After five days of argument, the B.C. Industrial Relations Council decided to exempt two Catholic teachers, Nancy and Justin Wasilifsky, from membership in the North Vancouver Teachers’ Association and the B.C. Teachers’ Federation. They objected to union policy statements supporting Planned Parenthood and abortion. The IRE stated: “If the depth of an individual’s religious beliefs has a profound impact on the way he lives such that membership in a particular union is irreconcilable with those beliefs, how can the Council refuse to grant him or her the same protection… as it would to another applicant whose objections applies to trade unions in general?
