Ian Mulgrew: Is challenging BC’s new judicial pronoun policy okay or is it akin to hate speech?

‘The right to freedom of expression and open debate is not without limits’: the resolution before the annual general meeting of the law society is prepared to put a controversial issue through a gender blender

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In a profession still used by M’Lord and M’Lady, some BC attorneys have resisted new court rules that ask participants in legal proceedings which pronouns they prefer.

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But the undergrowth of controversy sparked earlier this year by the changes has been ignited with a resolution before the BC Law Society Annual general assembly calling for a debate on the directives on the consideration of gender differences.

In a world of gay pride parades and respect for transgender people, the Branch of the Canadian Bar Association-BC he denounced the motion as akin to hate speech.

“This is not a benign resolution,” said President Clare Jennings in a message to the roughly 7,000 provincial lobbyists.

“It is an attack on the principles underpinning the Practice Directives: that transgender and non-binary people exist and deserve the same respect and dignity when interacting with our justice system,” he wrote.

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“The right to freedom of expression and open debate is not unlimited … Not all issues are open to debate in modern society, nor should they be.”

Victoria Lawyer Jim Heller, one of those behind the resolution, was in awe of the vitriol.

He pointed out numerous critical messages on a professional chat site, many of them.

“All these young WOKE lawyers, two and three year old calls, are all the same, they all sing the same hymnal,” he said. “I no longer know what they are teaching in law school; It’s not the law school I went to. He’s gotten so AWAKE, it’s crazy. It’s like a cult view. “

“I no longer know what they are teaching in law school;  It's not the law school I went to, ”says Victoria's attorney Jim Heller, who supports the resolution to debate the new gender title policy in BC legal proceedings.  'He's gotten so AWAKE, it's crazy.  It's like a cult view. '
“I no longer know what they are teaching in law school; It’s not the law school I went to, ”says Victoria’s attorney Jim Heller, who supports the resolution to debate the new gender title policy in BC legal proceedings. ‘He’s gotten so AWAKE, it’s crazy. It’s like a cult view. ‘ Photo from jimheller.com

In December, the BC Supreme Court issued the practice address accompanied by a near-identical provincial court notice after the usual discussion with the judges and registry staff, as well as consultation with the Sexual Orientation and Identity Community of Gender (SOGIC) of the Canadian Bar Association-BC. Branch.

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The instructions (asking attorneys and others to come forward to provide the “correct pronouns” that they would like the court to use) are not law, but expectations of proper conduct.

They aimed to improve the legal system for gender diverse participants.

“Without any discussion with anyone but SOGIC, out of nowhere, the Supreme Court and the provincial court came up with this direction,” Heller enraged.

“I think it’s a crazy assumption that (the judges) are operating on: You can’t know for sure how to call someone by their face, voice, and appearance.”

He wrote to the judiciary complaining about “a small snippet from a special interest group: How can you let them wrap your finger?”

The judges said they were happy with the process.

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“I have a problem with being forced to recite the catechism every time I go to court… it’s invasive,” Heller insisted.

He said Justice Center for Constitutional Freedoms, a conservative Calgary-based advocacy group, helped connect him with other attorneys who opposed the changes.

Although measures to eliminate discriminatory language and processes have been adopted in Europe since the turn of the century, the debate in Canada has been delayed.

In 2017, Alberta-raised psychology professor and counter-conservative culture warrior Jordan Peterson objected to adding “gender identity or expression” to Canada’s Human Rights Act.

He argued that the change could lead to people being required to use prescribed pronouns, the thin edge of the wedge in a legal, political and philosophical dispute.

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It has been burning ever since.

Heller traced the notion of pronoun police back to the 1920s and the Italian communist Antonio Gramschi’s theory of cultural hegemony and use of institutions to maintain order and control.

Your partner in proposing the resolution, Kelowna attorney Shahdin farsai, believes that the instructions are “a potentially compelling speech in court, a violation of privacy rights and damage the perception of judicial impartiality.”

He wrote an article for the provincial legal magazine, The Advocate, but it was rejected after other attorneys found out and complained.

Canadian Lawyer initially published a version, but it was later removed from its website and a message was posted saying that it did not reflect the magazine’s views.

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That’s the problem, Heller lamented.

“They don’t want to make a rational commitment. That’s my overview of their mindset, ”he said. “They are not in a rational discussion, which ironically is the point of our resolution, to reaffirm that this is what lawyers do. Rather than saying there are no two sides to this, let’s talk about it forcefully. “

In fact, the bar society meeting on October 5 will also consider two motions that would make it almost impossible in the future for incendiary rulings to reach the room: the first, which requires the support of at least 50 members in good standing; and the second, to grant the president a veto to determine if a resolution “is in order, being reasonably related to the mandate or responsibilities of the Bar Association or the Benchers, or with the regulation of the legal profession.”

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