Trinity Western University loses appeal at Ontario’s top court

TORONTO – Ontario’s top court has dismissed an appeal from a Trinity Western University, which forbids sexual intimacy outside heterosexual marriage, denying its proposed law school accreditation in the province.

The private Christian School in Langley had argued its case before the Ontario Court of Appeal earlier this month, after the province’s law society voted not to accredit its planned law facility.

At the heart of the dispute was Trinity Western’s “community covenant” or code of conduct, which the Evangelical Christian institution requires all students to agree to.

It includes requiring students to abstain from gossip, obscene language, prejudice, harassment, lying, cheating, stealing, pornography, drunkenness and sexual intimacy “that violates the sacredness of marriage between a man and a woman.”

In its ruling, the appeal court said the case involved a collision between freedom of religion and equality, both of which are protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

It ultimately found that the law society’s decision not to accredit Trinity Western was “indeed a reasonable conclusion.”