Today, CBC News had an article, “In appeal to Muslims, Freeland pledges to scrap controversial CRA division“.
Freeland is promising that if she becomes Prime Minister she will scrap the Research and Analysis Division (RAD) of the Charities Directorate. Meanwhile, the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA) is looking at the claims made by certain groups against RAD but it has not released its report yet.
I will write more about this questionable development in the near future, but I wanted to highlight certain blogs that I have written about RAD and terrorism in the past.
Probably the two most important blogs on the issue of RAD and its work:
CTV News article “Review of how CRA audits Muslim charities ‘inherently flawed,’ groups say in open letter to PM” (December 15, 2022)
Office of the Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson releases report “Charity Begins with Fairness: More to Explore” (April 3, 2023)
Here are some other articles:
CRA presentation to Finance Committee on terrorism (May 31, 2015)
CRA will not alert public about charities that get funds from foreign states that support terrorism (Dec 3, 2019)
Canada adds 13 organizations to list of terrorist entities including Proud Boys, The Base and Al-Quaeda and ISIS affiliates (Feb 4, 2021)
Canadian Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson to study CRA charity audits (Feb 28, 2022)
Office of the Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson System Examination into concerns expressed by certain Muslim-led charities (September 17, 2022)
Statement by the Canada’s Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson on CRA examination will be significantly hindered by the confidentiality provisions of the ITA relating to charities (November 28, 2022)
Canadian Charities cannot support terrorism or listed terrorist organizations (October 8, 2023)
CRA’s NPO Sector Review disclosed through ATIP and there are lots of questions about CRA’s view of terrorism (July 7, 2022)
Authorization regime and information on humanitarian exception for activities in areas of terrorist group controlled areas (June 19, 2024)
CRA has placed new pages on “Educating charities about the risks of terrorist abuse” (August 25, 2024)