Can a trade unionist sue in tort?

Absent such statutorily conferred standing, Canadian courts, historically, have held that a trade union lacks the capacity to sue in tort, see Orchard v. Tunney 1957 CanLII 57 (SCC), [1957] S.C.R. 436. Their standing was however recognized in the area of contracts on the basis that: page 445…each member commits himself to a group on a foundation of specific terms governing individual and collective action, a commitment today almost obligatory, and made on both sides with the intent that the rules shall bind them in their relations to each. That means that each is bound to all the others jointly. The terms allow for the change of those within that relation by withdrawal from or new entrance into membership. Underlying this is the assumption that the members are creating a body of which they are members and that it is as members only that they have accepted obligations: that the body as such is that to which the responsibilities for action taken as of the group are to be related.