Senate Special Committee Releases Eagerly Awaited Report on the Charitable Sector

The Report is very long and comprehensive.  It consists of 190 pages of recommendations, analysis, and summaries of the results of the public submissions that the Committee considered in writing the Report.

The Committee made a total of 42 recommendations.  Some of the recommendations involve more administrative-type changes while others are more complex and require legislative changes in order to implement.

The breadth of topics covered by the recommendations is impressive.  They touch upon governance, Canada Revenue Agency (“CRA”) reporting requirements, the relationship between the sector and CRA, funding for the sector, volunteers, diversity and inclusion, equality as between the for-profit sector and the charitable and non-profit sector (particularly in terms of availability and access to government support and programs), data, technology, appeals of CRA decisions, revenue generation and business activities, possible new categories of qualified donees, ongoing modernization of the charity regime, whether the T1044 non-profit return should be made publicly available like the T3010 charity return, and other topics.

While many of the topics were of great interest to us, we were particularly pleased to see the Committee recommend that the Government of Canada direct CRA to revise Guidance CG-002 Canadian registered charities carrying out activities outside of Canada.  More specifically, the Committee recommended that the guidance should “demonstrate a shift in focus from ‘direction and control’ to careful monitoring through the implementation of an ‘expenditure responsibility test.’”  Many in the sector have advocated for CRA to use this approach, including our Social Impact Team when, in 2015, members of our team appeared with co-counsel on behalf of Imagine Canada as an intervener, and on behalf of the appellant, in a case involving these rules.

Click here to read the full statement on Miller Thomson LLP’s website.