The Supreme Court of Canada Building on May 12, 2021 (Jolson Lim/iPolitics) In a 9-0 decision on Friday, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that there is no underlying legal contract when someone joins a voluntary organization, even if that organization has a constitution and by-law, and, even if that organization is a church. The case involved the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church of Canada, specifically the parish of St. Mary Cathedral, a gold-domed building in Toronto, and five of its parishioners. The top court ruled in favour of the church. The ruling is an important clarification because the top court saw no difference between a contract claim arising from aggrieved church members than from any other voluntary organization. Justice Malcolm Rowe, writing for the court, said, “The members of a local minor hockey league or a group formed to oppose development of green spaces, or a bible study group, for example, do not enter into enforceable legal obligations just because they have joined a group with rules that members are supposed to follow.” The conflict began in 2016 after the five church congregants, each with two decades of membership, were appointed by the church as part of a committee […]
