A recent Ontario Court of Appeal case, Aga v. Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church of Canada (Aga), provides some insight into the vexing question of the extent of “member” rights in not-for-profit organizations. Although the idea of such rights seems straightforward, it is anything but. The litigation in AGA came about because the membership status of […]
Registered Charity Policy Advocacy: Rules beyond the Income Tax Act
November 1, 2019 By Peter Broder
Although welcome and overdue, the new federal tax legislation and guidance on policy advocacy by registered charities doesn’t mean that compliance worries faced by sector organizations in this area are a thing of the past. For those unfamiliar with the changes, more information on them can be found online. Essentially, these changes free up groups […]
Senate Report Offers Blueprint for Federal Charity Law Reform
August 30, 2019 By Peter Broder
With a federal election slated for this October, there is little chance we will see any major changes to the Income Tax Act (ITA) rules governing registered charities in the coming weeks. Once the election is over, however, whichever party forms government could do worse than use the recently-released Report of the Special Senate Committee […]
Ottawa situation highlights governance obligations in managing misconduct risks
July 4, 2019 By Peter Broder
News earlier this year of the mass resignation of the Board of the Ottawa Lions Club should come as no surprise to followers of recent developments in organizational governance. The resignations came in response to a report commissioned by Athletics Canada into the group’s handling of allegations of sexual harassment and abuse. The report didn’t […]
Alberta Election Legislation and Charities
May 3, 2019 By Peter Broder
After years of turmoil around the topic, the federal government moved recently to reform treatment of charities’ “public policy dialogue and development activities”. The reform was, at least in part, in response to the striking down as unconstitutional of certain provisions of the Income Tax Act dealing with registered charities’ political activities. In a 2018 […]
