Case information

None.

Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

Trusts – Express trusts – Charitable trusts – Religious institutions – Disputes over church property – Membership of an Anglican Church voting to leave the respondent Diocese – Applicant churchwardens bringing action on behalf of members for declarations of beneficial ownership of church property and a charitable foundation – Whether the rule enunciated by the House of Lords in Re Gulbenkian, [1970] A.C. 508 continues to apply in Canada with respect to ascertaining the beneficiaries – Whether ascertained beneficiaries can invoke the rule in Saunders v. Vautier (1841), Cr. Ph. 240 and vote to either wind up the trust or to remove the trust property from the trust – Whether the court can consider extrinsic contextual evidence and evidence of the intention of the incorporators of the charitable corporation in the interpretation of the objects of a charitable corporation whose statement of objects is ambiguous – Whether competing beneficiaries which require the judicial interpretation of an ambiguous trust instrument should be required to pay the costs of the litigation – When can an appellate court set aside a discretionary costs decision of a lower court.

Due to long-standing theological differences and the position of the respondent Diocese and the Anglican Church of Canada on blessing same-sex unions, the membership of St. Aidan’s Anglican Church in Windsor voted to leave the respondent Diocese and seek Episcopal oversight from a bishop other than the Bishop of Huron and a primate other than the Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada. They brought an action for a declaration that the current members of the church are the beneficial owners of the church property and of a charitable foundation established by members. The respondent Diocese and its bishop defended the claim and brought a separate action for declaratory relief against the churchwardens and other members of the congregation. The applicants’ action and their counterclaim in the respondent’s action were dismissed. The Ontario Superior Court of Justice granted declarations that the church property is owned by the respondent Diocese in trust for St. Aidan’s Parish or congregation and that the foundation assets were held for the benefit of same. The vote to leave the Diocese was held ultra vires. While those members who voted to leave severed their personal relationship with the Diocese, St. Aidan’s Parish of the Diocese remained intact and would continue in perpetuity regardless of the changes in membership. The applicants were ordered to give up possession of the land. The Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal and allowed a cross-appeal to award costs to the respondents.