CALGARY, AB: The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms announces that lawyers funded by the Justice Centre have submitted written arguments to the Court of Appeal of Alberta on behalf of Roger Song. His appeal challenges the dismissal of his constitutional case against the Law Society of Alberta’s mandatory ideological training and professional requirements.
Mr. Song asks the Court of Appeal to order a new hearing before a different judge, arguing that the lower court failed to hear his case, adequately address the constitutional issues, or properly consider the evidence before it.
Mr. Song was called to the Alberta bar in 2014 after working as a law professor in Beijing. Having experienced political indoctrination and government coercion in Maoist China, he believed those experiences belonged to his past. The Law Society’s mandatory “cultural competence” training raised concerns for him about ideological conformity within the legal profession in his adopted home of Alberta.
Mr. Song’s challenge extends beyond a single training course. It concerns the Law Society’s adoption and promotion of all political objectives, including in competence programs and in ethical obligations like its Code of Conduct.
Mr. Song argues that a professional regulator should not censor lawyers in relation to political or ideological matters as a condition of practising their profession. His appeal raises concerns about lawyers’ independence and their ability to remain faithful to their clients and the Constitution.
The written arguments contend that the lower court made errors so significant that Mr. Song’s case was practically not heard. The court reasoned that it could not even consider whether the Law Society was improperly interfering with the bar’s independence, including not looking at any evidence of that.
Mr. Song’s lower court submissions included approximately 1,400 pages of affidavit evidence, an expert report, and 285 pages of written argument. Most of this was excluded or ignored. In fact, the judgement contained almost no summary or analysis of Mr. Song’s primary arguments. Mr. Song unsuccessfully applied to the Court of Appeal to permit him to file his written lower court argument.
Constitutional lawyer Glenn Blackett said, “The lower court determined that, even if my client was right that the Law Society was turning the legal profession against the Constitution, freedom, and democracy, there was nothing it could or would do about it. We are asking the Court of Appeal to reject that conclusion.”
The Justice Centre is Canada’s leading civil liberties organization defending Charter rights and freedoms in the courts of law and in the court of public opinion. Founded in 2010, the Justice Centre funds lawyers across Canada, relies entirely on voluntary donations to carry out its mission, and issues official tax receipts to donors.