Court would start in 30 minutes. Press stood waiting, their video cameras ready. They’d already shot preambles outside in the cold and wind. As TWU's media spokesperson, I had told them what I could, and the rest was up to them.
Cameras clicked on as more than 20 lawyers began arriving in clusters. Wearing flowing black robes and white collars, they walked with purpose toward the courtroom in downtown Halifax.
Journalism students and community observers began arriving. We crowded on the hard wooden benches in the courtroom gallery. A door opened and the clerk said, “Please rise, Courtroom 502.” We did, and five justices filed in to hear a case about freedom that will affect Canadians for years to come.
THE BACKSTORY
Trinity Western University stands in this courtroom, and in courtrooms across the country, because we believe in freedom. Many don’t understand—they think we want to open a law school for the prestige it will afford us, or to provoke those who don’t agree with us. Some are afraid of the covenant we sign before joining the TWU community. Perhaps they’re also afraid of us. They don’t see that this isn’t about our law school—that we’re not just asking for freedom for ourselves. We’re asking for freedom for everyone.
In 2013, TWU received full approval from the BC Minister of Advanced Education and the Federation of Law Societies of Canada to open the country’s first private, faith-based law school. We were going to provide more opportunities for the thousands of students who apply to law school every year. We were going to offer specializations in small-business law and charity law—services in high demand across the country. We were ready to make a difference. Then a few provincial law societies brought everything to a halt.
“We disagree with your stance on LGBT issues,” they said. “So we’re not going to allow TWU law graduates to practice in our province.”
“This isn’t about LGBT issues,” we said. “This is about our freedom to define marriage biblically. To us, it is sacred. We only ask students to respect that while they’re with us.”
But it wasn’t enough. So we went to court.
STANDING IN THE COURTS OF APPEAL
Five justices at the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal have now heard our case. We’ve asked them to honour the rights we’ve already been guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: the rights to freedom of conscience, religion, expression, and association. The right to be treated equally.
During the three-day hearing, the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society argued that we discriminate against LGBT students—even though many openly gay students have walked our halls, participated fully in student life, and experienced TWU's transformational education. We responded that we, as a community, are only exercising our freedom to follow our consciences and express our faith. Would the law societies really keep our graduates out for this?
One justice asked the barristers’ society, “Aren’t you doing what you’re saying you’re preventing? Discriminating—against evangelical Christians?” We couldn’t know why he was asking, but we knew the question was vital.
While we wait for the justices’ decision, we’ll ask for freedom in two more Courts of Appeal—in BC and Ontario.
Because of these three cases, Canada’s diverse cultural mosaic—the envy of the world—now hangs in the balance.
THE MEANING OF FREEDOM
In just a few months, the courts may decide that the state has the right to tell faith communities how they may live. Diversity will mean celebrating not everyone, but only those whom the state favours. Equality will not mean true equality, but weighing rights based on popular opinion.
The Canadian flag, flanked on either side by the Nova Scotia provincial flag, flies over the Law Courts in Halifax.
This isn’t freedom.
Freedom is a celebration of the pluralism and diversity of which Canadians are so proud. Freedom is listening and seeking to understand another’s world view, and respecting it even if we can’t agree.
Freedom is the Civil Marriage Act, passed in 2005, which allows Canadians two paths to marriage: civil and religious. Canadian law honours the rights of Canadians who enter a same-sex marriage. It also honours faith communities’ right to continue defining marriage biblically.
Historically, we have walked in harmony beside one another in the marketplaces of life, knowing our country protects and even celebrates our differences. But this may change sooner than we know.
The law societies in BC, Ontario, and Nova Scotia are fighting to protect the rights of LGBT people without understanding that we want the same thing. History has been cruel to people who are different, and we mourn those hurts. But we’re hurting too. In the distance, we can see our freedom being taken away, and with it, the freedom of all Canadians who deviate from the current “norm.”
We have been blessed with the profound privilege of freedom to believe in Christ and follow Him—or not. By standing in court for TWU's proposed School of Law, we’re not just standing for ourselves. We’re standing for our current and future students, for our graduates, and for all Canadians who want assurance that they will not be persecuted for being different.
We believe in freedom. This is the Canada we know.
We walk humbly, but with purpose to the courtroom to ask that our graduates be recognized—that our freedom be recognized. We share this story with our friends, with our supporting communities, with our neighbours, and with the world. We ask for understanding and for prayer.
Because we believe in freedom.