Langley’s Trinity Western University and the Law Society of B.C. will see their dispute over a law school decided by the Supreme Court of Canada.
On Tuesday, the law society announced it plans to appeal the most recent decision in TWU’s favour in the long-running court case.
“The law society is of the view that this is a matter of national significance,” law society president David Crossin said.
At issue is TWU’s plan to open its own law school, and the community covenant it requires its students to sign.
The covenant bans sexual intimacy outside of heterosexual marriage.
That requirement caused the law society’s members to vote against accrediting TWU’s proposed law school in 2014.
The decision was reversed by a lower court in late December, spurring an appeal from the society in January 2015.
On Nov. 1, the B.C. Court of Appeals ruled in TWU’s favour, although the judges noted that there would be a “potential detrimental effect on LGBTQ equality rights.”
However, the judges also found that the society’s move not to recognize the grads “would limit the engaged rights of freedom of religion in a significantly disproportionate way.”
There are also legal fights playing out in Ontario and Nova Scotia over accrediting TWU law grads.