Court of Appeal Delivers Important Decision Regarding Toronto’s Historical Landmark Mount Pleasant Cemetery

Our expert litigators were successful in persuading a three-judge panel of the Ontario Court of Appeal to overturn a lower-court decision in Friends of Toronto Public Cemeteries v Mount Pleasant Group of Cemeteries.

Ronald Slaght and Margaret Robbins were counsel to Mount Pleasant Group of Cemeteries in an appeal at the Court of Appeal for Ontario.

The case concerned one of Toronto’s most iconic landmarks, the Mount Pleasant Cemetery established in the 1870s. The Court conducted a careful analysis of legislation from the late 19th century and the earliest corporate law in Ontario in considering the governance structure of Mount Pleasant Group of Cemeteries. The complexities of legal history and statutory interpretation resulted in a decision which permitted the existing practical and lawful governance of the cemetery to continue.