Janet Epp Buckingham

Janet Epp Buckingham is a professor at Trinity Western University and the Director of the Laurentian Leadership Centre, an Ottawa-based, live-in, extension program focusing on leadership in public policy, business and communications.

Bio last updated April 4th, 2022.

Janet Epp Buckingham

Articles by Janet Epp Buckingham

  • A Wall Between Church and Court

    Convivium contributor Janet Epp Buckingham explains this week’s unusual Wall case in which the Supreme Court said judges have no business telling churches how to decide who belongs. It’s a positive outcome for religious freedom, she says, though less far-reaching than other anticipated rulings will be.

    The lower courts were convinced on the basis of the Hofer decision that Wall had a legitimate case because his livelihood was affected by his expulsion from his Jehovah’s Witness congregation But on Thursday, the Supreme Court of Canada brought an end to the strange saga of Randy Wall and his fight ...

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  • Canada’s Silence About Christmas Violence

    Janet Epp Buckingham wants to know why the Canadian government doesn’t speak out against the evil of attacks on Christians around the world as they celebrate their Saviour’s birth

    As the recent horrific bombing at Bethel Memorial Methodist Church in Quetta, Pakistan shows, church services at this time of year can be a special target for violence against Christians in the many regions of the world where they are a minority These are important first steps to preventing and resp...

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  • Religious Freedom Month

    Today, we release the third piece in our series of Policy Options articles that have emerged as a response to our Spirited Citizenship: Care, Conflict, and Virtue round table in Ottawa last month, convened in partnership with the Angus Reid Institute to mark Canada’s Sesquicentennial. 

    To read more of Janet’s reflection on religious freedom in Canada, read her piece Three Risks For Freedom here ...

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  • Three Risks For Freedom

    Dead French intellectuals, explosive growth of social media, and busybodies obsessed with “feelings” all put traditional liberties at risk, Janet Epp Buckingham recently told the Parliamentary Forum on Canadian Freedoms

    Many of the current issues where Canadian freedoms are threatened involve insidious, but seemingly minor, restrictions on freedom In social media debates over this, many lawyers argue that signing on to this kind of thing is a small restriction on liberty that is well worth it for the privilege of s...

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  • Jake Epp: Faithful Minister

    Janet Epp-Buckingham shares the story of Jake Epp, who was called to public life and impacted Canada in significant ways. She shares his advice to people of faith called to the public life: Declare your beliefs early and clearly and live by them. 

    Jake was minister of health when the federal government introduced legislation to respond to the Morgentaler case During his political career, Jake served as Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Minister of National Health and Welfare and Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources Jake ...

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  • A Challenge from God

    Dr. Janet Epp Buckingham, a professor at Trinity Western University and director of the Laurentian Leadership Centre in Ottawa, shares her faith journey and her experiences defending religious freedom in Canada and around the world.

    In 2006, I left the EFC and became the director of the Laurentian Leadership Centre, a satellite campus of Trinity Western University based in Ottawa She authored a book on religious freedom Fighting over God: a legal and political history of religious freedom in Canada in 2014 and contributed a cha...

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  • Facing Quebec's Religion Problem

    The shock wave from the Quebec City mosque tragedy might at last jar loose public recognition of what Quebecers themselves privately know: Quebec has a religion problem. Or perhaps better, Quebec has problems with religion.

    When the Supreme Court of Canada struck down those bylaws, the Quebec government amended the law Jehovah’s Witnesses were persecuted for more than a decade in Quebec In the mid 1940s, Premier Maurice Duplessis ordered police to arrest Jehovah’s Witnesses for distributing their literature ...

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  • Yes, Let's Reopen the Debate on Lobbying Limits

    Arguing in favour of limits on lobbying opportunities for those exiting political office, Coyne gives politicians and their staffers the sarcasm treatment He pictures lobbyists slinking in the shadows of Parliament, seeking to curry favour with the political elite in order to benefit a “large corpor...

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  • Magna Carta versus Canadian Charter

    An 800-year-old medieval document written in Latin began the process of protecting freedom by ensuring even sovereignty was subject to courts of law. Do Canada's courts now need a reigning in of their own?

    So, in addition to being the foundation for democracy, the Magna Carta is also the foundation for the rule of law and a fair and impartial justice system — all essential elements of our democratic system "In a constitutional democracy, the judicial branch of government is entrusted to rule on whethe...

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  • Pointless Protests

    While there is certainly nothing wrong with having practical, experiential learning as part of a university course on social activism, hopefully students are not being encouraged, or even required, to participate in pointless protests for the sake of attaining a better mark in the class Students cou...

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  • New Justice, New Challenges?

    Yet when the courts strike down all manner of legislation from recent laws setting minimum sentences to prostitution provisions that date back more than a century, when they set aside the appointment of a Conservative judicial appointment, Robert Nadon, when they rule against all government proposal...

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  • Being a Christian in the World Today

    Meanwhile, Boko Haram kidnapped Christian girls in Nigeria in an egregious example of acts that have been occurring in the region for some time The Chaldean Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako has issued an urgent appeal to the global community to protect the Christian community in Iraq ...

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  • PQ Lite

    The federal Criminal Code has several provisions which conflict with the new Quebec legislation Now that the euthanasia bill has passed, the Liberal government is poised to introduce its own version of Marois's "secular charter ...

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  • Fighting Over God

    Janet Epp Buckingham’s new book on Canada’s history of duelling deities

    As religious adherents with a wide variety of religious practices seek to find their place in a Canadian society that seems to be reluctant to publicly include religion, public institutions may find it increasingly difficult to exhibit traditional Canadian tolerance and equality Issues relating to t...

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  • God: The Highest Good

    But as we are in Holy Week, contemplating Jesus' last days on earth, this is a time to contemplate and be amazed by the personal sacrifice of a living, loving God, and in breathless wonder acknowledge that he cannot be placed in a box The God that is revealed to us in Scripture is the creator of the...

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  • At Least Quebec Is Honest About It

    After two very difficult human rights complaints over the last 15 years, the OHRC finally required Christian Horizons to open caregiver positions to anyone regardless of their religion The leading questions in the OHRC consultation are trying to sell state enforcement of secularism in Ontario ...

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  • Buying Groceries in Egypt

    The Muslim Brotherhood retaliated against Coptic churches and by marching through the streets of Cairo While international discourse tends to focus on the extreme players in this combat, there is a wide swath of moderates in Egypt, who want a modern state with tolerance for minorities ...

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  • Hard-Won Religious Freedom

    How much have Canadians figured out about religious accommodation and healthy society? Is our own house in order? This week the right of Trinity Western University, an evangelical school in British Columbia, to maintain community standards that define marriage as being between a man and a woman came...

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  • A Smart Pre-Emptive Move

    Last Friday, I was copied on the press release from Minister Baird's office that Iranian Embassy staff were being expelled has not had diplomatic relations with Iran since the infamous seizure of the US embassy in 1980 ...

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