A few weeks ago a Canadian registered charity called the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) was involved in a scandal when it was discovered that its president had hired a private investigator to surveil the Chief-Justice of Manitoba who was apparently presiding over a case that the JCCF was involved with. This raised numerous issues relating to legal ethics, the legality of doing surveillance on a judge presiding over your case, not to mention whether it is appropriate for a Canadian registered charity to be engaged in allegedly illegal activities.
It is alleged that none of the board of the JCCF was aware of this action, which also raises issues around whether there is appropriate oversight by the board of directors.
Registered charities need to comply with the law and if it is illegal to hire a private investigator to surveil a judge on a case then it would be prohibited for a registered charity in Canada to do so. As well, there may be issues around when a charity pays for an allegedly illegal expenditure.
There are other charity law issues including whether an organization has a public benefit or if the negatives of the organization may outweigh the public benefit. If there is not a net public benefit in the charity activities, then it can be a problem that it is a registered charity.
There are also systemic issues like CRA cannot disclose whether it is auditing this charity because of the confidentiality provisions of the Income Tax Act. Therefore the public is in the dark about whether there is an audit or follow-up on this type of behaviour. That can reduce public trust in the charity sector which is unfortunate. I have suggested in the past, that a better system would allow CRA to at least confirm an audit when a matter is in the public sphere, similar to what happens in the UK and Australia.
In terms of transparency here is some of the information that is available on the group from Corporations Canada website[(also PDF as of July 23, 2021]:
Federal Corporation Information
Federal Corporation Information – 765993-8
Note
This information is available to the public in accordance with legislation (see Public disclosure of corporate information).
Note:Order a Corporate Profile [View PDF Sample] [View HTML Sample].PDF Readers
Registered Office Address
Calgary AB T2W 2N5
Canada
Note
Active NFP Act corporations are required to update this information. Changes are only legally effective when filed with Corporations Canada. A corporation key is required. If you are not authorized to update this information, you can either contact the corporation or contact Corporations Canada. We will inform the corporation of its reporting obligations.
Directors
- Troy Lanigan
587 Pacific Ridge
Victoria BC V9B 6P9
Canada - Ted Morton
3319 Upton Place Northwest
Calgary AB T2N 4G9
Canada - Alan Honner
201-3416 Dundas St West
Toronto ON M6S 2S1
Canada - Gareth Hudson
9 Norris Coulee Trail
De Winton AB T0L 0X0
Canada - Bud Smith
147 Saint Paul Street West
Kamloops BC V2C 1G2
Canada - Bruce Pardy
58 Doncaster Place
London ON N6G 2A5
Canada - Barbara Kay
59-243 Post Rd
Moody ME 04054
United States - Jonathan Allen
234929 Conc 2 Durham
Durham ON N0G 1R0
Canada - Thomas Bateman
52 Wiggins Drive
Fredericton NB E3A 5N6
Canada - Grant Brown
107 Huron Street
Stratford ON N5A 5S7
Canada
Note
Active NFP Act corporations are required to update director information (names, addresses, etc.) within 15 days of any change. A corporation key is required. If you are not authorized to update this information, you can either contact the corporation or contact Corporations Canada. We will inform the corporation of its reporting obligations.
Annual Filings
- 2021 – Not due
- 2020 – Filed
- 2019 – Filed
Corporate History
| Corporate Name History | |
|---|---|
| 2010-10-04 to 2014-10-17 | JUSTICE CENTRE FOR CONSTITUTIONAL FREEDOMS |
| 2014-10-17 to Present | Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms |
Certificates and Filings
Certificate of Amendment Footnote* 2019-12-18 Amendment details: Number of directors
Return to footnote*referrer Amendment details are only available for amendments effected after 2010-03-20. Some certificates issued prior to 2000 may not be listed. For more information, contact Corporations Canada.
Note that although they are a “soliciting corporation” they appear to have failed to file their financial statements with Corporations Canada.
Here are some of the documents that are freely available on the Corporations Canada website if you click the link “Order copies of corporate documents“:
Certificate and Articles of Amendment
Certificate and Articles of Continuance
Here is a “List of requested corporate documents from Corporations Canada” plus the dates of filing.
Here is a link to the CRA Charities Listing for JCCF and also information on CharityData.ca for JCCF. To understand the difference between the CRA website and the CharityData.ca website and the pros and cons of using each one – here is an article entitled CRA’s Charities Listing vs. Blumbergs’ Charity Data 2020.
Here are some articles that have appeared in the last couple of weeks on the JCCF:
Toronto Star: This Alberta lawyer hired a private investigator to tail a judge. Who is John Carpay?
Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms: Statement by John Carpay, President July 12, 2021
The Lawyer’s Daily: Manitoba AG requests law society investigate lawyers associated with the JCCF
Winnipeg Free Press – Manitoba’s call for probe into lawyers’ conduct ‘groundless, unjustified,’ justice charity says
Winnipeg Free Press – Justice minister asks regulator to probe lawyers’ conduct after judge followed
Winnipeg Free Press – Justice minister requests investigation into lawyers after judge spied on
Winnipeg Free Press – Charity behind snooping takes on headline-grabbing cases
Winnipeg Free Press – An egregious assault on the judicial process
Winnipeg Free Press – Peers sound off on Joyal investigator’s ‘poor judgement’
Winnipeg Free Press – Taxpayers in dark about potential review of charity after it spied on Manitoba judge
Winnipeg Free Press – Justice Centre board condemns judge’s surveillance; president on leave
Winnipeg Free Press – Fringe group that had chief judge tailed should be pushed back to the shadows
Winnipeg Free Press – Right-wing centre condemned for hiring P.I. to follow Manitoba chief justice