Feb 2018 Charity & NFP Law Update
On January 31, 2018, the Divisional Court of Ontario released its long and detailed decision in The Christian Medical and Dental Society of Canada v College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. Two applications were brought by a group of individual physicians and organizations (the “Applicants”) challenging the constitutional validity of two policies of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (the “CPSO”), the medical profession’s provincial self-governing body. The challenged policies require physicians, even those who object to certain procedures (e.g. abortions, medical assistance in dying) on moral or religious grounds, to provide patients with an “effective referral”, meaning a timely referral, in good faith, to a non-objecting, available, and accessible physician, other health-care professional or agency (the “CPSO Policies”). This Bulletin reviews how the court concluded that the CPSO Policies infringed the physicians’ right to freedom of religion under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (the “Charter”) but could be justified under section 1 of the Charter as reasonable limits demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.
For the balance of this Bulletin, please see Church Law Bulletin No. 53.