Blog 145: Tax Privileges of Religions
Pierre Marchand
“At the federal level, registered charities are exempt from income tax, property tax as well as municipal and school taxes. They can also recover a portion of any sales tax they have paid. To get a clear idea of the situation, note that in Quebec, in 2019, there were 3701 registered charities working to relieve poverty, 2568 working for the advancement of education and 4330 working for the advancement religion.[…]”
“Canada thus grants registered charity status to hundreds of organizations that offer no social benefit other than that of ‘promoting religion’.[…]”
“The advancement of religion (propaganda, proselytism, pastoral activities, missionary work) must therefore be removed from the definition of charitable purposes in federal and provincial laws, since these activities only benefit the organizations themselves. If churches support charitable works, fine, they can deduct the cost of their contribution, but not the cost of their propaganda.”
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Blog 144: Indigenous Residential School Fanaticism as Performance Art
David Rand
“In September 2024, NDP Member of Parliament Leah Gazan introduced draft legislation C-413, a private member’s bill which would penalize ‘hatred against Indigenous peoples by condoning, denying, downplaying or justifying the Indian residential school system in Canada’ and would punish infractions with up to two years in prison. It is not precisely clear what would constitute an infraction of this law, in particular the word ‘downplaying,’ if it is adopted. Would claiming that the indigenous residential school system constituted cultural genocide but not physical genocide be a criminal act? Does the author of this draft law want to throw the members of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission into prison? Would the dissident historians who disagree with the Canadian Historical Association also be thrown in prison? Would this very blog be illegal under C-413?”
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