SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The Northwest Territories Law Society is still awaiting the outcome of court cases elsewhere in the country before deciding whether to accredit law school graduates of Trinity Western University.

Trinity Western, a religious university associated with the Evangelical Free Church of Canada, forces students and staff to sign a covenant. The covenant forbids them from "sexual intimacy that violates the sacredness of marriage between a man and a woman."

That has prompted law societies in other jurisdictions to decide against accrediting the university, meaning its graduates would not be able to practise there. That's prompted court cases in British Columbia, Nova Scotia and Ontario. The B.C. case is still underway. The university, in other press reports, planned to challenge a ruling in Ontario that upheld that province's law society's decision to bar graduates. It's been more than a year since the issue was discussed by the Law Society of the Northwest Territories. On Oct. 16, 2014, a tied vote among the executive members of the society resulted in the status quo. That means the university, which intends to open its law school this year, remains unaccredited for the time being. Multiple members said the society should hold off on making a decision until the result of cases elsewhere is known.

Donna Allen, the society's executive director, said little has changed since then.

"It's still at topic of interest to our members but it's not an issue that the executive or the general membership is actively looking at right now," said. "We will wait and see what the courts have to say."

The final outcome could take some time.

Karen Wilford, society treasurer, said the issue deals with complex issues regarding competing rights.

"The consensus among the legal community nationally is that the matter is headed to the Supreme Court of Canada," she said.

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