Bar Exam Scheduling with Religious Observances

Omar Ha-Redeye was interviewed in the Law Times on the Law Society of Ontario’s deferral of licensing exams falling within Ramadan,

Omar Ha-Redeye, a lawyer at Fleet Street Law, says these concerns highlight the difficulty of scheduling in a multicultural society.

The pandemic has been a tough time for everybody, and Ha-Redeye says that the very unusual circumstances of the cancelled exam and misconduct allegations will understandably exacerbate the preparation stress for candidates.

“The new scheduling date is during a time when some members of the candidate pool are going to be under their own pressures and stresses because of religious observances that involve not eating or drinking anything throughout the day. So that makes for a challenging circumstance.”

Ha-Redeye cites the 2019 federal court decision of Aryeh-Bain v. Canada (Attorney General), which involved a challenge to the 2019 federal elections scheduling because it was during a Jewish holiday. The court held that there would have been other religious holidays that other religions would have implicated regardless of whether there were alternative dates.

There were advanced polls, and the court highlighted that people could still vote through mailing and other polling methods that did not fall on that specific holiday. Ha-Redeye says it is difficult in a multicultural society to accommodate the full participation of all members.

The next day to write the exam might be June. He says that those additional months for candidates who defer their exams will not significantly impact their careers as the legal community gets past these current hurdles.

“For individuals who don’t want to write Ramadan because that’s difficult, it really is a relatively short delay.”