Ex-conductor in legal fight over elderly parishioner
Lawyer for Noel Edison says allegations of financial misconduct unfounded
ELORA — Noel Edison, the disgraced former conductor of the Elora Singers, is in a legal fight over allegations he’s taken financial advantage of an elderly woman.
The nephew of 91-year-old Shirley Cunningham has filed an application in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to remove Edison and Donna Keating — the former superintendent of one of the largest female prisons in Canada — as her dual powers of attorney.
He’s asking the Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee, a division of the Ministry of the Attorney General that helps protect mentally incapable people, to intervene in the case.
Cunningham is a parishioner at the Church of St. John the Evangelist in Elora, where Edison was the longtime music director of the church’s professional choir.
Keating volunteers in the church’s pastoral visiting program for elderly members.
Edison, a Grammy-nominated giant in Canada’s classical music community, stepped down from his role at St. John’s this spring over allegations of sexual impropriety while conductor of the Elora Singers.
Edison’s lawyer said the conductor has been a close friend of Cunningham’s for years. There’s no evidence Edison has done anything wrong in his role as her power of attorney, and he hasn’t improperly accessed the woman’s finances, he said.
“He hasn’t taken any money of hers. If this goes to court, it would be thrown out,” lawyer Gerald Punnett said. “It was not Noel who was writing any cheques ... This is just a family fight.”
Keating, also a parishioner at St. John’s, did not respond to interview requests.
She’s heavily involved in church life, performing readings during Sunday services and hosting coffee hour meetings, but does not have a paid role at St. John’s.
The church’s pastor, Rev. Paul Walker, was surprised to hear of the allegations involving his music director and Keating.
“I’m not familiar with any of this,” he said.
Cunningham, meanwhile, insisted in a phone interview that Edison and Keating do not have access to her finances and do not have power of attorney. The case is set for a hearing in August.
The legal action was launched by Robert Wallace, who says he was previously Cunningham’s power of attorney. He was removed in February 2017, and replaced by Edison and Keating, his claim alleges.
Wallace’s application says his aunt doesn’t have the capacity to make her own financial decisions — and Edison and Keating were given power of attorney “through the exercise of undue influence.”
“Edison and Keating should be removed as Shirley’s attorneys for property having regard to their conduct, including the failure to act in Shirley’s best interests for their own benefit,” reads his notice of application filed in a Guelph court.
But Cunningham argues she’s fully in control of her own money and her nephew has no reason to be concerned.
She’s known Edison for years, and more recently became friends with Keating after a nursing home visit, Cunningham said. She trusts them both, she said.
“He has no reason to be concerned about Noel. He’s a very good friend,” she said, over the phone from her home in Elora.
“For some reason, Robert thinks any of my property should go to him. There’s no reason at all. He’s my nephew, he’s not my son.”
After the sexual impropriety allegations against Edison were made public in March, the church’s bishop hired a thirdparty investigator to probe the conductor’s behaviour.
Counselling was also offered to any parishioner who wanted it.
Edison, who oversaw a professional choir that relies heavily on parishioners for donations, has been on leave from his paid position at the church since the allegations arose.
Edison was dismissed from his position with the Elora Singers, Elora Festival and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir in April, following an internal investigation.