Date/Time
Date(s) - October 13, 2018
11:00 am - 1:00 pm
Location
St. Mark's College
Categories No Categories
Newman Association Fall Program 2018
Implications of the Supreme Court of Canada Decision in
The Trinity Western University Law School Case (Working Title)
Prof. Mary Anne Waldron, QC | Professor Emerita, The University of Victoria
Gwendoline Allison | Principal, Foy Allison Law and Counsel for the Archdiocese of Vancouver, Supreme
Court of Canada Trinity Western University Law School Case
Room 101, St. Mark’s College, 11am
13 October 2018
ADMISSION: FREE, Suggested donation: $5
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As Trinity Western University loses fight over the accreditation of its law school on the Supreme Court and with the most recent news that TWU is now removing the requirement for its students to sign the Community Covenant, it is worth looking back and ask as to what the current and possible future implications are of the recent decision of the Supreme Court on the Trinity Western University Law School Case. Join Professor Mary Anne Waldron of the University of Victoria and Lawyer Gwendoline Allison for a panel presentation and discussion on issues brought up by the case such as on diversity and religious freedom and how it affects those of us working for a pluralistic society.
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Mary Anne Waldron, Q.C. is Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Law, University of Victoria. She joined the Faculty of Law in 1976 and was promoted to professor in 1990. Her teaching subjects were primarily in the commercial law area and she is the author of numerous articles on real estate issues, consumer protection, plain language in legal contracts, and issues relating to the legal interpretation of clauses regarding interest. During her 42-year career at the University of Victoria, she served in many administrative capacities. She held the positions of Associate Dean and Acting Dean in her Faculty and then became Associate Vice-President Legal Affairs from 2001 – 2009 and Associate Vice-President Faculty Relations from 2013 – 2016. She was awarded a Queen’s Counsel in 2004. During her administrative terms, Professor Waldron developed a research interest in human rights and freedom of conscience and religion. She is the author of Free to Believe: Rethinking Freedom of Conscience and Religion in Canada (U of T Press, 2013). She retired from the University of Victoria in 2017, but continues her scholarship in that field.
Gwendoline Allison is the principal of Foy Allison Law in West Vancouver. For the past twenty years, she has acted for clients in the areas of employment law, human rights law, and commercial litigation. She represented the Archdiocese of Vancouver in its intervention in the Trinity Western University case. In the legal community, Gwendoline is a frequent speaker and writer, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Continuing Legal Education Society of BC.
Gwendoline is co-counsel to the Asian Women Coalition Ending Prostitution. On their behalf, she appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada as an intervener in the Bedford case. Gwendoline has written and presented on the implications of new laws tackling prostitution and human trafficking, and particularly the implications for employment-related laws of the decriminalisation of prostitution. She was a witness before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights and the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs regarding what has become the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act.
Gwendoline continues to work with her clients to ensure enforcement of our anti-trafficking and prostitution laws. She is privileged to be one of the members of the Anti-Human Trafficking Committee struck by His Grace, Archbishop Michael Miller. She was the keynote speaker at the Red Mass in April 2014, a gathering of Catholic lawyers under the auspices of the Thomas More Guild.
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The Newman Association of Vancouver is a Catholic organization that promotes and cultivates the religious, intellectual, and social formation of its members and associates. It is named after Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman, an Anglican convert to Catholicism whose life story of conversion and writings on the idea of a university greatly inspired those working for the advancement of the liberal arts and the ideals of Catholic education, an inspiration that led to the start of the Newman movement around the world in the 20th century. Founded in 1940, The Newman Association extends the mission of the Newman Club of the University of British Columbia from the UBC campus to the wider community and brings issues of pertinence into discussion and dialogue through its activities in the local Church.