Albertos Polizogopoulos
Albertos Polizogopoulos is a lawyer and founder of The Acacia Group law firm in Ottawa, Ontario.
Bio last updated October 21st, 2021.
Articles by Albertos Polizogopoulos
Doctor's College Needs Political Attention
By Albertos Polizogopoulos
October 19, 2021
Ottawa lawyer Albertos Polizogopoulos says the regulatory body for Ontario physicians and surgeons has a serious Charter abuse habit and requires Premier Doug Ford’s immediate intervention.
I don’t think I need to name them, but does Ontario want to be lumped in with them? Are we comfortable with having a government body determining which opinions can and cannot be expressed? Are we comfortable with government bodies stripping people of their ability to work because they have the gall to hold a dissenting view on what is perhaps the most serious and important medical and public policy issue of our lifetime? Do we actually care about Charter rights? If we do, why do we permit the CPSO to run rampant? Why is the CPSO, whose mandate is to “regulate the practice of medicine in Ontario” now dictating how doctors can practice medicine, answer patient questions or express their medical opinions? When did Ontario become a place where government bodies determine what can and cannot be said on certain subjects? These are, for all intents and purposes, anti-blasphemy laws At what point will Doug Ford and the Ontario government stop this public body from habitually violating the Charter rights of its citizens? Premier Ford leads a majority government with the ability to limit the CPSO’s ability to continue to violate the Charter – or completely disband it
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Association Not Discrimination
Albertos Polizogopoulos
March 6, 2019
A B.C. faith-based school’s dismissal of a teacher for sexual conduct contrary to its standards is neither shocking nor discriminatory, notes Ottawa constitutional lawyer Albertos Polizogopoulos. In fact, he says, it’s protected by Charter of Rights rulings that date back to 1984.
Is it really unreasonable for the school, which instructs its students on moral and ethical issues in a manner consistent with Christian principles, to require its teachers to live by those principles? Some might call it discrimination but in Canada, the Courts call it freedom of association In fact...
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Trinity Western Gives Reason To Believe
Albertos Polizogopoulos
August 15, 2018
TWU’s abandonment of its mandatory Community Covenant following a Supreme Court loss in June is a serious blow – but nowhere close to the end of the battle for religious freedom in Canada, writes Ottawa lawyer Albertos Polizogopoulos.
In the face of the Supreme Court’s decisions, TWU was left with an important decision to make: either maintain the Community Covenant and give up its plan to open a law school (and potentially face further challenges to its other professional schools) or abandon the mandatory nature of the Community...
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Good News Brewing For TWU?
Albertos Polizogopoulos
April 26, 2018
Canada’s beer drinkers are crying in their suds over last week’s Supreme Court decision on interprovincial trade barriers. But Ottawa lawyer Albertos Polizogopoulos says a legal principle at the heart of that ruling might put smiles on the mugs of Trinity Western University supporters.
In that decision, the Supreme Court chose not to reprimand the trial and appellate courts that did not follow a Supreme Court of Canada precedent that was materially on-point.In explaining why it was appropriate for the lower courts to do so, the Supreme Court stated that if “new legal issues are ra...
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The Law Society of Orwell
Albertos Polizogopoulos
March 5, 2018
Ottawa lawyer Albertos Polizogopoulos is saying “no” to the Law Society of Ontario’s demand for a written statement of principles obliging lawyers in the province to promote equality, diversity and inclusion. Here’s why.
The 2017 annual report, which is due March 31st, requires lawyers to confirm that they have a written Statement of Principles that confirms an obligation to “promote equality, diversity, and inclusion My obligation as a lawyer and member of the LSUC is to comply with the Rules of Professional Conduc...
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The Supreme Court’s Bad News Bear
Albertos Polizogopoulos
November 8, 2017
Ottawa lawyer Albertos Polizogopoulos argues the high court’s rejection of a religious freedom claim involving the Grizzly Bear Spirit should give pause to future Charter litigants
In the majority reasons, the Court found that the Ktunaxa’s religious freedom claim essentially sought to have the government protect the Grizzly Bear Spirit, which was the “object” of the Ktunaxa’s worship The Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources Operations approved the development of t...
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Deadly Misinformation
Albertos Polizogopoulos and Faye Sonier
December 21, 2016
Even if Picard’s unfounded and unsupported legal conclusion that the Supreme Court found there was a right to assisted suicide were correct — and again, there is no such right — should the burden of ensuring people’s access to this service fall on private faith-based hospitals? Or should it fall on ...
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When ad Hominem Attacks Are All You Have
Albertos Polizogopoulos
July 8, 2016
In his piece, Millhiser focuses on how Heritage and ADF have historically opposed and criticized the US Supreme Court’s decisions that have found a constitutional right to privacy Because the argument being put forward by ADF and endorsed by Heritage strategically uses the current law—law I presume ...
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Challenging Trinity Western University: When the Law is Inconvenient
Albertos Polizogopoulos
April 12, 2016
So, in this case, the Court of Appeal of Nova Scotia was being asked to consider whether the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society (the “NSBS”) acted properly and within its authority in refusing to recognize law degrees from TWU because of the latter’s view and position on marriage and sexuality, just li...
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The State of Religious Freedom
Albertos Polizogopoulos
June 1, 2015
Canada has come through a hard decade of judicial assaults on religious freedom, but Ottawa lawyer Albertos Polizogopoulos argues that four strong judgments this spring point to signs of new life for Canadian faith in common life
Although not all of the six freedom of religion cases before the Supreme Court in the past eight years have dealt with competing rights between religious freedom and other Charter rights, the expanded interpretation of section 15 by the courts, particularly the Supreme Court of Canada, has contribut...
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Christian Lawyers and Doctors Need Not Apply
Albertos Polizogopoulos
January 9, 2015
Despite several submissions from various lawyers and organizations—including myself on behalf of two groups of Christian physicians—that set out the legal basis for which the CPSO was required to protect the religious and conscience rights of physicians, the CPSO has released a draft policy which sp...
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Do Canadian Christians Have the Right to Practice Law?
Albertos Polizogopoulos
April 25, 2014
The basis of the LSUC's decision and virtually all the objections to TWU graduates being licensed to practice law in Ontario stems from TWU's Community Covenant which pledges students to abstaining from certain activities and behaviours during their studies including the viewing of pornography, the ...
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The York University Question: It's not about sex—it's about the law
Albertos Polizogopoulos
January 13, 2014
If this student truly believes that, for religious reasons, he ought not to be engaged in group work with female students, he should, at law, have his religious beliefs accommodated to the point of undue hardship There is no question of, nor threat to women's equality rights in the accommodation req...
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Rasouli Case a Win for Patient Rights and Beliefs—And Cause for Concern
Albertos Polizogopoulos
October 18, 2013
With this statement, Justice Karakatsanis recognizes the significance of religious beliefs and the importance they play in questions of life and death—but, in spite of this recognition, she jumps straight to a position that places religious beliefs behind the standard of care exercised by doctors Th...
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When "Offensive" Becomes "Discriminatory"
Albertos Polizogopoulos
June 27, 2013
Some months later, Pardy filed a complaint with the British Columbia Human Rights Commission, alleging that both Earle and the restaurant discriminated against her on the basis of her sexual orientation Earle appealed to the Supreme Court of British Columbia which upheld the Tribunal's decision and ...
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Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda in Whatcott
Albertos Polizogopoulos and André Schutten
June 1, 2013
The Supreme Court’s recent ruling on hate speech could have been better — but it also could have been a whole lot worse, say Albertos Polizogopoulos and André Schutten.
Many free speech advocates were hoping that the Supreme Court of Canada would overturn its earlier decision in Taylor and strike out the hate speech provisions of the Code as being an unconstitutional violation of freedom of expression While the Criminal Code definition of "hate speech" in Keegstra ...
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Bullying Religious Freedom
Albertos Polizogopoulos
April 1, 2013
Manitoba law professor Donn Short wants to “queer” Canadian schools to make them safe for gay pupils. Albertos Polizogopoulos considers the Charter implications for religious freedom
Following a cursory consideration of the controversy over Ontario's Bill 13, the Accepting Schools Act, and its mandated implementation in Catholic separate schools as well as non-sectarian public schools, Short argues that the common understanding of denominational education rights set out in the C...