An Alberta lawyer has filed a public-interest lawsuit against the provincial law society over its adoption of political agendas, including “critical race theory,” “gender theory,” and “intersectionality.”
Roger Song says the Law Society of Alberta has started to impose cultural and political training for lawyers, a move similar to what he saw growing up in communist China.
“The danger is that once the authority can come to a conclusion that you are not culturally competent, they can revoke your licence. They can stop me from practicing law saying, ‘Oh, by the way, Mr. Song, you’re not culturally competent, you cannot practice in Canada,’” he told The Epoch Times.
Mr. Song said he wants the courts to remove these requirements for lawyers.
“I don’t believe that the authorities should automatically suspend a lawyer just because that lawyer didn’t undertake some kind of ... training or watch some videos prescribed by law society,” he said.
He added that the key issue was whether Alberta wants a Chinese Communist Party model of lawyer “where a lawyer is required to be politically and professionally competent or be ‘both red and professional’ ... or if we want a traditional model of lawyer of a free and democratic society.”
Mr. Song’s lawyer, Glenn Blackett, said that in 2020 the Law Society of Alberta began to mandate training for lawyers. Those who did not comply were suspended.
The regulatory body has gone further since then and developed an online portal where lawyers are to log in and rate their “professional competence” against two of nine areas, he said.
Mr. Blackett said two of those areas are “fully woke.” Lawyers are then to plan professional development activities in areas that have been identified as weak, he explained.
“A lawyer’s primary duty is to be loyal to the client,” he said. “By encouraging lawyers to become loyal to this political objective and promote that political objective in their professional practice we see there being a serious problem of divided loyalty.”
The Law Society told The Epoch Times it would not comment on a matter that is before the court.
In his Oct. 27 filing, Mr. Song said the Law Society of Alberta has violated its primary duty by assuming political objectives. He said the regulatory body’s role is to ensure the public is able to find competent legal counsel when needed.
He added that the Law Society’s adoption of political agenda prejudices lawyers against Canadian constitutional principles, such as democracy, freedom of conscience, personal freedom, and respect for religious minorities, as well as objectivity and science.
Mr. Song told The Epoch Times that he also opposed the idea pushed by the Law Society that Canada has systemic racism given his experience coming to Canada as an immigrant and attending law school.
Mr. Song did acknowledge experiencing discrimination along his journey.
“We received discriminatory comments by other people, you know, from time to time. We received the discriminatory treatment by the people who hold power from time to time,” he noted.
“But is it correct if you choose to say, ‘Oh, this type of discrimination is the problem of the system, rather than the sinful nature of human beings?'“ he asked. ”I would rather concentrate on the sinful conduct of the discriminatory behaviour of each individual rather than just to have a blanket determination that the whole system is corrupt.”
Mr. Song’s lawsuit is being supported, in part, by the Council of Alberta Lawyers, a registered society of Alberta lawyers defending legal professionalism.
The lawsuit includes an expert opinion from Joanna Williams, who wrote “How Woke Won: The Elitist Movement That Threatens Democracy, Tolerance, and Reason.”
