The Muslim Union of Canada is filing an appeal with the Ontario Supreme Court in an effort to close the Canada Revenue Service process, which began seven years ago.
The association, which promotes social service, education and youth empowerment, says more than 150,000 Canadians use its mosques, schools and community centers each year.
The association claims in the court’s testimony that since the audit of the Revenue Service began in 2015, “it has been infected by systemic prejudice and Islamophobia”.
The association said in a press release that although no decision has been taken, the resulting audit report, which has not been made public, threatens the charity “with extreme sanctions that are completely unjustified by the findings” of the Revenue Service.
The Revenue Service, which will have the opportunity to answer in court, has previously stated that it does not select registered charities for auditing based on a particular faith or dogma, adding that it is firmly committed to diversity, inclusion and anti-racism.
The Muslim Union Charter Challenge will investigate cases in which the Revenue Service sought to apply standards to the union that would not apply to any other religious community, said Geoff Hall, the charity’s lawyer.
“This test is a school example of prejudice and discrimination.”
The association opposes various claims of the Revenue Service, including:
The club’s activities, such as Eid celebrations, are not religious but rather social.
– its sports, social and recreational activities aimed at youth do not provide a charitable benefit;
– there are alleged links between the association and foreign entities, a finding based on four emails out of the tens of thousands examined by the service.
“In each of these examples and in others, the CRA perceives such perfectly normal interactions as awful and deceptive,” the press release said.
The court’s testimony claims that control would never have been approached in this way if that organization were affiliated with any other major world religion.
The association points out that the audit report found no evidence that the charity was involved in financing terrorism or was linked to terrorist organizations. “Nevertheless, the audit report is based on Islamophobic sources and defamatory newspaper articles to support its claims.”
The request of the court requests the issuance of an order for cessation of control on the grounds that it violates the guarantees of the association’s statutes for equality and freedom of religion, expression and association.
Alternatively, the Revenue Service wants to complete the audit in a way that does not violate the rights of the club.
Nearly 100 Muslim organizations and civil society groups sent a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trinto last summer urging him to reform revenue control practices, claiming that they were wrongly targeting Muslim charities.
The groups also called on the Liberal government to reverse the revenue service’s decision to suspend another Ottawa-based Muslim charity, Human Concern International, from issuing tax receipts.
Revenue Secretary Diane Lebouthillier agreed during a national summit on Islamophobia to ask taxpayer ombudsman Francois Boileau for a systematic review of the concerns.
Preliminary meetings were held with revenue officials and various parties, including charities, to understand their concerns and identify any issues, the ombudsman’s office said in a recent update.
More meetings have been scheduled and charities are being asked to respond to an online questionnaire about their experiences.
