Lawyer asks court to restore United People of Canada to Ottawa church

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A lawyer representing The United People of Canada has asked a judge to restore the controversial group to the former St. Brigid’s Church in Lowertown.

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Lawyer Saron Gebresellassi told an appeal panel Monday that The United People of Canada (TUPOC) rented the  building in June 2022 with the understanding that it would purchase the deconsecrated church for $5.95 million after a fundraising drive.

She argued that TUPOC did not receive the required 30-day notice of termination when it was unceremoniously evicted two months later in August. Gebresellassi said that offended the Commercial Tenancies Act and made the landlord’s subsequent actions unlawful.

“This appeal is relying on a fatal error of law,” Gebresellassi told the panel.

She asked the three-member appeal panel to vacate the decision issued last September by Superior Court Justice Sally Gomery, provide TUPOC a writ of possession to St. Brigid’s and approve more than $80,000 in damages.

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Gebresellassi said Gomery, in her decision, ignored the serious legal issues raised by the deficient notice of termination.

Lawyer Gordon Douglas, representing the building’s owners, told the appeal panel that under the Commercial Tenancies Act landlords can terminate a lease once rent is in arrears for 15 days and take steps to retake possession. That, he said, is what the landlord did at St. Brigid’s.

He asked the panel not to disturb Justice Gomery’s decision.

In that decision, Gomery granted the landlord’s application to terminate the lease of The United People of Canada, a group with links to the self-described “Freedom Convoy” that besieged downtown Ottawa in February 2022.

Gomery said the terms of the lease were set out in an agreement of purchase and sale, and included monthly rent, due starting June 13, and a sizable deposit due in August.

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She found that TUPOC breached the agreement by failing to pay deposits totalling $100,000 by Aug. 10, 2022 despite two deadline extensions granted by the landlord, a numbered company represented by Patrick McDonald.

McDonald dispatched a bailiff to issue an eviction notice on Aug. 17, 2022. But when the bailiff returned the following day to change the locks on the old church, TUPOC’s supporters blocked him, accused him of trespassing and called police.

According to evidence presented in court, TUPOC director William Komer signed an agreement to purchase the former church and adjacent buildings for $5.95 million. The deal included a provision that allowed TUPOC to rent the former church for $5,000 a month until the purchase was finalized in December.

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McDonald testified that he expected the first rent cheque in mid-June, but did not receive it until July 24 after repeatedly asking Komer for the money.

In an affidavit, Komer claimed McDonald told him the first rent payment was not due until July 15, a month after the group moved into the building. Komer claimed that he had bank drafts to cover the required deposits along with a $10,000 cheque for the outstanding rent.

TUPOC’s lawyer argued the group did not breach the deal to purchase the building in a material way, which meant the agreement was still valid.

The judge disagreed. In fact, Gomery said, there was no indication TUPOC was ever in a position to pay any of the initial deposits given its repeated pleas for an extension. It meant, she said, the landlord could have no confidence that the group could pay further deposits or the full purchase price upon closing in December.

Built in 1890, St. Brigid’s Church was sold in 2007 by the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of Ottawa to a numbered company and renamed the St. Brigid’s Centre for the Arts.