Much weighs on the outcome of the Ontario Law Society election
By Barbara Kay | Published by The Epoch Times
The yearslong battle for the soul of the Ontario Law Society has entered round two with the 10-day online election of the Law Society of Ontario “benchers”—the board of directors that sets policy and determines other matters related to the governance of Ontario’s lawyers and paralegals. With an end date of April 28, the importance of this particular election for members of the legal profession—and even, potentially, their clients—cannot be overstated, writes columnist Barbara Kay.
At the root of this struggle is a “Statement of Principles” (SOP) that would force members to adopt and abide by a mandatory statement acknowledging their “obligation to promote equality, diversity and inclusion generally, and in their behaviour towards colleagues, employees, clients and the public.”
The SOP hit a wall in the 2019 benchers election after a robust opposition of candidates were elected to ensure the requirement did not go through. But the win did not secure the LSO against mission creep, writes Kay.
She quotes Bruce Pardy, executive director of Rights Probe, who laid out the sobering implications of SOP for lawyers in a 2017 National Post op-ed: “Had this requirement been imposed upon another of the governed professions, nurses say, or engineers, they would hire a lawyer to protect their right to think and speak for themselves. This time, it is the lawyers themselves whose ability to argue about the law’s propriety is threatened.”
Now, both sides of the SOP battle are more deeply entrenched in their positions today than they were in 2019.
