Barry Bussey
Barry Bussey is legal director for the Canadian Council of Christian Charities, one of the intervenor's in Trinity Western University v. Nova Scotia Barristers' Society. In 2013, he was a recipient of the prestigious Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.
Bio last updated June 17th, 2021.
Articles by Barry Bussey
Stigma and Shame
By Barry Bussey
May 22, 2019
When Ontario’s Court of Appeal trampled conscience rights for medical professionals last week, it grievously wounded the entire body of religious believers across Canada, argues lawyer Barry Bussey.
The Court was not interested in evidence that the Christian Medical and Dental Society of Canada presented clearly revealing there were less invasive ways to accommodate religious conscience while still meeting the College’s stated objective of providing patients with “equitable access … to health care services The religious conscience that was rejected by the Ontario Court of Appeal (ONCA) last week in the case of the Christian Medical and Dental Society of Canada [CMDSC) v The Court emphasized the “deference” due to the College in “advancing the goal of equitable access to abortion, MAiD, contraception and sexual and reproductive health care,” not to any requirement to accommodate religious conscience
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The Beam of Christian Schooling
Barry Bussey
March 15, 2019
Attacking faith-based institutions for upholding codes of conduct ignores the Charter, violates the spirit of pluralism, and risks undermining religious freedom, argues lawyer Barry Bussey.
As to the question of public funding, it’s worth noting that private schools in Canada have been receiving government money since 1867, when the Constitution made provisions for religious education If we are not willing to allow government funding for Christian education, then where do we stop? Sho...
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Judicial Idiosyncrasy
Barry Bussey
June 22, 2018
Lawyer Barry Bussey, who argued as an intervenor in the Trinity Western University hearings last winter, says Canadians must demand their legislatures protect religious freedom from a Supreme Court that seems to have lost its way.
On Friday, the Supreme Court agreed with the legal elites and said even though TWU is a private, religious university, and even though the Charter does not apply to it, it must follow “Charter values” – that “amorphous” concept described by Justices Côté and Brown as “the product of the idiosyncrasi...
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Barristers' Arrogant Blindness
Barry Bussey
April 1, 2015
The decision by Justice Jamie Campbell in the dispute between Trinity Western University and the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society was more than just a win for TWU. It opens our eyes to how blind Canada's lawyers have become.
The Nova Scotia decision on TWU has painted a bright line between the current state of the law, which allows for religious belief and practice on marriage in religious institutions of higher learning, and emerging legal theories such as "deep equality," which suggests that accommodating such religio...