Delwin Vriend
 Delwin Vriend |
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|---|---|
| Born |
January 22, 1966 Sioux Center, Iowa, U.S. |
| Occupation | Software Developer |
| Parent(s) | Dennis & Ruth Vriend |
Delwin Vriend is a Canadian who was at the center of a landmark provincial and federal legal case, Vriend v. Alberta, concerning the inclusion of sexual orientation as a protected human right in Canada.
Delwin Vriend, born in Sioux Center, Iowa in 1966 to a Canadian father and American mother, moved to Edmonton, Alberta, with his parents at the age of two. The oldest of five children, he was raised with three siblings on an organic vegetable farm to the south of Edmonton in Leduc County. 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 King's University College) in Edmonton and then transferring to Calvin College in Grand Rapids, 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 chemistry lab instructor. He worked in that capacity for three years.
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, 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.
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