On July 1, 2027, Canada turns 160!
To commemorate this anniversary, Christian Legal Fellowship (CLF) is launching its Canada 160 Campaign, inviting 160 lawyers and 160 churches to pledge $160 per month to CLF to support freedom and justice in Canada!
As the nation’s association of Christians in law, CLF serves as a legal guardian for religious freedom in Canada, standing uniquely at the intersection of Canada’s law schools, legal profession, courts, legislatures, churches, and legal academy.
Would you consider joining us by pledging $160/month to our work, and/or inviting your church to be one of our 160 partners? Please share CLF’s campaign with them and let us know if you have any questions!
It is our continued prayer that God would keep our land glorious and free.
CLF is at WORK IN…
CANADA’S LAW SCHOOLS
CLF is the only organized, inter-denominational Christian presence in law schools across the country. CLF’s law student ministry exists to encourage law students to integrate faith, life, and law. CLF’s 20 law student chapters provide spiritual support, fellowship, community service, and outreach events on topics of religious freedom, faithful lawyering, spiritual wellness, legal ethics, and more. All students and faculty are invited to participate, building bridges with legal professionals from diverse backgrounds.
CLF also recently launched the inaugural Amicus Intervenor Moot, an appellate moot competition designed to hone students’ public law advocacy skills in the role of intervenor, often referred to as amicus curiae, or “friend of the court”.
CANADA’S LEGAL PROFESSION
CLF is Canada’s national association of Christians in law, now with over 800 members (representing over 45 Christian denominations), and lawyer chapters in 14 major Canadian cities. Through various projects including the Christian Legal Institute, the National Conference, the National Law Student Conference, CLF seeks to equip Christians in law to maintain and strengthen their faith, empowering them to engage with others and bear witness to God’s beauty and truth more effectively in their day-to-day work.
CLF is also an accredited Continuing Professional Development (CPD) provider, and delivers CPD programming each year.
CANADA’S COURTS
CLF has been blessed with the opportunity to intervene as a friend of the court in over 50 cases to date, assisting courts as they face important questions concerning human dignity, human rights and fundamental freedoms. As the only national association in Canada bearing both a Christian and legal identity, CLF is uniquely equipped to offer a distinct, religiously-informed, legal expertise on some of the most pressing justice issues facing our nation. CLF’s perspective has been found to be valuable by our nation’s courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada, in numerous leading cases on relevant Charter issues.
As Christian lawyers, we are heirs to a tradition of legal thought that bears on many of the most pressing legal and constitutional questions facing Canadians. We believe it is our responsibility to continue to develop that tradition and work with others to determine what justice requires in a free and democratic society.
CANADA’S LEGISLATURES
CLF seeks to advance justice and engage in public policy dialogue. CLF participates in legislative consultations and appears before legislative bodies and committees on issues of human rights, including disability rights, protection of vulnerable and marginalized populations, freedom of religion, freedom of expression, freedom of conscience, and other issues affecting the relationship between law and religion.
CLF has been actively engaged in consultations surrounding disability rights, as well as Québec’s laïcité (secularism) laws, among several other important consultations. CLF also advances justice beyond our borders, as an NGO with special consultative status with the United Nations’ Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
CLF update on Québec’s laicity laws
CLF update on disability rights
CANADA’S CHURCHES
CLF stands as a legal guardian for freedom of religion in Canada, defending the freedom of all people to seek the Truth, and to live in accordance with it. CLF seeks to advance the public good by articulating principles that are consistent with, and illuminated by, our Christian faith. We are committed to advocating for the full and equal participation of religious groups in public life, and to upholding religion as a public good in society.
It is CLF’s vision to partner with 160 churches through the Canada 160 Campaign to mutually reinforce each other in our work.
CANADA’S LEGAL ACADEMY
Since 2017, CLF’s Centre for Religion, Law & Human Rights has convened an annual Academic Symposium, bringing together jurists of all backgrounds from across Canada. The Symposium has developed into Canada’s leading academic conference on the relationship between religion, law, and human rights, resulting in the publication of special volumes of the Supreme Court Law Review and six correlated books (and two more in production). Contributors include over 70 law professors from 18 Canadian law faculties, and judges from five different courts (including five from the Supreme Court of Canada). Articles developed out of CLF’s Symposiums have received 24 judicial citations at appellate and trial courts across Canada, and have been cited in over 70 Canadian and international law journal articles to date.
CALL TO ACTION
CLF has been presented with many special opportunities to stand in these spaces, and we seek to steward them well. We need your help to continue this unique work in Canada! Please stand with us for justice and freedom in our nation.
