What We Don’t Know Does Hurt Us: Possible Changes to Laws Related to Charities
Charity law in Canada innovates at a glacial pace, but reform is essential to address modern problems in our sector. We can’t rely on the 400-year-old Statute of Elizabeth 1601 to address 21st-century issues. To further a reform process, we must have a better understanding of what’s happening now, but that’s not possible with the existing rules of confidentiality at Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). For instance, while 77% of charity applications were approved by CRA in 2022-23, we have zero visibility into why the other 23% didn’t succeed. Is this level of secrecy still serving the public interest?
Something needs to change.
In an essay, “What We Don’t Know Does Hurt Us,” for the Pemsel Case Foundation, Bob Wyatt, CEO of the Muttart Foundation and MPNL alum, provides compelling arguments for how increased transparency could strengthen the sector. He looks at what could change in terms of Registration and Compliance within the Charities Directorate, a group within CRA, and what could change in the Appeals Branch of CRA, including whether CRA’s requirement for secrecy should be waived in certain cases when CRA itself is accused of improper behaviour.
Click here for the 17-page pdf: What We Don’t Know Does Hurt Us, By Bob Wyatt, 2024
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Banner photo is courtesy of Michel Rathwell.
Friday, January 24, 2025 in Alumni, News
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