April 3, 2023 |

OTTAWA – A grassroots Muslim charity is pointing to internal Canada Revenue Agency documents in a bid to persuade an Ontario court that a long-running federal audit is fundamentally tainted by systemic bias and Islamophobia.

The Muslim Association of Canada wants the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to halt the revenue agency’s audit of the association on the grounds it violates Charter of Rights guarantees of equality and freedom of religion, expression and association.

Lawyers for the registered charity plan to argue at a hearing Tuesday that the audit, which began in 2015, discriminates against Muslims.

The federal government is asking that the case be dismissed, saying the revenue agency’s selection of the association for an audit and the subsequent examination do not infringe Charter rights.

The association, which promotes community service, education and youth empowerment, says over 150,000 Canadians use its mosques, schools and community centres each year.

The court hearing comes amid public scrutiny of the Review and Analysis Division of the revenue agency’s charities directorate, which is conducting the audit.

A 2021 report by the Ottawa-based International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group said the division works with national security agencies to carry out such audits, with little accountability or independent review.

Following her participation in a national summit in 2021 on Islamophobia, Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier asked taxpayers’ ombudsperson François Boileau to conduct a systemic review of the concerns from Muslim-led charities about their treatment by the revenue agency.

However, Boileau recently said that due to obstacles in accessing relevant information, he could not examine the issues “deeply enough’’ to assess the existence of bias in how the revenue agency applies its processes.

The Ontario court case is expected to shed fresh — and possibly unprecedented — light on the division’s practices.

Read the full article: Muslim charity alleges systemic bias in bid to halt revenue agency’s ‘tainted’ audit | The Star

By Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press