CRA is unfairly focusing on Muslim charities, civil rights group says
Ryan Tumilty 


OTTAWA — In a new report, a civil rights group says the Canada Revenue Agency has unfairly targeted Muslim charities for audits, causing a disproportionate number to lose their charitable status.© Provided by National Post The Canada Revenue Agency building in Ottawa.

The International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group studied the work of the Review and Analysis Division (RAD), a unit set up inside of the CRA in 2003 to specifically look for terrorist financing connected to the charitable sector.


The unit takes tips from the public and shares information with the RCMP and CSIS in a bid to root out charities that may be — knowingly or not — supporting terrorist activities overseas.

The report found that between 2008 and 2015, 75 per cent of the charities who have seen their status revoked were Muslim charities, despite Muslim charities representing only 0.47 per cent of charities overall.

RAD audited 16 charities during that time, and Tim McSorley, the group’s national co-ordinator, said of the eight charities that lost their status, six were Muslim, centred around mosques or other Islamic organizations.

McSorley said they’re hearing from the community that they feel targeted by the audits.

“Our concern was we have been hearing from individuals and groups in the Muslim community, that they’ve been facing increased audits and several questionable revocations,” he said.
The CRA is watching you: Auditors scouring social media for unreported income from influencers
CRA suspends about 800,000 taxpayers' accounts after login credentials found on dark web

Some of the charities lost their charitable status because of controversial speakers who were invited to mosques, others lost it because funds they provided may have ended up in the hands of terrorist groups after being sent to provide aid in Muslim countries.

McSorley said there is no clarity about the evidence the agency uses to determine that a charity’s funds are being used to support terrorism. He said charities have been sanctioned for payments they make to relief organizations overseas that have connections to terrorist groups.

“There’s a lack of nuance and lack of clarity around who could be accused of supporting terrorism by interacting in complex situations with for example, hospitals, and other government ministries,” he said.

McSorley said the agency relies on tips from the public, but also monitors the sector in ways that are unclear.

“They undertake their own surveillance and monitoring of the charitable sector, but they’re not upfront about what that entails — what kind of tools they use, how they verify the information that they’re collecting, and what the scope is. There’s just an overall lack of transparency around where the information is coming that leads to these audits.”

McSorley said even though several of these charities had their status revoked for supporting terrorist entities, none of them were ever charged criminally for that offence. The report found that the stigma of having a revocation often led to the groups losing banking services.

In a statement, the CRA was adamant that the charities targeted were not looked into simply because of their faith.

“The Canada Revenue Agency does not select registered charities for audit based on any particular faith or denomination, nor does it maintain statistics tracking audits based on denominations,” a statement from the agency said. “The CRA is firmly dedicated to diversity, inclusion and anti-racism, aligning with our values of professionalism, integrity, respect and collaboration.”

The agency stressed that charitable status requires organizations to follow specific rules and that when it revokes a status it is because those rules are being broken.

“Being registered as a charity comes with both privileges and obligations under the law. The CRA has a responsibility to protect the integrity of the tax system and the charitable sector by ensuring that all registered charities follow the rules.”

The agency also said it works to use education first and only revokes a charitable status as a last resort.

“The CRA generally provides a charity with an opportunity to correct non‑compliance through education or compliance agreements before resorting to other measures such as sanctions or revocation. Only a very small proportion of charity audits conducted by the CRA result in serious consequences such as sanctions or revocation.”

• Email: rtumilty@postmedia.com | Twitter: ryantumilty