandparents Have No Right To Force Religious Exposure On Grandchild Over Mother's Objections

In A.R. and B.R. v. M.W. and L.R., (BC Prov. Ct., Oct. 21, 2015), a British Columbia (Canada) Provincial Court rejected an application by paternal grandparents for unsupervised contact time with their 4-year old granddaughter.  The grandparents want to be part of the child's life even though their son (the child's father) has little contact with them or with the child.  The child's mother, however, objects to the grandparents' insistence on taking the child to Jehovah's Witness religious services.  The court rejected the grandparents' claim that their right under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to free exercise of religion has been infringed, saying:

No one is questioning the applicants’ right to practice their religion. This dispute arises from the applicants’ refusal to accept that they have no say in the religious and spiritual upbringing of A.W. They are not guardians and they do not have any parental responsibilities.

The court limited the grandparents' visits to one hour per month in the mother's home, supervised by the mother.  CBC News reports on the decision.

Canadian Judge Scolds "Pastafarian" Suing Over Drivers' License Photo

Canada's National Post reported this week on the unfriendly reception given by a Canadian judge to a woman who belongs to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster who argued that she should be able to wear a colander or a pirate's hat in her drivers' license photo. Isabelle Narayana sued when the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec told her that only medical or religious exceptions were allowed to the requirement that her photo be taken bareheaded.  Narayana argued that she should have the same right as Muslim women to wear a head covering, and later showed up wearing a headscarf that she said was the costume of a female pirate who happened to be Muslim.  The license bureau took her photo wearing the headscarf and issued her license.  However she insisted on litigating. A Montreal Superior Court judge ruled that her suit was moot since she was issued a license and admonished her:

Too many people implicated in real litigation with consequences that could affect their lives or those of their children or enterprise are waiting their turn in court for us to be silent about the monopolization of these resources to determine if the plaintiff can be photographed wearing a colander or pirate hat.  We forget too often that the courts are a public service with limited resources that must not be abused.

Canadian Appeals Court Invalidates Niqab Ban At Citizenship Ceremonies

In Canada yesterday the Federal Court of Appeal in a rapid ruling from the bench following a half-day hearing held that the government's guideline banning the wearing of the niqab when taking the citizenship oath at naturalization ceremonies is invalid. According to the National Post, the judges moved quickly so that Zunera Ishaq could obtain her citizenship in time to vote in the October 19 federal election. The appeals court affirmed a lower court's ruling (see prior posting) that the policy against face coverings violates the government's own citizenship regulations. At the appeals court hearing, a Justice Department lawyer conceded that the face covering policy is not mandatory because a mandatory policy cannot be imposed through a mere guideline.

Canadian Court Says Aboriginal Religious Freedom Not Infringed By Approval of Ski Resort

In Ktunaxa Nation Council v. Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, (BC Ct. App., Aug. 6, 2015), the Court of Appeal for the Canadian province of British Columbia held that the provincial government did not infringe the religious freedom of the aboriginal Ktunaxa Nation when it granted Glacier Resorts, Ltd. the right to build a year-round ski resort in the Jumbo Valley region of southeastern British Columbia’s Purcell Mountains. A number of accommodations in the plans were made to accommodate the Ktunaxa. However, according to the Ktunaxa:

the proposed resort lies at the heart of a sacred area of paramount spiritual importance within their claimed traditional territory, as it is the Grizzly Bear Spirit’s home. They claimed that if the development of the resort was permitted, the Spirit would leave, and they would no longer be able to receive physical or spiritual assistance and guidance from the Spirit, which would have a profound negative impact on their identity and culture.

The court held that Sec. 2(a) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that protects freedom of conscience and religion

does not apply to protect the vitality of religious communities where the vitality of the community is predicated on the assertion by a religious group that, to preserve the communal dimension of its religious beliefs, others are required to act or refrain from acting and behave in a manner consistent with a belief that they do not share.

The Townsman reports on the decision.

Ontario Court Upholds Law Society's Refusal To Accredit Christian Law School

In Trinity Western University v. Law Society of Upper Canada, (ON Super. Ct., July 2, 2015), a 3-judge panel of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice upheld the decision of the Law Society of Upper Canada to deny accreditation to the law school which Trinity Western University (TWU)-- an evangelical Christian school-- plans to open.  The Law Society's denial was based on TWU's Community Covenant that all students are required to sign, and in particular the Covenant's ban on "sexual intimacy that violates the sacredness of marriage between a man and a woman."

According to the court, the Law Society "was essentially asked to approve and accept students from an institution that engaged in discrimination against persons
who did not share the religious beliefs that were held by TWU, and the student body that it prefers to have at its institution." The court went on:

In exercising its mandate to advance the cause of justice, to maintain the rule of law, and to act in the public interest, the [Law Society] was entitled to balance the applicants’ rights to freedom of religion with the equality rights of its future members, who include members from two historically disadvantaged minorities (LGBTQ persons and women). It was entitled to consider the impact on those equality rights of accrediting TWU’s law school, and thereby appear to give recognition and approval to institutional discrimination against those same minorities. Condoning discrimination can be ever much as harmful as the act of discrimination itself.

Mondaq summarizes the decision.

Canadian Supreme Court Rejects Prayer At City Council Meetings

In an important church-state decision, the Supreme Court of Canada yesterday held that a facially non-sectarian prayer prescribed by a municipal by-law to be said before the start of City Council meetings violates the duty of religious neutrality imposed by the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.  At each Council meeting, the mayor would recite the prayer, while at the beginning and end of the prayer he and other Council members would make the sign of the cross and say "in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit".  In Mouvement laïque québécois v. Saguenay (City), (SCC, April 15, 2015), the recitation of the prayer was challenged by an atheist who attended Council meetings. The Court said in part:

Neither the Quebec Charter nor the Canadian Charter  expressly imposes a duty of religious neutrality on the state. This duty results from an evolving interpretation of freedom of conscience and religion....

By expressing no preference, the state ensures that it preserves a neutral public space that is free of discrimination and in which true freedom to believe or not to believe is enjoyed by everyone equally, given that everyone is valued equally. I note that a neutral public space does not mean the homogenization of private players in that space. Neutrality is required of institutions and the state, not individuals.... On the contrary, a neutral public space free from coercion, pressure and judgment on the part of public authorities in matters of spirituality is intended to protect every person’s freedom and dignity. The neutrality of the public space therefore helps preserve and promote the multicultural nature of Canadian society enshrined in s. 27  of the Canadian Charter.

UPI reports on the decision. [Thanks to Scott Mange for the lead.]

Canadian Court Invalidates No-Veil Policy In Taking Citizenship Oath

According to yesterday's Regina Leader-Post, a Canadian Federal Court has struck down the Canadian government's policy of requiring women who wear a face veil for religious reasons to remove it when they take the oath of Canadian citizenship. In a suit brought by a Sunni Muslim woman who immigrated to Canada from Pakistan, the court held that the policy violates the government's own citizenship regulations.  Those regulations require "the greatest possible freedom in the religious solemnization" in taking the oath. (See prior related posting.)

Home Province British Columbia Reverses Approval of Christian Law School

In Canada, the controversial Trinity Western University has been dealt a severe setback in its efforts to create a law school based on Christian teachings.  As reported yesterday by Life Site News, benchers of the British Columbia Law Society have voted to rescind their previous approval of the law school after a referendum of the entire membership voted 3 to 1 against the school because of its "community covenant" which requires staff, faculty and students to refrain, among other things, from sex outside of heterosexual marriage. (See prior posting.) Because the school is based in British Columbia, it will be particularly difficult to operate if students are ineligible for bar membership in their home province. The school is now considering whether to appeal the decision to the courts.

Canada's Supreme Court Hears Challenge To City Council Invocations

On Oct. 14, the Supreme Court of Canada heard oral arguments in Mouvement laïque québécois v. City of Saguenay. In the case (summary), appellants claim that the opening of Saguenay, Quebec's municipal council meetings with a prayer, and the presence of Christian religious symbols in council chambers, violate the provision of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms that guarantee freedom of conscience and religion. A webcast of the full oral arguments is available from the Court's website. The Globe & Mail reports on the case.

New Brunswick Law Society Members Call On Council To Revoke Approval of Christian Law School

In Canada, controversy over the new Christian-affiliated Trinity Western University Law School continues. The school, scheduled to open in 2016, requires students, faculty and staff to subscribe to its religious-based "community covenant" which, among other things, prohibits sex outside of heterosexual marriage. In June, the Council of the New Brunswick Law Society voted to accredit the law school, clearing the way for its graduates to practice in the province.  However, according to yesterday's Straight Talk, at a special general meeting held last week, Law Society members in an advisory vote of 137-30 called on the Council not to approve the school.

Canadian Rival FLDS Leaders Indicted For Polygamy

In Canada yesterday, the Criminal Justice Branch of the British Columbia Minstry of Justice announced that indictments charging polygamy have been filed against the leaders of two rival Bountiful, BC sects of the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints. The indictments charge that Winston Blackmore practiced a form of polygamy with 24 women, while James Oler is charged with having polygamous unions with four women. Tgey are also charged with unlawful removal of a child from Canada. National Post has more on the indictments. In 2011, atrial court upheld the constituitonality of British Columbia's anti-polygamy laws. (See prior posting.)

Canada's Citizenship Oath To The Queen Does Not Violate Charter Rights

In McAteer v. Canada (Attorney General), (Ont. Ct. App., August 13, 2014), the Court of Appeal for Ontario rejected constitutional challenges to the requirement that immigrants who wish to become Canadian citizens must swear or affirm that "I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Queen of Canada, Her Heirs and Successors." Two of the challengers were committed republicans whose consciences were offended by taking an oath to a hereditary monarch. They alleged that the oath violates their freedom of expression and their equality rights protected by Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Two other plaintiffs asserted that the oath violates their freedom of conscience and religion protected by the Charter:

The appellant Ms. Simone Topey is a Rastafarian who regards the Queen as the head of Babylon. She deposes that it would violate her religious beliefs to take any kind of oath to the Queen. She further deposes that on account of the oath, she would feel bound to refrain from participating in anti-monarchist movements. The evidence of Mr. Howard Gomberg, a former plaintiff in these proceedings, is that taking an oath to any human being is contrary to his conception of Judaism.

In rejecting the Charter challenges, the appeals court said:

Although the Queen is a person, in swearing allegiance to the Queen of Canada, the would-be citizen is swearing allegiance to a symbol of our form of government in Canada. This fact is reinforced by the oath’s reference to “the Queen of Canada,” instead of “the Queen.” It is not an oath to a foreign sovereign. Similarly, in today’s context, the reference in the oath to the Queen of Canada’s “heirs and successors” is a reference to the continuity of our form of government extending into the future.

The Globe and Mail reports on the decision.

Canadian Muslim Group Sues Prime Minister's Office For Defamation

The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) announced on Monday that it has commenced a defamation lawsuit against Prime Minister Stephen Harper and  Jason MacDonald, the Prime Minister’s Communications Director. After NCCM sent a letter to the Prime Minister's office in January objecting to the inclusion of a particular rabbi on the Prime Minister's visit to Israel, a spokesman for the Prime Minister said that NCCM is "an organization with documented ties to a terrorist organization such as Hamas." On Jan. 28, NCCM initiated a libel notice  against the Prime Minister's Office. Since there has been no retraction, NCCM filed suit. OnIslam reports on the lawsuit.

Trinity Western Will Sue Two Canadian Lawyers' Groups

Canada's Trinity Western University announced Tuesday that it has engaged law firms to bring suits challenging decisions by the Law Society of Upper Canada and the Nova Scotia Barristers Society that will prevent Trinity Western law school graduates from being admitted to the bar in Ontario or Nova Scotia. Trinity Western is located in British Columbia.  (See prior posting.) The University will also seek to intervene as a respondent in a lawsuit brought by an openly gay member of the Vancouver Park Board challenging the approval of the school by British Columbia's Advanced Education Minister. (See prior posting.)

At issue is a provision in the school's "community covenant" that calls for abstention from "sexual intimacy that violates the sacredness of marriage between a man and a woman."  Trinity Western's new law school-- the first at a faith-based university in Canada-- is scheduled to open in 2016. Trinity Western says that actions rejecting its law school graduates send the message that one cannot fully participate in society if one holds religious values. Tuesday's Globe & Mail also reports on Trinity Western's decisions.

New Approval, But Also Law Suit, Are Latest Steps In Creating New Canadian Christian Law School

In Canada last week, the Law Society of British Columbia announced that it has voted to approve the proposed law school at Trinity Western University, making TWU graduates eligible to enter the Law Society's admissions program. The full text of the documents underlying the vote are available online. This follows similar approval last December by Advanced Education Minister Amrik Virk, and by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada. (See prior posting.)  A TWU press release says that BC Society's decision now allows it to move forward with creating the law school.  The opening of a law school at the evangelical Christian university has been controversial because of the university's Biblical-based "community covenant" which requires staff, faculty and students to refrain from homosexual relationships (as well as gossip, lying, smoking and consuming alcohol). (See prior posting.)

Meanwhile, according to the Victoria (BC) Times Colonist, on Monday an openly gay member of the Vancouver Park Board filed suit in B.C. Supreme Court challenging the approval of the school by the government's Advanced Education Minister. The suit contends that the approval fosters a discriminatory policy that violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Canada's Supreme Court Strikes Down Country's Laws Restricting Activities Relating To Prostitution

In a decision today in which 3 religious groups were among the numerous interveners, the Supreme Court of Canada held unconstituitonal three provisions of Canada's criminal code which prohibit certain activities related to prostitution.  In Canada (Attorney General) v. Bedford, (Sup. Ct. Can., Dec. 20, 2013), the Court held unanimously that the prohibition on keeping or being in a bawdy‑house; living on the avails of prostitution; and communicating in public for the purposes of prostitution, are unconstitutional under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Sec. 7 which protects life, liberty and security, saying in part:

The prohibitions all heighten the risks the applicants face in prostitution — itself a legal activity.  They do not merely impose conditions on how prostitutes operate.  They go a critical step further, by imposing dangerous conditions on prostitution; they prevent people engaged in a risky — but legal — activity from taking steps to protect themselves from the risks.

However the Court suspended the effectiveness of its judgment for one year in order to give Parliament time to enact a new approach to regulating prostitution.  CBC News reports on the decision. In a press release reacting to the decision, the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada(one of the Interveners in the case) said:

In light of today’s decision, we urge the federal government to enact new laws to protect vulnerable women, children and men from victimization and being trafficked.

The Catholic Civil Rights League and Christian Legal Fellowship (the other religious interveners) also issued press releases reacting to the decision. [Thanks to How Appealing for the lead.]

Canada's First Religious Law School Clears Major Approval Hurdle

In Canada, Trinity Western University, a Christian liberal arts university in British Columbia, cleared a major hurdle this week in its bid to open the country's first private religious law school.  In a December 16 press release, the Federation of Law Societies of Canada announced that it has granted preliminary approval for the school's program. As reported by The Tyee yesterday, the Council of Canadian Law Deans had expressed concern over the school’s mandatory Community Covenant agreement for students, faculty, and staff. (See prior posting.) The Covenant calls for abstention from alcohol, tobacco, illegal drugs, and "sexual intimacy that violates the sacredness of marriage between a man and a woman." The Deans objected that the Covenant may lead to illegal discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The Federation of Law Societies is considering adding a non-discrimination requirement for all law schools. The proposed new law school now must still obtain approval from British Columbia's Ministry of Advanced Education.