Delwin Vriend is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

man who was at the center of a landmark provincial and federal legal case,

Vriend v. Alberta ''Vriend v Alberta''

998 Year 998 ( CMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Spring – Otto III retakes Rome and restores power in the papal city. Crescentius II (the Younger) and his followers ...

1 S.C.R. 493 is an important Supreme Court of Canada case that determined that a legislative omission can be the subject of a Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Charter violation. The case involved a dismissal of a ...

, concerning the inclusion of sexual orientation as a protected human right in Canada.

Early life

Delwin Vriend was born in Sioux Center,

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

, in 1966, to a

father and an American mother. At the age of two, Vriend moved to

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

with his family. The oldest of five children, he was raised with three siblings on an organic vegetable farm south of Edmonton in

Leduc County Leduc County is a municipal district in Alberta, Canada, that is immediately south of the City of Edmonton. It spans east to west and north to south, and has a population of 14,416. The municipal district is home to prairie parkland and severa ...

. His parents were members of the local Christian Reformed Church, and he attended private Christian elementary and secondary schools, before enrolling at The King's College (now The King's University) in Edmonton. He then transferred to

Calvin College Calvin University, formerly Calvin College, is a private Christian university in Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1876, Calvin University is an educational institution of the Christian Reformed Church and stands in the Reforme ...

Grand Rapids Grand Rapids is the largest city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, United States. With a population of 198,917 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 200,117 in 2024, Grand Rapids is the List of municipalities ...

, Michigan, to earn his physics and mathematics degree. After briefly being employed as an electrician, Vriend was asked to work at The King's College as a laboratory coordinator and

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lab instructor. He worked in that capacity for three years.

Civil rights case

In 1991, Vriend, who was open within his congregation about being in a same-sex relationship, was fired because his sexual orientation was deemed incompatible with a newly created statement of religious belief adopted by The King's College. Vriend attempted to file a discrimination complaint with the Alberta

Human Rights Commission A human rights commission, also known as a human relations commission, is a body set up to investigate, promote or protect human rights. The term may refer to international, national or subnational bodies set up for this purpose, such as nationa ...

, but was refused on the grounds that sexual orientation was not protected under the province's human rights code. He subsequently sued the Government of Alberta and its Human Rights Commission. In 1994, an Alberta court ruled that sexual orientation must be treated as a protected class under human rights legislation. The provincial government subsequently appealed and in 1996 the decision was overruled by the

Alberta Court of Appeal The Court of Appeal of Alberta (frequently referred to as Alberta Court of Appeal or ABCA) is a Court system of Canada#Appellate courts of the provinces and territories, Canadian appellate court that serves as the highest appellate court in the ...

. This decision was then appealed to the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; , ) is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants eac ...

in the case of

Vriend v. Alberta ''Vriend v Alberta''

, who finally ruled in 1998 that provincial governments could not exclude protection of individuals from human rights legislation on the basis of sexual orientation. Despite popular misunderstanding, the Vriend case was not against The King's College, and Vriend never pursued a human rights complaint against the institution. The case strictly involved whether claims to the Human Rights Commission on the basis of sexual orientation could be investigated by provincial human rights commissions, and did not set any legal precedent for the resolution of such claims. Canadian human rights legislation does exempt religious institutions in specific cases typically involving the education of minors, and the Supreme Court ruling did not change that. However, some religious groups had lobbied the provincial and federal governments to invoke Canada's

notwithstanding clause Section 33 of the ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' is part of the Constitution of Canada. It is commonly known as the notwithstanding clause (, , or, as prescribed by the Quebec Board of the French Language, ). Sometimes referred to ...

to overrule the decision. This course of action was never pursued by the Alberta government. The Supreme Court decision in Vriend vs. Alberta was used to argue provincial cases against bans on same-sex marriage throughout Canada. In addition, the decision has had greater ramifications within Canadian law outside of sexual orientation issues. It has shaped legal precedent concerning provincial and federal government relationships as well as labor and other civil rights and constitutional laws.

Personal life

Delwin Vriend left the Christian Reformed Church. After his termination, Vriend was unemployed for seven months before finding part-time employment with the AIDS Network of Edmonton Society and eventually a full-time position with the University of Alberta Library. However, the publicity surrounding the case caused Vriend to leave Canada in 2000. In 2005, Delwin Vriend placed 44th on the list published by ''Alberta Venture'' magazine as one of this century's 50 greatest Albertans. In 2011 Delwin Vriend was inducted into the

Q Hall of Fame Canada The Q Hall of Fame Canada, also known as Queer Hall of Fame, was a Canadian hall of fame dedicated to commemorate the history of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in Canada. They honoured those that have been human rights pioneer ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vriend, Delwin American emigrants to Canada Canadian LGBTQ rights activists Canadian people of Dutch descent Living people 1966 births Canadian gay men People from Edmonton People from Sioux Center, Iowa 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people 20th-century Canadian LGBTQ people Inductees of the Q Hall of Fame