Case information

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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.

Commercial law — Corporations — Incorporated religious societies — Bylaws — Membership — Elections — Oppression — Remedies — Applicant’s Membership Committee refused membership to numerous Sikhs for political reasons — Applicant failed to hold elections in accordance with bylaws — Whether there should be a legal requirement for deference to facilitate the self-governance of religious societies — Whether judicial intervention in a multicultural and pluralistic society should be further limited in application for religious societies — Whether a legal test should be created to examine the definitions of ‘tradition and customs’ as referred to in Lakeside Colony of Hutterian Brethren v. Hofer, [1992] 3 S.C.R. 165 — Whether statutory enactments should be allowed to amend or override the constitutional documents of religious societies without providing further statutory direction in order to prevent the abuse of process of the legal system.

The Siri Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara is an incorporated congregation under the Religious Societies’ Land Act, R.S.A. 2000, c. R-15, governed by a Religious Committee and an Executive Committee. The Respondents, involved and regular members of the Society, applied to wind-up the Society because the Membership Committee had refused membership to 80 Sikhs for political reasons, and because the Society had failed to hold elections in accordance with its bylaws. On an application for summary judgment, the chambers judge gave one affidavit very restricted weight. He found that the membership applications had been rejected for political, not religious, reasons, and appointed himself as case manager. He found that the Society’s actions had been oppressive, ordered the Society to prepare a current membership list, set a new procedure for addition additional members, amended the bylaws, and ordered that the committees continue in the interim. An application for a stay of that order was dismissed, as was an application for a stay of execution. The Court of Appeal dismissed the Society’s appeal.