With the Shekels come the Shackles

When master comes calling

On October 29^th, 2024, the Canadian Federal Government posted a news release on their website titled, “Protecting reproductive freedom by preventing abuse of charitable status.” Essentially, many pregnancy care centres in Canada are registered charities, which affords them certain financial benefits, such as exemption from income tax and the ability to issue donation receipts for any charitable giving to the organization. The Federal Government, filled with bloodthirsty ghouls that wish to destroy the lives of pre-born babies, wants to ensure that pregnancy care centres either do what the State tells them or have their charitable status revoked.

What exactly does the Liberal Government want? “The federal government intends to introduce legislation to amend the Income Tax Act and Income Tax Regulations to require registered charities that provide services, advice, or information in respect of the prevention, preservation, or termination of pregnancy to disclose where they do not provide specific services, including abortions or birth control.” In other words, if you are a pregnancy care centre and you do not murder pre-born babies, or you do not offer information on murdering pre-born babies, or you do not provide contact information for others who murder pre-born babies, you must let the Canada Revenue Agency know all of this in no uncertain terms. If you fail to do so, you will lose your charitable status with all of its conferred benefits.

This might seem rather benign. Afterall, shouldn’t pregnancy care centres have the right to not have to murder pre-born babies? Well, for anyone who has been paying attention over the past 7 years or so, we understand the slow-creep of Progressivism. If you recall, in 2018, the Canadian Government required organizations to “sign an attestation respecting LGBT and abortion rights” if they wished to continue to receive summer grant money to employ students for camp programs (see here). It seems rather obvious, at lest to me, that requiring pregnancy care centres to label themselves as “those who neither affirm nor support pre-born baby murder” is only the first step - the wedge in the door - to the eventual removal of charitable status altogether.

You may be tempted to think, “Well Andrew, what’s the big deal with losing your charitable status? People will still donate to such a noble cause even if they cannot receive tax receipts, and we should trust God to provide for us.” Even if I concede your argument (which I do not necessarily), it’s actually much, much worse than that.

Insatiable Beasts and unsuspecting sheep

According to the Canada Revenue Agency, if your charitable status is revoked, for any reason, even if you choose to revoke it, that automatically triggers the dissolution of the organization. You read that correctly. If your charitable status is revoked then your organization legally dissolves. Not what you were expecting, huh?

It gets even worse.

Upon dissolution of the former charity, the organization is required to pay a Revocation Tax to the Federal Government. You might be thinking, “Okay, so a tax. Big deal. We pay lots of taxes.” According to the CRA, “The tax is equal to 100% of the fair market value of all remaining assets after all debts have been paid.” Yes, you also read that correctly. 100% of everything the organization owns, including property and money in the bank, is required, by law, to be paid to the Federal Government.

There is one way to avoid paying the State Revocation Tax, and that is by giving that same 100% of everything you have and own to another qualified charity in Canada. Now, I’m not an expert in the Charities Act, but I would venture that any qualified charity will not be similar in its beliefs and convictions. It’s more likely that the only eligible charities are of the purple-haired variety.

If this information is jarring and unsettling, then you are most likely one of a vast majority of Christians in Canada who had no idea this was in the fine-print for religious organizations, but it is.

A call for some serpent-like wisdom

What do charities, both pregnancy care centres as well as churches, do in order to protect the resources they have been given by God to steward for the good of their people and organizations? Well, the fullest answer to this question will probably come in the form of a discussion between the board of directors/elder’s council, the CFO/treasurer, and a lawyer.

For the purposes of this article, I want to suggest a few options.

First, begin to teach your people and discuss with your donors the reality that their giving may not be tax deductible in the near future. Remind them that charity is a Christian virtue that predates income tax credits. Challenge them to remember that we are called to be generous and not expect anything in return.

Second, it may be wise to create a brand-new not-for-profit organization that does not become a charity, and then begin to tell people to give and donate to that instead. This way you can protect your resources, and it naturally trains people to give without the financial benefits I mentioned above.

Third, you might want to consider selling (as you are able) any assets you have to another organization, such as the kind of organization mentioned above, and have the charity either rent or borrow them indefinitely.

These are all rather shrewd ways of ensuring that what the Lord has given an organization cannot be taken away by a greedy State, and many people are not used to these kinds of behaviors and activities coming from Christians, but consider the words of Jesus when He said, “For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.” – Luke 16:8-9

New beginnings done the right way

But what about future churches and organizations? What should they do in creating their churches and businesses? Should they incorporate at all, and if they do, should they seek to attain charitable status? These are important questions to consider.

As to the question of actually becoming a not-for-profit organization, I would say go for it. It will allow you to have a business account with banks and credit unions, and it will allow you to get ecclesiastical insurance, which almost everywhere will require if you are renting a facility. As for the risks, there are few, if any. If the State shuts down your church or pregnancy care centre for not being Woke, upon dissolution, all remaining assets can be given to whomever the organization desires.

As to the question of charitable status, I would strongly advise against it. The only two meaningful benefits are the ability to issue tax receipts and the ability to recover some of the taxes spent on purchases. These should not be deal-breakers. You should let your donors and congregants know, from the very beginning, that whatever they give is unto the Lord, and their obedience to God and generosity will be blessed by God in ways other than tax credits. I understand that this is foreign to how we understand our taxes and charitable giving, but the time for renovating our understanding of finances from God’s perspective is long-overdue.

It doesn’t make sense to put ourselves under the thumb of the State, setting our churches and organization up to have everything taken away, when we don’t have to in the first place. I think prudence demands we seriously consider re-thinking charitable status altogether.

It’s time to ring the town bell, because this is no Chicken Little

Regardless of whether we are just beginning a charity, or are members of one that is forty years-old, prudence demands we shed light on these financial realities concerning charitable status and the Revocation Tax. It would be vigilant of us to not only warn people as to what is coming, but also counsel them as to how best to proceed presently. Here are at least two practical things you can do.

First, let your MPs and MPPs know that you do not support this proposed legislation to crack down on pregnancy care centres, and neither do your family, your friends, and your church community. Send emails, make phone calls, and deliver signed petitions with enough people to make your voices heard. You can find who your MP is by searching here.

Second, tell everyone you can about both this legislation and the consequences for charities when their charitable status is revoked. Share this article on social media. Share the articles I’ve linked on social media (or at least the screenshots on Facebook). Let people know about this gross overreach from the State and how they are basically holding charities hostage if they do not support the Woke Liberal agenda.

Finally, by way of reminder, all of this is why it is so necessary to be deeply connected in a solid Christian community. These are places where we can support one another if the worst should happen to us or our businesses. These are places where we can pray for and strengthen each other to be faithful witnesses for Christ, even when godless petty tyrants would attempt to force us to bow to their pagan gods. These are places where the shackles that bind us to the State and keep us dependent upon it are broken and replaced instead with the yoke of Christ, and places where, bound together in love, we can obey Christ, whatever the cost may be.