{"id":267,"date":"2020-04-27T13:05:01","date_gmt":"2020-04-27T17:05:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.debousquet.com\/blog\/?p=267"},"modified":"2022-03-04T13:07:56","modified_gmt":"2022-03-04T18:07:56","slug":"can-professional-associations-mandate-their-members-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debousquet.com\/blog\/2020\/04\/27\/can-professional-associations-mandate-their-members-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Professional Associations Mandate Their Members\u2019 Speech?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most professionals like engineers, doctors, pharmacists and lawyers are governed by professional associations. These professional associations actively engage in regulating their respective licensees to ensure a minimum level of competency with a view to protecting the public interest. Associations are also empowered to protect members of the public by maintaining the capacity to discipline and sanction their members. For instance, the Law Society of Ontario<\/em> regulates the more than 50,000 lawyers who practice in the province and can investigate and sanction lawyers who have been found to violate the Society\u2019s Rules of Professional Conduct<\/em> or its By-Laws<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Accordingly, these professional associations are often well-placed to instill ongoing training requirements and disciplinary measures for acts or omissions that range from unprofessional, to negligent. Associations regularly articulate and amend rules of professional conduct that set out sanctions for missing the minimum levels of competency and professional care required.<\/p>\n

But can these powers to regulate become overbearing? One recent example suggests that the answer is \u201cyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

In late 2017, the Law Society of Ontario adopted a controversial rule requiring all lawyers to adopt and abide by a \u201cStatement of Principles\u201d – a statement advocating for equality, diversity and inclusion. The initiative caused a rift in the province\u2019s legal community, sparking both backlash and adamant support amongst practitioners. As divisive as it may have been, the resulting volcanic eruption may well spark earthquakes in other professional associations in their attempts to reform and \u2018modernize\u2019 their professional bodies.<\/p>\n

While the Law Society\u2019s proposal was eventually abandoned, had it been put in force, lawyers who took a principled stance and objected to having their beliefs and ideas made up for them would presumably have faced some sort of disciplinary sanction.<\/p>\n

Shortly after the mandate was publicized, law professor Ryan Alford sued the Law Society of Ontario in the Superior Court, seeking a series of declarations, including declarations that:<\/p>\n