There are lots of governmental press releases and stories about religious groups engaged in very problematic behaviours. Yes, religious groups do a lot of good, but ignoring the bad actors undercuts the good of all religious groups. I recently noticed this announcement from the US Justice Department on July 10, 2024 “Senior Leaders Of Lev Tahor Sect Sentenced To 14 And 12 Years In Prison For Kidnapping And Sex Trafficking Crimes“.
In addition recently, there was more coverage of Lev Tahor out of Guatemala:
Guatemalan authorities take 160 minors from extremist Lev Tahor sect after abuse allegations (Dec 22, 2024)
The main reason I am blogging about this is that this same sect had two registered charities in Canada. The two charities are no longer registered charities. One lost its charitable status for non-filing of the T3010, and the other as a result of the Charities Directorate audit.
I would point out a few things: This group was based in Quebec, then Ontario, and then fled to Guatemala. The CRA revocation of charity status as a result of audit, was only after the group had fled Canada.
CRA has not published its guidance on “advancing religion” even though drafts have been circulating around now for 14 years, and apparently, it has been finalized a long time ago. CRA needs to take a closer look at some religious charities, as abusing children and sex trafficking is not “advancing religion” in the charitable sense.