By Sue Careless
A MASSIVE financial scandal is rocking the Anglican Church of Canada. How was a $9 million five-year lease signed without the knowledge of the denomination’s finance committee? How could something of this magnitude occur without proper authorization? Who had signing authority?
Further, can the lease be broken? Can the Anglican Church of Canada (ACoC) get out of it? How will it recover from this decision?
The denomination’s offices, known as Church House, are at 80 Hayden Street in Toronto. Rent there is approximately $425,000 annually. It is offset significantly by the rent paid by two other Anglican organizations—Alongside Hope and the Anglican Foundation of Canada—which brings costs down to about $250,000 annually.
But the ACoC looked into moving Church House’s offices, staff, and archives 1.8 kilometers away to 300 Bloor Street West, which is under construction. This would enable the ACoC to share office space with the United Church of Canada and the Presbyterian Church of Canada.
The church announced in May 2024 that it had signed an agreement with the two churches. An accompanying document said the agreement would save the church money: “Reducing under-utilized space, such as the former bookstore and multiple meeting rooms, will reduce our occupancy costs considerably. Sharing common areas such as the archives and the video studio, and some services—such as IT—will make more efficient use of space and financial resources and thus reduce associated costs.”
The annual rent at 300 Bloor West is estimated between $960,000 and $1 million and would be paid to the United Church as landlord. The lease was signed with the United Church.
A further $3,980,000 is required to pay for certain leasehold improvements over the term of the first five-year lease. This would be a one-time cost.
According to General Synod’s most recent Consolidated Statement of Operations: “This lease commences on June 1, 2026, and is a five-year term, with a default renewal term unless the Landlord is informed otherwise. The lease would be automatically renewed for another five-year term unless notice was given otherwise.”
There would be no room for the current partners Alongside Hope and the Anglican Foundation, so the annual rental increase (setting aside the leasehold improvements) would be well over $710,000. The Council of General Synod (CoGS) only learned of this unauthorized transaction three weeks before General Synod met in London, Ontario, June 23-29.
On the penultimate day of Synod, June 28, Acting Primate Anne Germond set aside a 40-minute Committee of the Whole to discuss the matter. There was no formal debate, but Clare Burns, chancellor for General Synod, answered questions from the floor.
Various delegates asked: Why is the church both renting and owning offices in the most expensive city in the country? Could the massive and important archives be stored in a city with lower property value? Could all of Church House be moved to a cheaper city in Ontario or Canada? Would the current staff be willing to make such a move?
While having close ecumenical relations with the United Church and the Presbyterian Church is good, some delegates asked, “Do we not have a greater obligation to our Anglican partner organizations [Alongside Hope and Anglican Foundation?]” Alongside Hope is the new name for the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund.
Scott Brubacher, executive director of the Anglican Foundation, told Synod that both his organization and Alongside Hope had expressed interest in sharing space at 300 Bloor and would require two work stations. “We didn’t hear there was no space for us until it was made public. It was devastating for us.”
After hearing Brubacher’s emotional remarks, the chancellor apologized immediately—“We’re very, very sorry about that.”
Other delegates asked who made the decision and who signed the lease without the knowledge of the finance committee. “Who felt they had the liberty to do something of this magnitude?”
No names emerged in the discussion.
Chancellor Burns said that a secular forensic team, Grant Thorton LLP, an accounting firm outside the denomination, is investigating what happened and would file a report by the end of July.
At that time, the newly elected Primate Shane Parker and the newly elected Council of General Synod will study the report and then decide how to proceed.
Burns said the lease would not be legally enforceable if there was sufficient delay in construction.
“Our finances are upside down,” Amal Attia, treasurer and chief financial officer, Financial Management and Administration, said earlier at Synod. “The church is not insolvent,” Burns said later in response.
Burns admitted that on learning of the unauthorized lease signing, “the senior officers of Council [CoGS] “had had many sleepless nights.”
The chancellor said that while the Hayden Street space has been on the market, “no offers capable of acceptance” have been made.
To put the financial scandal in context, Bishop Annie Ittoshat of the Diocese of the Arctic said that she oversees 15 remote communities in northern Quebec that have only four priests. There, a large box of Tide laundry detergent costs $120. “The money can go so much further in my area.”
One delegate said he hoped the ACoC has an “errors and omissions insurance” and, if so, that it should be increased.
Once the Finance Committee learned of the unauthorized transaction, it removed approval of a $2 million grant that had been earmarked for “enacting” some governance proposals outlined by the Pathways Commission.
A delegate from Diocese of Montreal said since the landlord of 300 Bloor Street is the United Church of Canada, she hoped it would be open to “re-evaluating” the lease agreement and reaching a “relational solution.”
Primate-elect Parker told the delegates that for a decade, first as dean of Christ Church Cathedral in Ottawa, and then as bishop of Ottawa, he had overseen “major multiple leases …. These are not new to me. I’m not queasy.” He was confident that after the forensics report is released and acted upon, “our beloved national Anglican Church of Canada will be placed in a good place.” TAP
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A massive financial scandal is rocking the Anglican Church of Canada. How was a 9-million-dollar five-year lease signed without the knowledge of the denomination’s finance committee? How could something of this magnitude be transacted without proper authorization? Who actually had signing authority?
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