New ACCS Members Announced

New members of the Advisory Committee on the Charitable Sector (ACCS) have been announced. Last spring the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) invited the public to apply for seven positions and received over 200 applications! From this large pool of applicants, nine new members were selected to take a seat at the ACCS table – congratulations to the successful applicants!

The new members are:

• Christian Bolduc – President & CEO, BNP Performance, LL.B, ASC, C.Dir., CFRE
• Owen Charters – President & CEO, BGC Canada (formerly Boys & Girls Clubs)
• Dr. Anver Emon – Canada Research Chair in Islamic Law and History, and Director of the Institute of Islamic Studies, University of Toronto
• Sheherazade Hirji – Former Resident Representative, Aga Khan Development Network, Afghanistan
• Jean-Marc Mangin – President & CEO, Philanthropic Foundations Canada
• Sarah Midanik – President & CEO, The Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund (DWF)
• Martha Rans – Founder & Legal Director, Pacific Legal Education and Outreach Society (PLEOS)
• Tanya Rumble – Director of Development, Ryerson University
• Bob Wyatt – Executive Director, Muttart Foundation

You can read more about each new member in the Sector members section of the ACCS page. The incoming members begin their term on May 1, 2022.

What is the ACCS?

Maybe you’re wondering ‘”what is the ACCS?” It is

a consultative forum for the Government of Canada to engage in meaningful dialogue with the charitable sector, to advance emerging issues relating to charities, and to ensure the regulatory environment supports the important work that charities do.

What we do, Advisory Committee on the Charitable Sector

The ACCS has three areas of focus:

1. Evolving the institutional framework
2. Ensuring financial sustainability
3. Establishing modern governance

And it has set up five working groups:

1. Regulatory Framework – this group looks broadly at the regulatory and administrative policy environment of charities
2. Vulnerable Populations – this group looks at the challenges particular to charities serving vulnerable populations
3. Indigenous Peoples – this group looks at the relationship and interactions between Indigenous Peoples and organizations and the regulatory framework for charities
4. Purposes and Activities – this group looks at how charities function under the Income Tax Act, how they work with non-qualified donees, and revenue-earning activities
5. Charitable Sector Data – this group looks at enhancing and organizing data, identifying gaps in data, and understanding data infrastructure needs

As the ACCS gets up and running again, we’ll be sure to update you when new reports are released. In the meantime, you can get up to speed on the three reports it released in 2021. You can either read the full reports (January 2021, April 2021, July 2021), or you can check out our summary of the key issues and recommendations from Reports #1 and #2 and Report #3 in our Knowledge Base.

Did you know?

CCCC was invited to be a member of CRA’s Technical Issues Working Group for the 2022-23 term. This Working Group “provides a forum to discuss trends and technical issues in the charitable sector, to explore workable solutions, and expand the directorate’s understanding of this sector.” This is one of the ways we engage in sector representation.

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