A slate of candidates opposed to controversial new ‘equality and diversity’ regulation have won 55% of the seats on the Canadian State of Ontario’s legal governing body.
Out of 40 available positions, 22 of the election winners ran against the Law Society’s new “statement of principles,” which would have forced all lawyers to “create and abide by an individual Statement of Principles [SOP] that acknowledges your obligation to promote equality, diversity and inclusion generally, and in your behaviour towards colleagues, employees, clients, and the public.” There was a concern that such a regulation would impinge most strongly on Christian lawyers opposed to the imposition of gender ideology etc.
Critics argued that compelling individuals to uphold prescribed personal values went too far and infringed on Charter freedoms. As a result, a slate of candidates ran to stop the Statement of Principles.
StopSOP in a press release said that the requirement “compels speech, infringes freedom of thought and conscience, and imposes a political litmus test for the practice of law in Ontario.” Now, thanks to their recent win, StopSOP’s “newly elected Benchers will get to work to repeal the SOP” and will work with other Benchers to “rein in the Law Society’s ever-expanding mission, bureaucracy and ballooning budgetary expenditures,” according to a press release.
