Case information

Municipal law — Taxation — Exemptions — Religious institution — In assessing characteristics of Hassidic Religious Community Centre to establish whether it could qualify as religious institution under s. 204(12) of Act respecting municipal taxation, whether Tribunal could depart from strict application of criteria provided for by legislature in favour of purposive assessment of Act respecting municipal taxation — Whether trial judge committed error in law to which appellate standard of correctness must apply when he indicated, in his judgment, that legal framework must be strictly adhered to — Act respecting municipal taxation, CQLR, c. F 2.1, s. 204(12).

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The respondent, the Hassidic Religious Community Centre (HRCC), a non profit organization, owns multiple immovables in Ville de Boisbriand (City), the applicant. The HRCC filed nine applications with the Administrative Tribunal of Québec (ATQ) for a tax exemption for nine of those immovables, in whole or in part, which were entered on the City’s three year assessment roll for 2014 16 in accordance with s. 204(12), (14)(c) and (17) of the Act respecting municipal taxation, CQLR, c. F 2.1 (AMT). The ATQ dismissed the exemption applications because, among other things, the use of the immovables in question by the HRCC was not as described in s. 204(12) of the AMT since the HRCC exercised only a power of detention in respect of them. The ATQ also found that the HRCC is not a religious institution within the meaning of s. 204(12) and (14) of the AMT. Furthermore, the ATQ also declared parts of immovables that already benefitted from a tax exemption to be taxable even though those exemptions were not contested by the City and therefore no debate took place on the issue. The ATQ’s decision was the subject of an appeal to the Court of Québec pursuant to s. 159 of the Act respecting administrative justice, CQLR, c. J 3, with respect to six immovables: a school for boys, for the part of the immovable being used as classrooms; a school for boys, for the part of the immovable being used as a synagogue; a childcare centre for girls; a childcare centre for boys; and two schools for girls. The Court of Québec set aside the ATQ’s decision and found that all of the immovables in question could benefit from the exemption sought. The Superior Court dismissed the City’s application for judicial review of the Court of Québec’s decision. The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal.

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