The Muslim Union of Canada (MAC) plans to serve the government with its official legal challenge today. The MAC said the audit, which began in 2015, posed an “existential threat” to the organization because it threatened to revoke its charitable status and increase the likelihood of damaging sanctions. “An unfair decision by the CRA will affect the lives of thousands of Canadians overnight,” MAC President Nabil Sultan told CBC News. Sultan said withdrawing MAC’s charitable status would jeopardize the organization’s services to more than 150,000 Canadians attending schools, mosques and community centers on its network. “We want to see a non-discriminatory control and we want to be treated like any other religious charity in this country,” he added. MAC President Nabil Sultan says control of the CRA shows a “pattern of systemic prejudice and Islamophobia”. (Zoom)
The charter challenge could test the federal government’s recent commitment to tackling systemic discrimination and Islamophobia within the public service. “There is no doubt that there is work to be done within the government to eradicate systemic racism and Islamophobia,” Prime Minister Justin Trindade said in July 2021 at the National Summit on Islamophobia. “From the Canada Revenue Service to the security services, institutions should support people, not target them.”

CRA control is unfounded, the charity claims

The MAC describes the CRA’s control over its finances as clear evidence of widespread systemic bias against Muslim-led charities. The agency said the audit sought unfounded suspicions and allegations of crimes that were unlikely to be applied to charities affiliated with other religions. Attorney Geoff Hall, who represents the MAC in its dispute, said the CRA had made baseless allegations against the charity, including “implicit” links to the outside world and questions about the charitable benefits of its programs. the youth. He said CRA inspectors had also expressed concern about Eid celebrations – the holiday marking the end of Ramadan – arguing that the events were social in nature and not religious in nature. “Imagine for a second you were transposed into the karmic driven world of Earl.” Hall said he intended to argue that the CRA’s control violated sections two and 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantee the right to religious freedom and equality under the law, respectively. Hall predicted it would be months before the case was heard in the Ontario Supreme Court, in part because of the complexity of the dispute.

Islamophobia in government

A 2021 report from the Institute of Islamic Studies at the University of Toronto found that Muslim charities were disproportionately targeted by CRA audits. The report identified structural biases that may affect the CRA control process. They include the belief that Muslims are somehow “inherently foreign or foreign” and a reluctance to accept non-Christian activities as legally religious. The federal government is committed to addressing these concerns. In July 2021, National Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier asked the Office of Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson to “address the concerns raised by some Muslim-led charities and engage with other tribal-led charities. their experiences with the CRA “. Sultan said that while he hoped the government would carry out the promised reform, the threat posed by control must be addressed as soon as possible. “The Muslim community has been clear with the government that there is a problem, that there is prejudice and discrimination against Muslims in government institutions and that we expect the government to act,” Sultan said.