Insulated from Justice? Religious Expulsion Before Canadian Courts in the post-Highwood Era

Abstract

Judicial consideration of religious disputes prompt concerns that the legal system may delve into issues of a spiritual nature that should enjoy some insulation from legal comment or intervention. These concerns are only heightened in instances where the dispute concerns the very serious issue of the expulsion of a member from their religious community. While necessary care is warranted in these sensitive circumstances, a blanket prohibition on legal intervention in instances of religious expulsion creates the possibility that a member of a religious community may experience the devastation of expulsion in an unfair and unjust manner. This paper, written prior to the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church of Canada St. Mary Cathedral v Aga but anticipating its outcome, argues that Canadian law lacks a proper framework to facilitate appropriate legal consideration of these sensitive disputes where such consideration is necessary.