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Membership, elections, leadership and property in a congregation or community association are bound up with faith, family and standing. We aim for an outcome the community can keep living with.
Start My Enquiry →When the dispute is about a place of worship, it is never only legal.
Often not. The Supreme Court of Canada has held that courts review a voluntary association’s decisions only where a legal right is affected, such as a contract or property, and Ontario courts have been reluctant to overturn membership decisions for technical irregularities. For most internal disputes, a negotiated, mediated or arbitrated outcome is the realistic path.
In Highwood Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses v. Wall (2018) and Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church v. Aga (2021), the Supreme Court of Canada held that courts intervene in a voluntary association’s affairs only where a legal right is at stake, and that a written constitution does not automatically make membership a contract. Theological questions are not for the courts at all.
The position is different where the organisation is incorporated, where property or employment is involved, or where the governing documents create enforceable rights. Which of those applies is the first question we answer.
We start with the organisation’s own constitution, by-laws and traditions, and with the structure: whether there is a corporation, who its members are, and who holds title to the property. Many disputes turn on a gap between how the community understands its membership and who the corporation’s members legally are.
Where both sides can agree, mediation or arbitration keeps the dispute private and within a process the community controls. We act for your side and help choose a neutral who is acceptable to both. We work in 13 languages, so discussions need not happen only in English.
Clear membership criteria, a published voter list with a cut-off date, an independent returning officer and a dispute clause agreed in calm times prevent most of what we see. We can review and update governing documents so the next election is not the next dispute.
Many congregations and community associations are, legally, two things at once: an unincorporated group of worshippers or members, and a corporation that holds the property and the bank account. The people who attend and support the organisation are not always the corporation’s legal members, and the difference often decides who can vote, who can sue and what a court will look at.
Where there is a corporation, its members have rights under the governing statute and its by-laws. Where there is not, the Supreme Court of Canada has said that membership alone does not create enforceable rights. Establishing which structure applies, and who the legal members are, is the first step in every dispute we see.
Property disputes are different from membership disputes, because property rights are legal rights that courts will decide. Title may sit with the local corporation, with trustees, or with a regional or national body, and some denominations hold property on trusts that tie it to a particular faith or governance structure.
When a congregation divides, the question of who keeps the building turns on the title documents, any trust terms and the governing documents of each body. These cases are costly to litigate and emotionally difficult for everyone involved, which is why an agreed division, sometimes with a buy-out or a shared-use arrangement, is often the better outcome.
Constitutions are sometimes written in the community’s own language, and meetings are often held in it. A resolution process that works only in English can exclude the people whose agreement matters most. We work in 13 languages and arrange translation by a qualified translator where the exact wording of governing documents is in dispute.
Many communities also have their own traditions of elders, councils or religious authorities who help resolve disagreements. Where the parties want it, a legal process can sit alongside those traditions rather than replace them.
After a contested annual meeting, two groups at a temple each announce they are the elected managing committee. Both write to the bank. The bank freezes the account until it receives a clear instruction, and the temple cannot pay its mortgage.
The corporation’s records show that the legal members are a smaller group than the worshippers who voted, which explains much of the disagreement. The two committees agree to an interim joint signing arrangement so the mortgage is paid, and then to a new election run by an independent returning officer from a verified member list, with the process explained to the congregation in its own language.
An illustration only. The organisation, people and details are invented, and every real dispute turns on its own documents and facts.
We start with a conflict check, because in a close-knit organisation the other side may be someone the firm already knows. Once that is clear, an initial consultation lets us understand what has happened and what you need.
We then agree the scope of the work and the fees in writing before anything else is done. For many non-profit disputes, the first step is a defined piece of work: a review of the governing documents and a written opinion on what they require. That often shows whether the dispute can be resolved quickly or needs mediation, arbitration or court.
We meet clients at our Toronto, North York, Mississauga and Oakville offices or by video, and we work in 13 languages. Boards often prefer video meetings so that several directors can attend together.
Last updated September 2026. Published by Lexaltico LLP, Toronto.
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