April 24, 2014 - 1:00 AM
TORONTO - Ontario's law society is set to vote today on whether to accredit a British Columbia law school with a controversial policy on homosexuality.
Trinity Western University, which plans to open a law school in the fall of 2016, requires students to abide by a so-called community covenant forbidding intimacy outside heterosexual marriage.
The law school has received preliminary approval from the Federation of Law Societies of Canada and earlier this month the Law Society of B.C.'s benchers, who act as the organization's board of governors, voted to allow the school to proceed.
The governing board of the Law Society of Upper Canada will discuss and vote today on whether Trinity Western law graduates should be allowed to practise in Ontario.
The controversy over Trinity Western's proposed law school fuelled a sensitive and emotional debate in B.C. about how to balance the beliefs of a private Christian institution with the rights of gays and lesbians.
Students can face discipline for violating the covenant, either on or off campus, according to the school's student handbook.
Trinity Western says it will be the first Christian university in Canada to open a law school. It plans to enrol 60 students in the first year of the program.
Its president has said prospective students aren't asked about their sexual orientation during the application process, and all students are welcome at the school — as long as they agree to abide by the community covenant.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2014