Lawyer Albertos Polizogopoulos has worked on several EFC cases related to religious freedom. (He’s a partner with Vincent Dagenais Gibson LLP in Ottawa.) We asked him for his insights as part of our Three Questions Series.
Q1. What trends do you see in religious freedom?
There has been a trend where religious freedom is curtailed or limited because of a false conflict of rights. We’re seeing more and more instances where religious freedom rights are pitted against other rights or interests even where there is no actual conflict of rights. A recent example has been with respect to physicians’ conscience rights and religious freedom rights. In Ontario, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario which regulates the practice of medicine enacted two policies that require physicians to perform or prescribe drugs or procedures they object to on religious or moral grounds in some circumstances and to provide referrals for them in all circumstances.
This obligation is a direct violation of their freedom of religion and conscience and it’s justified by suggesting that allowing physicians to opt-out of conduct they object to results in the violation of rights of others. The example we hear most is women’s right to abortion. There are a lot of problems with this reasoning.
First, there is no constitutional right to abortion. The Supreme Court of Canada struck the prohibition on abortion in 1988 because it resulted in unequal access and treatment across the country. The Supreme Court did not find, and has never found, that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees a right to abortion. Since there is no Charter right to abortion, there is no conflict of Charter rights. Second, even if physicians opt-out of performing or referring for abortions, it does not result in women’s “right” to abortion being violated. The “conflict of rights” here is fabricated. Unfortunately however, many government bodies and courts are falling into this line of rationale.
We saw this as well in the Trinity Western University litigation where the law societies of Nova Scotia, Ontario and British Columbia argued that allowing Trinity Western University to have a law school which fostered a community and environment based on biblical principles constituted a violation of the equality rights of people from the LGBT community, non-Christians and women.
Q2. What most concerns you about religious freedom in Canada?
Many people and organizations are ill-informed and ill-equipped to deal with the current and coming challenges on religious freedom. We, as Christians, need to be aware of what is happening in our communities and we need to know how to defend our rights, our beliefs and our practices.
Canadian Christians need to be aware of the current and coming challenges. They need to be and remain well informed. They need to be prepared to defend themselves once they come.
The attitude among some portions of North American Christianity community has been to retreat to our homes and churches and to ignore what is happening “outside.” We cannot afford to do this. We need to pay attention to developments in politics, public policy and law.
The outside world is knocking on our door and the politics, policies and law are beginning to affect our own communities and institutions and many are being caught off guard. Many churches and faith-based organizations have not been paying attention to the shifts in our culture, which have affected shifts in policy and law and so once we are faced with a difficult situation, it turns into a terrible situation because we were not prepared to deal with it.
Q3. What do you wish Christians knew?
We are all vulnerable but we have protections.
The law protects freedom of religion which includes the right to believe, proselytize, educate, worship, congregate and learn. We are able to continue to exercise these rights, we just need to make sure that we operate within the law and in a context that allows us to rely on the protections available.
This means that before we engage in any kind religious activity, we need to make sure that we’re doing so in a framework that is legal and that allows us to benefit from the religious freedom protections available. This requires us to make sure that we’re aware of the issues, challenges and ongoing developments in law, culture and public policy. With that knowledge and some legwork at the front end, we’re better protected when the storm comes.