Christian groups on hit list?
Interim special
Pro-life organizations have expressed concern over Department of National Revenue plans to revoke the charitable status of a number of Christian or church-affiliated organizations.
The July 12, 1997 Canada Gazette which publishes federal government notices, lists hundreds of organizations facing a change to their charitable tax status. Charitable status allows organizations to issue tax receipts for donations. Revoking that status poses significant fund-raising problems for such organizations.
A cursory reading of the Canada Gazette list indicates a clear majority of groups losing their charitable tax status are Christian or church-affiliated.
Among some of the groups listed are Crooked River Lutheran Church in Saskatchewan, the United Pentecostal Church in New Brunswick, a Christian community church in Hanover, Ontario, and the Spanish-Speaking Catholic Community of the archdiocese of Vancouver.
Christian-affiliated organizations aren’t the only ones facing the tax status change. At least two pro-lie organizations, Alliance for Life and Human Life International, were given notice of a similar revocation and have appealed the action in federal court.
HLI’s charitable status was revoked in May, 1994, after an NDP Member of Parliament asked Revenue Canada to audit the group following distribution of some its more graphic literature. At the time, a lawyer representing HLI said it marked the first time in Canadian history that a charity had been officially deregistered.
Revenue Canada said HLI did not meet criteria for charitable status, particularly in advancing educational or community work.
Meanwhile, the Focus on the Family organization, a group fighting to defend the traditional family unit, was notified that it will be audited by federal tax officials.
Although decisions on revoking the charitable status of organizations are supposed to be made at random, pro-life and pro-family groups wonder why so many church type organizations have been targeted. They suggest the decisions may be motivated by ideology rather than strictly by chance.
This has been the view of REAL Women of Canada director Gwen Laadolt, who since 1978 has asked Revenue Canada to clarify its decisions on charitable tax status. She said it is upsetting that so many Christian-affiliated or religious-based organizations have had their charitable status revoked. “It’s unlikely that these changes are simply coincidence,” Landolt told The Interim. “We have to wonder if there are ideological factors at work here.”
According to Landolt, Alliance for Life and Human Life International have been permitted to keep their charitable tax status pending the outcome of their ongoing appeal. Focus on the Family however, is “in limbo” as federal officials have been slow to proceed with their audit.
