Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms

The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) is a Canadian non-profit legal organization based in Calgary specializing in Canadian constitutional law, specifically in interpretations of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.^[1] The organization was founded in 2010 by John Carpay, a former provincial director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation^[2] representing Alberta and a former candidate of the federal Reform Party^[3] and provincial Wildrose Party.^[4]

Major court cases

The JCCF has argued all of its past cases before the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta. It is planning to argue the upcoming case of Kisilowsky v. Manitoba before the Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba.^[5]

Allen v. Alberta

Allen v. Alberta was a legal challenge to the Government of Alberta's monopoly on health insurance within the province (as it applies to seeking out-of-province treatment) by Dr. Darcy Allen, who had elected to pay $77,000 to undergo surgery for his chronic back pain in Montana rather than wait for treatment in Alberta.^[6] The case closely mirrored the 2005 case of Chaoulli v. Quebec where the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that a government monopoly on health insurance, when combined with extremely long wait lists before care could be provided, was a violation of the individual's right to life, liberty, and security of the person - all of which are guaranteed under Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The Court of Queen's Bench ruled against Allen on March 31, 2014.^[6][7]

Wilson v. University of Calgary

A campus anti-abortion club caused controversy at the University of Calgary when they erected a graphic display as part of a "Genocide Awareness Project" which compared and equated the results of an abortion with historical atrocities such as the Holocaust and the Rwandan genocide. This case was the ninth time in which the group had put on the display. University security staff requested that the students turn the graphic portions of their display inward, away from passers-by. When the eight students running the display refused to comply, the university initiated non-academic misconduct proceedings against them. The school's Vice-Provost ruled that the actions were misconduct and penalized the students with a formal written warning.^[8]

This penalty was appealed to the University of Calgary's Board of Governors which refused to hear the appeal and upheld the penalty. The students then requested that the Court of Queen's Bench order the Board of Governors to allow an appeal.^[9] The Court ruled in April 2014 that the Board of Governor's decision to not hear the appeal of the students "[lacked] justification, transparency and intelligibility" and ordered the Board to hear the students' appeal.^[10]

Intervenor status

The JCCF has acted as an intervenor in several court cases involving questions of constitutional rights for Canadians; particularly those involving Evangelical Christians or associated groups that have felt their religious values have been compromised. By acting as an intervenor, the JCCF is able to have their position on the legal questions brought before the court without actually being the official legal counsel for the individuals and organizations on whose behalf the JCCF was intervening.

Trinity Western University

In 2012 the private Evangelical school Trinity Western University (TWU) completed a proposal to establish its own law school. Several groups objected to the establishment of this law school because of TWU's Community Covenant Agreement, a code of conduct which is mandatory for all students to agree to. Unlike codes of conduct at many universities throughout Canada, however, TWU's Community Covenant Agreement requires explicit acceptance of an Evangelical Christian ethical framework including bans on gossip, vulgar language, pornography, and sexual conduct "that violates the sacredness of marriage between a man and a woman".^[11]

As a result of opposition to the Community Covenant Agreement the membership of the Law Society of Upper Canada (Ontario), Law Society of British Columbia,^[12] and Nova Scotia Barristers' Society voted to not accredit the law school, preventing graduates from being automatically admitted to practice law in those three provinces.

The JCCF acted as an intervenor in the cases of Trinity Western University v Nova Scotia Barristers' Society (Court ruled in favour of TWU), Trinity Western University v The Law Society of Upper Canada (Court ruled in favour of LSUC), and Trinity Western University v Law Society of British Columbia (Court ruled in favour of TWU)

Campus Freedom Index

The JCCF publishes a yearly report authored by John Carpay and Michael Kennedy which purports to rate Canadian universities and student's unions on their adherence to the principles of freedom of speech.^[13] The annual report gives grades to universities and students' unions based on JCCF's opinion of the strength of their principles and procedures regarding freedom of speech as well as, in a different category, rating them based on their actions regarding freedom of speech.

Student's unions given low grades by the report have criticized JCCF's rankings as being politically motivated^[14] and that claims of censorship don't take into account legal anti-hate speech provisions under federal and provincial laws.^[15]

Endorsements

While JCCF is a non-partisan group^[16] the organization publishes endorsements by individuals associated with right-of-centre politics including pundit Ezra Levant as well as leading figures of think tanks and activist groups such as the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Institute of Family and Marriage Canada (research arm of Focus on the Family Canada), Montreal Economic Institute, Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship, Institute for Liberal Studies, Macdonald-Laurier Institute, and Fraser Institute.^[17]

References

External links

Official website