Position on the federal government's proposed legislation to require more transparency from charities providing pregnancy counselling

On October 29, 2024, the federal government issued a backgrounder titled Protecting reproductive freedom by preventing abuse of charitable status. The government also introduced draft legislation to amend the Income Tax Act through a Notice of Ways and Means Motion. The proposed amendments aim to address concerns that registered charities offering reproductive health services may be spreading misinformation.

The legislation would amend the Income Tax Act to require registered charities whose main activity is to provide reproductive health services to disclose whether they provide abortion or birth control services in their public communications. Additionally, any registered charity that expressly or implicitly advertises the services of a charity whose main activity is to provide reproductive health services must also publicly communicate that the entity does not provide abortion or birth control services on its website and social media. Charities that fail to meet these disclosure requirements will have their charitable status revoked.

We are concerned that the proposed legislation sets a troubling legal precedent, which opens the door for future governments to impose politically motivated constraints on other mission areas in the charitable sector.

Previous attempts of politically motivated interference in the charitable sector include the:

Senate Committee on Fisheries and Ocean's report Sealing the Future: A Call to Action, which calls for “the Government of Canada [to] urgently review and amend the Income Tax Act and all other related acts, as needed, to ensure that registered Canadian charities and non-profit organizations that produce or promote misinformation and/or disinformation about the seal harvest or seal products industry have their tax-exempt status revoked.”
Standing Committee on Finance’s 2025 pre-budget consultation Report, which recommends the government “no longer provide charitable status to anti-abortion organizations”. (Recommendation #429)
Audits performed by the Canada Revenue Agency in 2014 of several prominent environmental charities.

Canadian charities already uphold a high level of accountability and operate in a system with multiple checks and balances, which are used to prevent the abuse of charitable status. We believe the CRA already has the tools needed to prevent the spread of misinformation and address non-compliance. If concerns surrounding a charity’s conduct arise, the CRA has established reporting mechanisms to address suspected non-compliance. Additionally, federal regulations are already in place that require a registered charity to be honest in how it provides services to the public. Specifically, CRA guidance on the promotion of health and charitable registration states that when charities provide health information, the content must be “reasonably unbiased, factual and sufficiently detailed.” Similarly, the guidance on public policy development and dialogue activities requires that information shared with the public on policy matters “must be truthful, accurate, and not misleading.”

While the proposed amendments only affect a small subset of charities, they pose substantial implications for the sector. Our sector values the government’s commitment to ensure charities conduct their operations with integrity. However, we urge the federal government to engage the charitable sector in shaping the proposed legislation to ensure it preserves the public’s trust in our sector while avoiding unintended consequences.

For more information see our letter to Minister Ien and previous statement on this issue.