On Friday, Madam Justice Whyte Nowak of the Federal Court dismissed a motion by JNF Canada to reverse the publication in the Canada Gazette of the revocation of its charitable status.
The Federal Court has decided to dismiss this motion. Therefore, the revocation of charitable status stands. The court will presumably deal with the rest of the judicial review application unless it is withdrawn in the future. Also, JNF Canada has separately made an appeal to the Federal Court of Appeal.
Here is the overview provided by the Federal Court on this motion:
I. Overview
[1] This is a motion for an interlocutory injunction brought by the Applicant, the Jewish National Fund of Canada Inc./Fonds National Juif du Canada Inc. [the Applicant]. In the underlying proceeding, the Applicant is seeking judicial review of the decision of the Canada Revenue Agency, Charities Directorate [the CRA] as the delegate of the Minister of National Revenue [the Minister] to publish a copy of a notice of intention to revoke [NITR] the registration of the Applicant as a charity in the Canada Gazette on August 20, 2024 [the Publication]. Upon Publication, the Applicant’s registration as a charity was revoked.
[2] The Applicant submits that the Minister’s Publication of the NITR was procedurally unfair as the Publication was not in accordance with the Applicant’s legitimate expectations which arose from not only the past practice of the CRA as reflected in its policies, publications and internal communications, but also the five-year history of the Applicant’s own dealings with the Minister following the Minister’s decision to issue the NITR [the Revocation Decision].
[3] The Applicant moves for a mandatory injunction compelling the Minister to publish a retraction in the Canada Gazette which would have the effect of reinstating the Applicant’s charitable status.
[4] The motion is opposed by the Attorney General of Canada [the Respondent] on behalf of the Minister. The Respondent submits that the Federal Court is without jurisdiction to entertain the Applicant’s motion, as the publication of the NITR by the Minister is not a separate decision capable of review; rather, it is inextricably linked to the Revocation Decision which the Federal Court of Appeal has the exclusive jurisdiction to review. Alternatively, it submits that the Applicant has failed to make out the test for the grant of a mandatory injunction.
[5] For the reasons that follow, I find that this Court is without jurisdiction to entertain this motion. Accordingly, the Applicant’s motion is dismissed.
Here is the full decision in JNF Canada v MNR 2024 FC 1796.
Also, JNF Canada has recently filed 5 years’ worth of recent financial statements with Corporations Canada. We have discussed this issue earlier here. As they were probably a soliciting corporation since about 2015, JNF Canada is still missing about 4 years’ worth of financial statements in its filing with Corporations Canada. Corporations Canada has been warning non-profits under the CNCA that failure to file any financial statement can result in dissolution.
Here are the JNF Canada’s financial statements from Corporations Canada.
JNF Canada Financial Statement 2019
JNF Canada Financial Statement 2020
JNF Canada Financial Statement 2021
JNF Canada Financial Statement 2022
JNF Canada Financial Statement 2023
On the JNF Canada’s own website, apparently after its revocation, it appears that JNF Canada has posted their financial statements from 2013:
JNF Canada Financial Statements 2013
JNF Canada Financial Statements 2014
JNF Canada Financial Statements 2015
JNF Canada Financial Statements 2016
JNF Canada Financial Statements 2017
JNF Canada Financial Statements 2018
JNF Canada Financial Statements 2019
JNF Canada Financial Statements 2020
JNF Canada Financial Statements 2021
JNF Canada Financial Statements 2022
JNF Canada Financial Statements 2023
Just to throw something else in. Here is a copy of an ATIP from CRA in March 2024, about 6 months before the publication of the Confirmation of Revocation in the Canada Gazette (this copy provided by the website of the Investigative Journalism Foundation).
A-2023-174060
Canada Revenue Agency
Released March 2024 • 80 pages
Request: Audited financial statements for the Jewish National Fund of Canada for the years 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022.
ATIP FROM CRA 2024-03-a-2023-174060-canada-revenue-agency from IJF (21 MB so it may take a while to download)
Can you see the important redactions that CRA made beginning in 2018?