The EFC was an intervener in a Supreme Court of Canada case about whether ecclesiastical decisions about membership and discipline are outside of the scope of judicial review. Hearings started Dec. 9, 2020 and a ruling was announced May 21, 2021. The EFC co-intervened with the Catholic Civil Rights League.
The EFC
welcomed the ruling in a statement.
The May 2021 decision overruled an
Ontario Court of Appeal decision released in January 2020 which would have permitted courts to judicially review a dispute between members of the church and their bishop on a theological and disciplinary decision. The EFC had made written submissions to the Appeal Court pointing out a previous Supreme Court ruling in the
Wall case that declared courts will not “become the arbiter of religious dogma.” (
The EFC intervened in that earlier
Wall case at the Supreme Court as well.)
The official name of this case was
Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church of Canada St. Mary Cathedral v Aga.
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