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National Security - Terrorism. Muslim Association of Canada v. Canada (Attorney General)
In Muslim Association of Canada v. Canada (Attorney General) (Ont CA, 2024) the Ontario Court of Appeal dismisses a Charter JR against a pending CRA charity audit, here on grounds of prematurity and adequate alternative remedy:[2] The appellant argues that the application judge erred by improperly applying the prematurity principle to an application for Charter relief, and in finding that the administrative appeal process under the Income Tax Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. 1 (5th Supp.) (the “ITA”) provided the appellant with an effective alternate means to obtain the relief it seeks.
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Background
[4] The applicant describes itself as Canada’s largest grassroots Muslim charity, committed to promoting a moderate, balanced view of Islam. It has over 500 members, 1500 volunteers, operates 22 mosques and community centres, runs 30 schools, and serves more than 150,000 members of the Canadian Muslim community through local chapters in 14 cities across Canada.
[5] The CRA is the regulator of registered charities in Canada. Its mandate includes ensuring that registered charities meet statutory requirements for registration and are not abused by terrorist organizations.
[6] In 2015, the CRA commenced the Audit. It was extensive, involving dozens of interviews and visits to the appellant’s properties, as well as a review of approximately 1,000,000 financial transactions, over 415,000 emails, and over 63,000 other files.
[7] In March 2021, the CRA issued a 150-page Administrative Fairness Letter (the “AFL”) setting out CRA's preliminary findings and recommendations. The AFL identified numerous areas where the CRA alleged that the appellant had failed to comply with relevant provisions of the ITA and/or its regulations, and recommended that the appellant’s charitable status be revoked. The AFL invited the appellant to respond to these preliminary findings and recommendations, and appellant did so in writing in August 2021, December 2021 and January 2022.
[8] In April 2022, the appellant commenced an application in Superior Court (the “Application”) seeking an order terminating the Audit on grounds that the Audit, including the AFL, had violated its Charter-protected rights to freedom of religion, freedom of expression, freedom of association, and freedom from discrimination. The Application identified three aspects of the Audit process that had infringed its Charter rights (collectively, the “Audit Process Concerns”): (i) the risk-based assessment used by the CRA to determine which charities to audit, which the Appellant argues disproportionately single out Muslim charities; (ii) the appellant’s referral for auditing, which it argues was based on dubious and unreliable sources; and (iii) the manner in which the Audit had been carried out, resulting in the AFL, which the appellant argues reflects Islamophobic attitudes and a profound misunderstanding of Islam.
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