CCCC Asks for Clarity on Charitable Status

CCCC has written to the federal government about its recent pledge to remove charitable status for “anti-abortion organizations (for example, Crisis Pregnancy Centres) that provide dishonest counselling to women about their rights and about the options available to them at all stages of pregnancy.”

CCCC expresses deep concern over the statement. No charity should be de-registered solely on the basis of a pro-life belief or conscience. At risk of stating the obvious, this belief is quite legal to hold. To de-register a charity on the basis of such beliefs therefore raises immediate and significant Charter and procedural fairness concerns. Likewise, no type of charity should have its work mischaracterized, or be labelled with an undefined allegation of dishonesty.

But as a Christian organization, we also do not stand for dishonest conduct. Thankfully, existing parts of the Income Tax Act already address concerns about dishonesty in the charitable sector.

In a good faith effort to have meaningful discussions about the issue, we extended an invitation for the government to clarify its intention, and to address any future process.

Members can read the letter in our Knowledge Base, where we’ve also posted an explanation of the reasoning for our approach.