Ontario. The five individual appellants are members of the
CMDSC;
— the Canadian Federation of Catholic Physicians’ Societies,
a national association of Catholic Physicians’ guilds, associa-
tions, and societies in 11 Canadian cities, including four in
Ontario; and
— Canadian Physicians for Life, a non-religious national
association of pro-life physicians, retired physicians,
medical residents and students, with approximately 1,000
members in Ontario.
[11] The College is the self-governing body for the medical profession in Ontario under the Regulated Health Professions Act,
1991, S.O. 1991, c. 18 (“RHPA”) and the Medicine Act, 1991, S.O.
1991, c. 30.
[12] Nine organizations or groups of organizations, some of
which intervened in the Divisional Court, were granted leave to
intervene in this appeal. Five intervening organizations and
groups supported the position of the appellants: (1) the Catholic
Civil Rights League, Faith and Freedom Alliance and Protection of
Conscience Project (the “CCRL et al.”); (2) the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, the Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario and
Christian Legal Fellowship (the “EFC et al.”); (3) the Ontario
Medical Association (the “OMA”) (which did not intervene in the
applications below); (4) B’nai Brith of Canada League for Human
Rights, the Vaad Harabonim of Toronto and the Centre for Israel
and Jewish Affairs (“B’nai Brith et al.”); and (5) the Justice Centre
for Constitutional Freedoms (the “JCCF”).
[13] Four intervening organizations and groups supported the
position of the College: (1) the Canadian Civil Liberties Association
(the “CCLA”); (2) Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund Inc.
(“LEAF”) (which did not intervene in the applications below);
(3) Dying with Dignity Canada; and (4) the Canadian HIV/AIDS
Legal Network, HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic Ontario, and the
Canadian Professional Association for Transgender Health
(the “Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network et al.”).
(2) The policies
[14] The Policies, extracts of which are set out below, require
a physician to give an effective referral to another health care
provider for medical procedures or pharmaceuticals which the
physician objects to providing on the basis of religion or conscience.
While each of the individual appellants objects to MAiD and
abortion, their objections are not uniform with regard to other procedures and pharmaceuticals, such as contraception, emergency
