In particular, Duncan refused to offer his parishioners holy communion on the grounds that it would whet their appetite for recently abandoned "cannibalistic" practices.
The conflict between Duncan and Ridley led to Duncan's expulsion from the CMS in 1881, Duncan's establishment of an independent, nondenominational church in Metlakatla, and eventually, in 1887, a migration to Alaska, where Duncan and approximately 800 Metlakatlans founded "New" Metlakatla, Alaska.