CHAPTER 112.

An Act to incorporate the Canada Conference
Evangelical Church.

Assented to 3rd April, 1930.

WHEREAS Samuel P. Spreng, of the city of Naperville, in the state of Illinois; Samuel R. Knechtel, of the village of St. Jacobs, in the county of Waterloo, and William O. Hayne, of the town of Pembroke, in the county of Renfrew, the president, treasurer and secretary, respectively, of The Canada Conference Evangelical Church have by their petition represented that The Canada Conference Evangelical Church has been carrying on church work in the Province of Ontario from the year 1837 until the year 1922 under the name of "Canada Conference Evangelical Association" and since the year 1922 under the name of "Canada Conference Evangelical Church" in accordance with the doctrines and discipline of the said church and is now carrying on church work in this province; and whereas the Canada Conference Evangelical Church desires to form a corporation under the name of "Canada Conference Evangelical Church" for the purpose of administering in Ontario the property, business and other temporal affairs of the said Canada Conference Evangelical Church and has prayed that an Act be passed to enact as hereinafter set forth; and whereas it is expedient to grant the prayer of the said petition;

Therefore, His Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, enacts as follows:—

1. Samuel P. Spreng, of the city of Naperville, in the State of Illinois, and Samuel R. Knechtel, of the village of Saint Jacobs, in the county of Waterloo, and William O. Hayne, of the town of Pembroke, in the county of Renfrew, the president, treasurer and secretary respectively of the Canada Conference Evangelical Church by virtue of their respective offices above mentioned and their successors in the said office, together with all the qualified voters from time to time of the said Canada Conference Evangelical Church are hereby incorporated under the name of "Canada Conference Evangelical Church" hereinafter called "the Corporation" for the purpose of administering in this Province the property, business and other temporal affairs of the said Canada Conference Evangelical Church and for the other purposes hereinafter set forth.

2. The head office of the Corporation shall be in the city of Kitchener in the Province of Ontario or in such other place in Ontario as may from time to time be designated by by-law of the Corporation.

3. The objects of the Corporation shall be the maintenance and carrying on of charities or missions, erection, maintenance and conduct of churches, cemeteries, schools, colleges, orphanages and hospitals, printing and publishing establishments and a home or homes for any person or persons in the Province of Ontario, the advancement in other ways of education, religion, charity and benevolence and to administer the property, business and other temporal affairs of the said Canada Conference Evangelical Church.

4. The said Samuel P. Spreng, Samuel R. Knechtel, and William O. Hayne by virtue of their said offices of president, treasurer and secretary respectively of the Canada Conference Evangelical Church or their successors in office shall be the provisional directors of the Corporation and until the Corporation in general meeting otherwise provides, shall exercise all the powers and functions of the Corporation.

5. The directors of the Corporation shall consist of a president, a treasurer and a secretary, together with not less than two and not more than eighteen to be elected from amongst the members of the Corporation.

6. The Corporation may, from time to time, make by-laws not contrary to law or inconsistent with this Act, for,—

(a) the appointment of a board of directors for the administration, management and control of the property, business and other temporal affairs of the Corporation;

(b) the appointment, functions, duties and remuneration of all officers, agents and servants of the Corporation;

(c) the appointment of committees and defining their duties;

(d) the calling of meetings, regular or special, of the Corporation or of committees;

(e) the fixing of the necessary quorum and procedure in all things at such meetings;

(f) generally, the carrying out of the objects and purposes of the Corporation.

7.—(1) The Corporation shall have power to acquire by purchase, lease, gift, devise or bequest any real or personal property or any estate or interest therein, either absolutely or in trust, and to sell, transfer, exchange, mortgage, hypothecate, lease or otherwise dispose of the same or any part thereof, and to give, grant, convey, lease or otherwise alienate any property, real or personal, to any other church or religious body or organization, or to any board, committee, trustees or governing body thereof as it may deem expedient in pursuance of any agreement or understanding with such church or religious body or organization for the purpose of co-operation in the prosecution of religious work. Provided always that no land at any time acquired by the Corporation, and not required for its actual use and occupation, or by way of security for the payment of any loan, debt or guarantee, shall be held by it, or by any trustee on its behalf, for a longer period than ten years after it shall have ceased to be so required, but this proviso shall not be deemed in anywise to vary or otherwise affect any trust relating to such property.

(2) The power conferred upon the Corporation by this Act to acquire by gift, devise or bequest any real or personal property shall not be limited or affected by any Statute or Statutes of Mortmain in force in this province.

8. The Corporation may issue debentures in such denominations and upon such terms as it may deem expedient, under the hand or hands of such officer or officers as may be thereto authorized and the seal of the Corporation, for any money borrowed under the authority of this Act, and the payment of such debentures and the interest thereon may be secured by mortgage in favour of a trustee or trustees for the holders of such debentures upon any real estate in this Province under the control of the Corporation or of such board or committee thereof or of the trustees of such congregation.

9. The Corporation may also invest and reinvest any of its funds and money upon any securities authorized by The Trustee Act with liberty to vary and transpose the same from time to time.

10. The Corporation may make a gift of or loan any of its property whether real or personal for or to assist in the erection or maintenance of any building or buildings deemed necessary for any church, college, parsonage, school or hospital or for any other religious, charitable, educational, congregational or social purpose upon such terms and upon such conditions as it may deem expedient.

11.—(1) The Corporation may, from time to time, for the purposes of the Corporation,—

(a) borrow money upon the credit of the Corporation;

(b) make, draw, accept, endorse or become party to promissory notes and bills of exchange; but it shall not be necessary to have the seal of the Corporation affixed to any such note or bill;

(c) mortgage, hypothecate or pledge any property of the Corporation, real or personal, to secure the repayment of any money borrowed for the purposes of the Corporation.

(2) Nothing in this section shall be construed to authorize the Corporation to issue any note or bill payable to bearer thereof, or any promissory note intended to be circulated as money or as the note or bill of a bank, or to engage in the business of banking or insurance.

12. All property, real and personal, within this Province belonging to or held in trust for or to the use of the Canada Conference Evangelical Church, or belonging to or held in trust for or to the use of any corporation, board, committee or other body, whether incorporated or unincorporated, created by or under the government or control of, or in connection with said church shall upon the coming into force of this Act be vested in the Corporation, to be held, used and administered by the Corporation or disposed of as may be provided by any by-law, rule or regulation made from time to time by the Corporation.

13. All property, real and personal, within this Province, belonging to or held by or in trust for or to the use of any congregation of the Canada Conference Evangelical Church, shall from and after the coming into force of this Act be held, used and administered for the benefit of the same congregation as a part of the Corporation in the manner and upon the trusts and subject to the terms and provisions set forth in schedule "A" to this Act and all property, real and personal, within this Province, thereafter acquired for or belonging to or held by or in trust for or to the use of any congregation of the Corporation shall be held, used and administered for the benefit of the said congregation as a part of the Corporation upon the said trusts and subject to the said terms and provisions. Provided that any property, real or personal, held at the time of the coming into force of this Act or thereafter acquired by devise, bequest, transfer or gift, in trust for any special use of any congregation, shall be held, used and administered in accordance with the special trusts so declared in respect thereof, not being contrary to law or to any by-law, rule or regulation of the Corporation, and that in the event of failure or partial failure of any of the said trusts, the said property, in the absence of any express provision for such event, may be held, used, administered or disposed of as maybe provided by any by-law, rule or regulation made from time to time by the Corporation.

14. In any deed, conveyance or transfer to trustees upon the trusts set forth in schedule "A" the form of words contained in Column 1 of said schedule "A" and distinguished by any number therein, shall have the same effect as if it contained the form of words in column 2 of said schedule "A," distinguished by the same number as is annexed to the form of words used in such deed, conveyance or transfer, but it shall not be necessary in any such deed, conveyance or transfer to insert any such number.

15.—(a) When any Master of Titles or Local Master of Titles in this Province is satisfied by any evidence he may require that any real property standing in the name of any individual or individuals, whether such persons or any of them be deceased or not, actually belongs to or is held in trust for or to the use of any congregation upon the trusts mentioned in section 12 of this Act, he may cancel the entry in the register of such individual or individuals as owners and may enter the names of the then trustees of such congregation as owners to hold the same in accordance with the provisions of the said section. A certificate of the secretary or the treasurer of the congregation within the bounds of which such property is situate, together with an affidavit of the minister in charge of such congregation to the effect that such property belongs to or is held in trust for or to the use of such congregation, shall be accepted by such Master of Titles or Local Master of Titles as prima facie evidence. No proof shall be required of the handwriting or official position of any person certifying pursuant to the provisions of this section.

(b) All deeds, transfers, mortgages, leases or other assurances of any land in this Province heretofore or hereafter executed and purporting to be signed by the trustees of any congregation in section 12 mentioned, or a majority of them, shall be in all courts in this Province, and in all registry offices and in all land titles offices of this Province, deemed sufficiently executed to pass or grant or mortgage or lease (as the case may be) the estate or interest thereby purported to be passed, granted, mortgaged or leased; Provided that the minister in charge of such congregation shall by affidavit certify that the persons executing such instruments were at the date thereof all of the trustees for said congregation or a majority of them, and in the absence or want of appointment or inability to act of any minister, such certificate may with like effect be granted by the presiding officer, secretary or treasurer of the congregation within the bounds of which the said lands are situate, The signature of the said minister or presiding officer or secretary or treasurer shall be duly witnessed and verified by affidavit in the same manner as required by The Registry Act or The Land Titles Act as the case may be.

(c) In registering any instrument under The Registry Act which sets out or refers to the trusts contained in schedule "A" to this Act, it shall not be necessary to register the said trusts in full but the registrar shall enter a note or memorandum upon the record of title of each lot or parcel of land affected thereby, giving the title and chapter of the Act of Incorporation and the date of the passing thereof and stating that such land is subject to the trusts thereby created.

(d) If the lands affected by the said trusts are registered under The Land Titles Act, it shall not be necessary to set out the said trusts in any transfer or in the register of said lands, provided, however, that the Master of Titles or Local Master of Titles shall, upon receiving notice from the presiding officer, secretary or treasurer of the congregation within the bounds of which the said lands may be situate that such lands are affected by this Act, enter a note or memorandum upon such register giving the title and chapter of this Act and the date of the passing thereof upon the record of title of each lot and parcel of land affected thereby and stating that such lands are subject to the said trusts.

16. The provisions of any general Act respecting the property of religious societies, congregations, or institutions in force in this Province, shall, when not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, be construed as supplementary thereto.

17. Every duly ordained or appointed minister or clergyman of the Corporation, and every minister or clergyman, whether in charge of a congregation or not, including every such person who has been superannuated by or placed on the superannuation or supernumerary list of, or is a retired minister or clergyman in good standing of the Canada Conference Evangelical Church, duly ordained or appointed according to the rites and ceremonies of said church or by the rules thereof deemed and recognized as duly ordained or appointed by virtue of any prior ordination shall have the right to solemnize marriage in this Province.

18. Any deed or other instrument relating to the real estate vested in the Corporation or to any interest in such real estate shall for all purposes be deemed to be duly executed if there are affixed thereto the seal of the Corporation and the signature of any officer of the Corporation duly authorized for such purposes or his lawful attorney.

19. This Act shall come into force on the day upon which it receives the Royal assent.

| SCHEDULE "A" TRUSTS OF MODEL DEED. AND it is hereby declared that the said Trustees and their successors or the Trustee or Trustees for the time being acting in the trusts herein shall hold the said lands upon the following trusts:—
COLUMN ONE. | COLUMN TWO
1. Upon trust to use the trust property for purposes directed by congregation and maintenance of public worship. | 1. For the use and benefit of the said church, charge, mission, circuit, station or congregation, as the case may be (hereinafter called the congregation), as a part of the Canada Conference Evangelical Church, as well for the site of a church, chapel, meeting house, school, mission, parsonage or minister's dwelling or other place for religious, charitable, educational, congregational or social purposes, or burial ground, as the said congregation may direct, as for the support and maintenance of public worship, and the propagation of Christian knowledge, according to the doctrine, discipline, by-laws, rules and regulations of the Canada Conference Evangelical Church.
2. To erect and repair buildings. | 2. And upon further trust, out of all moneys received by them for that purpose, to build, erect, add to, alter, repair, enlarge or rebuild any of the buildings aforesaid from time to time as they may deem expedient, and where they deem it necessary, to take down and remove any of said buildings for any of the purposes aforesaid.
3. To obey all lawful orders and directions. | 3. And upon further trust, that they shall and will obey, perform and fulfil and suffer to be obeyed, performed and fulfilled with respect to the said lands, and to any building or buildings at any time thereon, or to any burial ground, the lawful orders and directions respectively of the Official Board of the said congregation and of the Conference respectively.
4. To, permit use of the trust property for church, parsonage and Sunday-school purposes. | 4. And upon further trust, to permit, in conformity with the doctrines, discipline, by-laws, rules and regulations of the Canada Conference Evangelical Church and not otherwise, the following:— (a) The use of the said church, chapel or meetinghouse, as a place of religious worship by a congregation of the Canada Conference Evangelical Church and for meetings or services of religious or spiritual character or such benevolent or congregational purposes as may be approved by the Quarterly Conference of the charge wherein such church,chapel or meeting house shall be located and the conduct of public worship and the various services and ordinances of religious worship therein by the minister of the said congregation or, with the approval of the said Quarterly Conference or of the said minister, by any other minister of the Canada Conference Evangelical Church or by any minister of any other religious denomination. (b) The performance of burial services in any burial ground or cemetery belonging to or under the control of the congregation; (c) The use of the the parsonage or minister's dwelling or dwellings with the appurtenances thereof by the minister or ministers of the congregation free from payment of any rent; (d) The use of any church, chapel, meeting house, school or other building for the purposes of a Sunday school at such hours and times as will not interfere with public worship, and (e) The use of any buildings erected upon the said lands, other than a church, chapel or meeting house, for such purposes as may from time to time be approved by the said Quarterly Conference.
5. To let and sell pews and burial plots and to let parsonages. | 5. And upon further trust, to let any pews and seats at a reasonable rent, if so authorized by the Official Board of the congregation, with power to delegate any such letting to any person or persons whom they may appoint for that purpose; to let any buildings, not required for purposes of worship, at a reasonable rent; and if there shall be a burial ground or cemetery, to sell or let vaults, tombs or burial plots at a reasonable price or rent; and to account for and pay all moneys received in respect of any such letting or sale, less any expense incurred in the execution of these trusts, to the Treasurer of the congregation, or should there be no Treasurer, then to the Committee of Stewards of the congregation, or such person as shall be designated by the said Committee for the purpose of receiving the same. In case the Trustees are of opinion that any parsonage or minister's dwelling is not required or the use of the minister or ministers of the congregation, or is not desirable for the use of such minister of ministers, they may, with the consent in writing of said minister or ministers, let the same and use and apply the rent derived therefrom towards paying the board and lodging of such minister or ministers or the rent for a more suitable and convenient residence for such minister or ministers.
6. The trustees shall have power to sell, mortgage, exchange, or lease the trust property with the consent of the congregation. | 6. The Trustees or a majority of them may, but only with the consent in writing of the congregation within the bounds of which the lands are situate (such consent to be under the hand of the presiding officer or secretary or treasurer thereof), sell the said lands or any part thereof either by public sale or private contract and either for cash or upon credit and upon such terms as to price and for such price and upon such terms as to payment or otherwise as they may deem expedient; mortgage, hypothecate or exchange the said lands or any part thereof; let any church, chapel or meeting-house upon the same for such rent and upon such terms as they may deem expedient; and make all such conveyances, mortgages, leases and assurances as may be required to complete any such sale, mortgage, hypothecation, exchange or lease. The said Trustees after first paying or otherwise providing for all indebtedness of the Trustees shall apply the moneys arising from such sale, mortgage, hypothecation, lease or exchange for the purposes of such congregation as the Official Board thereof shall direct, but should such congregation cease to exist as an organized body, such proceeds, less any expense incurred in the execution of these trusts, shall be paid to the Canada Conference Evangelical Church to be applied for such purposes for the benefit of the Canada Conference Evangelical Church as the Conference may determine under the by-laws, rules and regulations of the Conference. Every application by Trustees for the consent of a congregation as aforesaid shall be in writing and shall state the purpose for which the moneys arising from such intended sale, mortgage, hypothecation, lease or exchange, will be applied. Any decision of a congregation with regard to the sale, mortgage, hypothecation, lease or exchange of the said lands or any part thereof shall be subject to appeal to the Conference at the instance of not fewer than any five members of the congregation affected thereby. In every case where the consent of such Conference has been obtained as aforesaid it shall not be incumbent upon the purchaser, mortgagee or lessee of the said lands or of any part thereof to enquire into the necessity, expediency or propriety of any such sale, mortgage, hypothecation, lease or exchange, or to see to the application of the moneys paid to the Trustees. A certificate of the secretary or treasurer of the Conference that any such consent has been given shall be sufficient and conclusive evidence of such consent.
7. The trustees shall keep proper accounts and minutes. | 7. The said Trustees shall keep a proper book or books of account showing all moneys received and disbursed by them, and a book or books of minutes showing correctly all minutes of their meetings and of resolutions passed and proceedings taken thereat, and such book or books shall at all reasonable times be open for inspection by the minister in charge of the congregation and by the Chairman of the Official Board of the congregation, and any person or persons named by them or either of them, and the said minister or the said chairman and any person named by them or either of them as aforesaid shall have the right to make such copies or abstracts of or extracts from the said accounts or minutes, as he or they may desire, and upon request from the said Official Board the Trustees shall submit all books of accounts and minutes, and all vouchers, receipts, papers and documents relating to the said accounts, for audit by the said Official Board or such person or persons as the said Official Board may appoint for the purpose.
8. The trustees shall have seven days' notice of all special meetings and one day's notice of other meetings. | 8. Every meeting of Trustees for considering the making of any alteration of or addition to any building on the said lands, or any part thereof, or for considering the sale, mortgage, hypothecation, lease or exchange of the said lands, or any part thereof, except the letting or sale of pews, seats, vaults, tombs or burial plots, or for considering any litigation or legal proceedings in connection with the trust estate, shall be deemed a special meeting, and each Trustee shall be entitled to seven days' notice in writing thereof, specifying the time, place and purpose of such meeting. Such notice shall be either personally delivered to each Trustee, or mailed to or delivered to him or her at his or her usual place of abode or business. Ordinary meetings may be called at any time by giving at least one day's notice in writing to each Trustee in the manner aforesaid, or by public announcement at a service for public worship at least one day prior to such meeting. Meetings may be called by the minister in charge of the congregation, or by at least two of the Trustees. Notwithstanding anything herein contained no meeting or any business transacted thereat shall be invalid by reason of any lack or defect of service of notice arising from inability to ascertain the usual place of abode or business of any Trustee. All questions shall be determined by the majority vote of the Trustees present at a meeting, and the Chairman shall have a casting vote in the event of a tie. The minister of such congregation shall have the right to preside as Chairman at all meetings of the Trustees and may appoint a deputy to act in his place in his absence, and in the absence of the Minister and of any such deputy the Trustees present may elect a Chairman from among themselves.
9. The number of trustees shall not be fewer than three or more than fifteen, and vacancies shall be filled by election by the congregation, or in default of such election, by the Quarterly Conference and the property of a congregation which ceases to exist shall be subject to the trusts determined by the Conference. | 9. The number of said Trustees shall not be fewer than three or more than fifteen. In case any of the said Trustees or any Trustee appointed under this provision shall during his or her term of office, die, resign or, having been, cease to be a member of the Canada Conference Evangelical Church in full communion, or remove to such a distance, or fail to attend meetings for such period not less than one year, as shall in the opinion of his or her co-trustees expressed by a two-thirds vote of said co-trustees, render it inexpedient for him or her to remain a Trustee, or in case the said congregation shall think proper to remove a Trustee from his or her office as Trustee, it shall be lawful for the said congregation, at any meeting called by notice from the pulpit during public worship on each of the two next held, Sundays on which public worship is held, to declare by the votes of two-thirds of the members then present that such Trustee has ceased to be a Trustee of the said congregation and such person shall thereupon cease to be a Trustee, and at the same meeting it shall be lawful for the said congregation by a like vote to appoint a successor to such Trustee, provided, however, that no Trustee who is personally liable for payment of any indebtedness in respect of the property of a congregation shall be removed without his consent unless indemnified to his satisfaction in respect of any such liability and unless at least eight days' notice in writing of such meeting shall have been mailed to each of the Trustees at his or her last known address, which notice shall state the business to be transacted at such meeting. If no successor shall be appointed at such meeting a meeting may be called in like manner for the purpose of filling such vacancy, and at such meeting a new trustee or new Trustees (as the case may require) shall be appointed by the votes of the majority of the members then present. The notice calling a meeting for the purpose of declaring or filling a vacancy or vacancies in the office of Trustee shall be read from the pulpit by the minister or person officiating as minister, at the request of any Trustee, or of any seven members of the congregation, and every such meeting may be adjourned from time to time by the vote of the majority of the members present. During any vacancy in the office of Trustee, the remaining Trustees, not being fewer than three in number, shall have all the powers of the full Board. A majority of the Trustees shall form a quorum save when the number of Trustees exceeds nine, in which case five shall form a quorum. The Trustees shall be members of the Canada Conference Evangelical Church. A minute of every such appointment of a Trustee shall be entered in a book to be kept for the purpose, and signed by the person presiding at the meeting, and such minute so signed shall be sufficient evidence of the fact that the person or persons therein named was or were appointed and elected at such meeting, but any omission or neglect to make or sign such minute shall not invalidate such appointment or election. And it is hereby further declared that in case there shall be at any time fewer than three Trustees, the presiding officer or secretary of the Quarterly Conference, within whose bounds and under whose jurisdiction the said congregation shall be, shall, with the remaining Trustee or Trustees, be the Trustees under these presents until the full Board is duly appointed, and at any time thereafter the said Quarterly Conference may cause notice to be given from the pulpit on two consecutive Sundays requiring the said congregation to proceed with the appointment of new Trustees. And if the said congregation shall not in the meantime have appointed new Trustees in the manner hereinbefore provided, it shall be lawful for the said Quarterly Conference at any time after four weeks from the last giving of such notice, by resolution duly entered in the minutes of the said Quarterly Conference, to appoint new Trustees. Such appointment shall be communicated to the congregation by notice from the pulpit as soon as conveniently may be thereafter, and from the time of such communication the Trustee or Trustees so appointed shall be a Trustee or Trustees hereunder. And it is further declared that if at any time there shall cease to be an organized congregation entitled to the use, benefit and enjoyment of the said lands, it shall be lawful at any time or times for the said Quarterly Conference to fill any vacancy in the number of Trustees, and the said lands shall thenceforth be held subject to such trusts and for such purposes for the benefit of the Canada Conference Evangelical Church as the Conference may determine under the by-laws, rules and regulations of the Conference.
10. Trustees shall not be liable for involuntary loss. | 10. A Trustee shall not be responsible for the failure of any investment or security made or taken by the Trustees or for anything done in connection with the trust estate except for his own acts and to account for any moneys coming into his own hands, and shall not be liable for injury done by others to the said trust premises, or to any part thereof.

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© Queen's Printer for Ontario, 1930. This is an unofficial version of Government of Ontario legal materials.