congregation

The taxpayers were ordained rabbis who taught Judaic studies curriculum to children attending the Vancouver Hebrew Academy (the “VHA”). In denying their claims for the clergy residence deduction, on the basis that they were not in charge of or ministering to a congregation, Campbell J stated (at para. 124):

[I]n Fitch, Bowman J. narrowed the scope of “ministering” by specifically carving out an exception pertaining to teachers of religious studies [stating;]

There was a sufficient degree of control by the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Canada of the Canadian Union College, and by the Western Christian College Society of the Western Christian College for the president of each such college to qualify as being appointed by a religious denomination.

However, a professor of religious knowledge at the Canadian Union College did not qualify for the deduction as it could not be said that his students represented a congregation. Bowman TCJ. stated (at p. 727):