The editorial boards of both national newspapers, as well as various opinion columnists, have condemned the Law Society’s initiative. You may wish to review these links if you haven’t already done so:
Editorial Board Denunciations:
Globe editorial: Ontario law society can’t put words in people’s mouths
NP View: Law society's controversial statement of principles should be struck down
Must Read:
*NEW Prof. Art Cockfield: Time for Lawyers to Scrap Rule that Violates Their Freedom of Expression
Prof. Bruce Pardy in the National Post: Our Rights Depend on an Election You Haven't Even Heard of (April 2/19)
Elias Munshya in the Canadian Lawyer: Why I Don't Support the Statement of Principles (April 1/19)
Marni Soupcoff in the National Post: Ontario's 'Racialized Law' Debate is Based on Bad Research (Feb. 28)
Double Aspect (Leonid Sirota): Affidavit (Jan. 29, 2019)
"How Social Justice Ideologues Hijacked a Legal Regulator," written by Murray Klippenstein with Professor Bruce Pardy, and published February 11, 2019 in Quillette magazine.
News Articles:
The Canadian Lawyer: Group Against Statement of Principles to Launch Bencher Election Bloc
StopSOP was featured in this article on Feb. 12, 2018: Canadian Lawyer Magazine: Online Campaign Questions LSO Statement of Principles
Cato Institute: Ontario Bar Requires Lawyer Pledge to “Promote Equality”
Law Times News: LSUC statement of principles faces some backlash
Constitutional Challenge:
Canadian Lawyer. Proceedings should have been brought in Divisional Court, not S.C.J. The full decision may be found here.
Press Release from Canadian Constitutional Foundation (CCF) re Update on Constitutional Challenge
Constitutional challenge by Professor Ryan Alford
Research Papers
Dr. Rodney Clifton: Expert Report prepared for the CCF on the methodological flaws in the LSO's Stratcom Report on Systemic Racism
Professor Art Cockfield, published in Queen’s Law Research Paper Series, "Limiting Lawyer Liberty: How the Statement of Principles Coerces Speech"
Opinion Articles:
Former Justice Brian Giesbrecht in the Toronto Sun: A Progressive Agenda is Being Forced on All Ontario Lawyers (Feb. 16)
Troy Media: The Law Society of Ontario's Unprincipled "Statement of Principles" by Karen Selick
Convivium: The Law Society of Orwell, by Albertos Polizogopoulos
Sadie Etemad in the Canadian Lawyer: Why the Statement of Principles Troubles Me as a Visible Minority
Globe and Mail Opinion: Lawyers should be held to standards – not beliefs
Globe and Mail Opinion: Why I’m ignoring the Law Society’s Orwellian dictate
CBC Opinion: An arm of the state should not be forcing lawyers to declare their values
Barbara Kay: Ontario Law Society to Police "Thought Crimes" of its Members
Jay Cameron in Ottawa Citizen: Ontario lawyers now face their own free-speech battle
Leonid Sirota in CBA National: The LSUC should stick to its statutory knitting
National Post - Brian Smeenk: The Law Society of Orwell
The Advocate Daily: LSO's statement of principles more talk than action
Blogs:
Double Aspect (Mark Mancini): The Statement of Principles (Feb. 14, 2019)
Double Aspect: Profession of Power
SLAW (Alice Woolley): Ontario’s Law Society: Orwell’s Big Brother or Fuller’s Rex? (particularly noting the comments following the article)
Videos:
Interview with Murray Klippenstein (Mar. 6, 2019)
Related: Professor Bruce Pardy: Has the Social Justice Revolution Taken Law Schools? (Oct. 2018)
Runnymede Society Debate: Is the Statement of Principles an Unjustified Form of Compelled Speech?
A Call to Rebellion for Ontario Legal Professionals (Jordan Peterson, Bruce Pardy, Jared Brown)
Update: Law Society of Ontario Compelled Speech (Peterson, Pardy & Brown)
This interview between Dr. Jordan Peterson and Claire Lehman, editor of Quillette magazine, includes an interesting discussion on the Statement of Principles, beginning at about minute 49. It was recorded last November, but only recently released. Well worth a listen!
Sadie Etemad's Views on the Statement of Principles as a Racialized Licensee (prepared by the Canadian Constitution Foundation)
Why Sadie Etemad Opposes the Statement of Principles (prepared by the CCF)
Sadie Etemad: Value Promotion is a New and Unjustified Requirement (prepared by the CCF)
Sadie Etemad: Statement of Principles Will Not Help Fight Racism (prepared by the CCF)
Features & Interesting Commentary:
Similar E.D.I. initiatives are taking root in Nova Scotia: Canadian Lawyer
Jonathan Kay's speech to the Law Society of BC on the importance of the Rule of Law, printed in Quillette Magazine.
Trying to understand the rise of "diversity, inclusion and equity" policies and their connection to law schools? Quillette Magazine has an excellent backgrounder: Beyond All Warnings: The Radical Assault on Truth in the Law
March 2018 - As the Law Society rolls out EDI initiatives such as "unconscious bias training" (offered by the CBA as well), it is important to understand the limitations, and even negative consequences, of such testing. Jared Brown explores the issue in depth in his blog.
