CEO Lance Davis told the National Post that the fund was denied its ‘day in court’
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OTTAWA — The Jewish National Fund of Canada is vowing to fight on after being formally deregistered as a charity by the CRA earlier this month, according to the organization’s top executive.
JNF Canada CEO Lance Davis told the National Post on Monday that the fund was denied its “day in court” when the federal agency unilaterally terminated its charitable status on August 10, saying the erstwhile charity planned to appeal the decision.
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“The presumption of innocence is a foundational Canadian value,” Davis said in a phone call.
The revocation of charitable status notice, published in the Canada Gazette, cited JNF Canada’s “failure to meet the parts of the Income Tax Act.”
The CRA announced simultaneously that a second Jewish charity, the Ne’eman Foundation, would be deregistered for the same reason.
The notices were issued while members of both organizations were observing Shabbat, which some felt added insult to injury.
Davis didn’t deny the allegations but said that JNF Canada had been working in good faith with the CRA to bring itself to compliance with the sections of the act governing charitable organizations.
“There were multiple off-ramps along the way,” said Davis, adding that he believes the CRA’s heavy-handed treatment of the JNF is a historical anomaly.
“Revocations are exceptionally rare,” Davis continued. “And when the CRA does deregister a charity, it’s almost always for failing to file their annual returns.”
Davis said that JNF Canada’s legal team has identified around 200 instances where charities cited for similar transgressions have kept their charitable status.
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“No one has suggested than anything we’ve done has been egregious,” claimed Davis.
Davis also took issue with how the dispute has been covered in the media, saying that news reports have conflated controversies over playgrounds and other social infrastructure the JNF has built on IDF bases with the more mundane facts of the case.
“The key point of contention has always been our charitable purpose,” said Davis, noting that the projects on IDF property weren’t even mentioned in recent communications with the CRA.
Founded in 1967, JNF Canada proposed to raise “funds for the employment of indigent labourers” on various work projects in Israel, a charitable mission that was approved by Revenue Canada, the predecessor to the CRA, and reaffirmed in four subsequent audits.
The CRA changed its position after a fifth audit in 2014, holding that some of the JNF’s projects in Israel ran afoul of provisions of the tax code prohibiting charities from supporting foreign militaries. The CRA subsequently informed the JNF in 2019 of its plans to strip it of its charitable status. (JNF officials claim that the organization stopped funding projects at several military bases in 2016 in response to concerns raised in the 2014 audit.)
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Davis said that the JNF proposed multiple alternative charitable purposes to the CRA before the agency abruptly delisted it this month.
For now, JNF Canada will continue on as a non-profit while the appeals process plays out. Davis says he’s been encouraged by the level of support donors have expressed following the CRA’s decision, even if the organization will be unable to issue charitable tax receipts for the time being.
“People have been showing up for us in a big way,” Davis said.
National Post
rmohamed@postmedia.com
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