Politics
Wednesday November 5, 1997
VRIEND 'GAY-RIGHTS' CASE LOOKS BAD FOR FREEDOM OF RELIGION
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OTTAWA, Nov 5 (LSN) - Chretien's old associate and recent appointee to the Supreme Court, Justice Michel Bastarache, antagonistically grilled an Alberta government attorney for trying to defend Alberta's refusal to include 'sexual orientation' in the province's human rights code, which would grant gays in Alberta the special privileges they have been granted all Canadian provinces except PEI and NFLD.
Albertan Delwin Vriend was fired from King's University College, a Christian institution, for flaunting his homosexuality. He then sued the Alberta government for failing to provide redress in the province's Individual Rights Protection Act.
In the case which opened yesterday, John McCarthy, lawyer for the Alberta government, endured ridicule from Justices Frank Iacobucci, Michel Bastarache, and Antonio Lamer - much to the approval of many of the homosexual activists who packed the courtroom.
McCarthy argued that although the high court has previously read 'sexual orientation' into the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, it is up to provincial legislatures and not the courts to decide the extent to which human rights legislation must conform to the Charter. Only Justice Charles Gonthier appeared open to the argument, as he questioned where the court would draw the line.
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