Executive Director & General Counsel @CLF_Canada. Alumnus @westernuLaw & @UofTLaw. Centre Associate @ubc_ccl. Proud Canuck/Quasi-Aussie.
Canada
Joined January 2013
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So excited to see this collection published! @briandnbird and I would also like to thank everyone who participated in last year's Symposium where these papers were presented - the questions and feedback truly enriched the discussion and resulting articles.
Delighted to see this stellar set of essays on section 1 of the Charter come to life! As editors, @derekbmross and I were honoured to work with a wonderful group of authors. This project stems from a @CLF_Canada conference held at @AllardLaw in 2022, supported by @SSHRC_CRSH.
Derek Ross retweeted
Not a Catholic but a Catholic hospital saved my life.
First step in saving a life is believing it has value.
I was dying. Only offered comfort care. RN who came to my home said she St Paul's the Catholic 🏥 had saved other patients of hers that other hospitals gave up on.
ALT One day I asked one of the visiting nurses if there wasn’t anyone anywhere who would put some effort into trying to prolong my life. She said that she’d had some other patients like me (who had been given up on). Some had tried St. Paul’s and swore the care there was different. She told me it was probably my last hope.
I'll save you a click. MAiD fanatic @picardonhealth wants to abolish Catholic hospitals because they refuse to kill their patients.
Derek Ross retweeted
Why legalizing MAID for mental illness raises profound ethical & policy concerns: pre-copy edited version of forthcoming chapter 'The Case Against Legalizing..." in book on 'Mental Health Ethics: Emerging Debates', with Scott Kim now available on SSRN. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.…
The Superior Court has ordered the Québec government to pay compensatory and punitive damages to a Christian group after unilaterally cancelling their contract to hold a religious event at a public convention centre. @CLF_Canada intervened in the case: christianlegalfellowship.org…
Derek Ross retweeted
Today, July 30, is World Day Against Trafficking in Persons - a day to recognize that human trafficking is a serious crime and a grave violation of human rights. Today, and every day, CLF stands with victims and survivors of trafficking. Read more at: christianlegalfellowship.org…
50 years ago today, Canada entered into a covenant with the nations of the world to uphold fundamental human rights. We still have a lot of work to do - which is why we’ve launched the “Realizing Rights” project. Check out our video to learn more: m.youtube.com/watch?v=rXQN4P…
Derek Ross retweeted
Enjoyed speaking this morning at @CLF_Canada 2026 CLI program on my past and future work on the freedoms of conscience, thought, belief, and opinion
Derek Ross retweeted
Opinion: Ottawa can decide that MAID is not a crime. Provinces have the right to decide that it is not health care theglobeandmail.com/opinion/…
Derek Ross retweeted
Can't wait to discuss the Notwithstanding Clause with a great panel of scholars this Monday. Kudos to all the student groups who organized what is certain to be an enlightening and stimulating discussion, which, to say the least, is timely (& indeed, pressing!) See you all then!
🚨 EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT – TESTING THE NOTWITHSTANDING CLAUSE? THE CONSTITUTIONAL BATTLE OVER QUÉBEC’S BILL 21 🚨
Please join the Runnymede Society’s Western University Chapter, in partnership with the Christian Legal Fellowship @CLF_Canada (CLF), the Jewish Law Students Association, the Muslim Law Students' Association, and the Sikh Students Association, for an expert panel discussion on the constitutional challenges surrounding Québec’s Act Respecting the Laicity of the State (Bill 21) on Monday, March 9th!
As litigation over religious symbols in the public sector continues, this panel will move beyond political headlines to examine the constitutional mechanisms at the centre of Bill 21. Speakers will explore the scope and limits of the notwithstanding clause (section 33), the argument that gender equality (section 28) cannot be overridden, and the federalism questions raised by the division of powers implicated by the legislation.
The panel features Prof. Ryan Alford @ryan_p_alford (Lakehead) on the use and implications of section 33, Prof. Kerri Froc @KerriFroc (UNB) on the interaction between sections 28 and 33, and Derek Ross @derekbmross (CLF) on federalism and jurisdictional validity. The discussion will be moderated by Prof. Rory Gillis (Western).
All students, faculty, staff, and community members are welcome to attend.
Register by scanning the QR code or clicking here: forms.gle/afLYSfJRMXUUa7wW9
Excited to share my article "The Universal Rights of the Family", now on SSRN, and published in the Supreme Court Law Review, which examines the idea of the right to family integrity.
Feedback is most welcome!
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.…
@LexisNexisCan
Derek Ross retweeted
This is profoundly important advice for any academic - young or otherwise. I am all too familiar with the desire for praise, with the intoxicating effects of getting it, and with the bitter disappointment of having it withheld. And we should take seriously the opinions of other academics in our field, because they often have things to teach us. But sometimes we have to hold our nose and just dive in with the truth as we see it, and just hope it works out for the best. Otherwise, what on earth is the point?
I’d like to share some advice I give to my students–especially those of my students who aspire to academic careers.
Although it's natural and, in itself, good to desire and even seek affirmation, do not fall in love with applause. It is a drug. When you get some of it, you crave more. It can easily deflect you from your mission and vocation. In the end, what matters is not winning approval or gaining celebrity. Your mission and vocation is to seek the truth and to speak the truth as God gives you to grasp the truth.
There is a particular danger for those who dissent, as I do, and as many of my graduate students and top undergraduate students do, from the reigning orthodoxies of the prevailing intellectual culture. You may be tempted to suppose that your willingness to defy the career-making (and potential career-breaking) mandarins of elite opinion immunizes you from addiction to affirmation and applause and guarantees your personal authenticity and intellectual integrity.
It doesn’t.
We are all vulnerable to the drug. The vulnerability never completely disappears. And the drug is toxic to the activity of thinking (and thus to the cause of truth-seeking).
To me, the reality of this temptation, no less than any other temptation, should keep one mindful of the need constantly to tend the garden of one’s interior life. If anything can immunize us against the temptation to love applause above truth, it's prayer. We all need that immune system strengthener. Even those of us who think we are strong, who flatter ourselves with the thought that we are invulnerable to the lure of approval, are weak. In fact, in our self-flattery we are, perhaps, among the most vulnerable.
It is so easy to think of oneself as Socrates … until the hemlock is served.
Prayer is, quite literally, talking to God. The government has no business telling citizens they can’t talk to God in public, any more than they can prohibit talking to another person. This isn’t “state neutrality” but coerced irreligion.
montrealgazette.com/opinion/…
@mtlgazette
There is much confusion around PCEPA and what it does - and doesn’t - do. I highly recommend this article for some much-needed clarification from Prof. @DebraMHaak, one of Canada’s leading legal experts on the subject.
For some further thoughts on Kloubakov, the legality of prostitution in Canada, what the current criminal laws do & do not capture, and what PCEPA & the Commodification Offences aim to accomplish, see my article forthcoming in the Supreme Court Law Review
dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5885…
Contrary to what some have suggested, the good faith religious opinion defence in the Criminal Code does *not* shield calls to violence. Courts have been clear on this point, as I explained to the Justice Committee (you can read my submissions here: tinyurl.com/bdhtdnnj).
Similarly, s. 319(3)(b) does not excuse the wilful promotion of hatred simply because someone cites a religious text. What it clarifies is that a good faith, truth-seeking exegesis of a religious text is not *itself* a hate crime.
Derek Ross retweeted
Looking forward to speaking this afternoon with the @UsaskLaw chapter of @CLF_Canada on current issues in religious freedom
Derek Ross retweeted
Yes we must do better. Freedom of religion or belief is not only an inalienable right, #FoRB is core to our very humanity. The right to have, adopt and change thought, conscience, religion or belief-without coercion-is an absolute right & cannot be infringed in any circumstances
"Across the globe, people continue to be harassed, attacked – and even killed – simply for what they believe. 𝑾𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅-𝒐𝒏. Freedom of religion and belief is an inalienable human right."
- @antonioguterres
Derek Ross retweeted
Today marks the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. Human trafficking isn’t just happening in faraway places – it is a major problem right here in Canada. Read more about that, and CLF's efforts to #EndHumanTrafficking, here:
christianlegalfellowship.org…
