Canadian Charities Prevented From 'Getting Political'

http://www.cwp-csp.ca/2017/05/hill-...ng-a-charitable-democracy/?platform=hootsuite

Is Free Speech A Lie? Ever wondered why various organizations are so powerless and unhelpful?

Canadian charities are muzzled by the gov't - not allowed to be publicly critical of bad policy and organize for change:


"As it stands, an activity is “political” if it includes an explicit communication to the public that a law, policy, or decision of any level of government inside or outside Canada should be retained, opposed, or changed. This means charities are currently required to monitor the speech of staff and members of their organization to determine if they have made public statements about current laws or policies, report annually to CRA on all such activities, and to strictly limit them if they are to exceed allowable levels.

“Relief of poverty” has long been accepted as a charitable purpose under charities law. Both Oxfam Canada and Canada Without Poverty have been granted charitable status to relieve poverty, but when we try to do that, the Income Tax Act restricts what we can say, how often we can say it, and to whom we can say it. It restricts our free speech, preventing us from publicly speaking out about the laws and policies that have to be changed and it makes it impossible to meaningfully pursue our charitable purpose."