July 16, 2024

OTTAWA – A major Muslim charity is calling a new court ruling a green light for government overreach after losing its latest bid to halt a Canada Revenue Agency audit.

OTTAWA – A major Muslim charity is calling a new court ruling a green light for government overreach after losing its latest bid to halt a Canada Revenue Agency audit.

The Muslim Association of Canada says the Ontario Court of Appeal decision will allow Ottawa to infringe the Charter rights of Canadians with impunity.

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

It contends that a long-running revenue agency audit of its activities is fundamentally tainted by systemic bias and Islamophobia.

The association asked the Ontario Superior Court to halt the audit on the grounds it violates Charter of Rights guarantees of equality and freedom of religion, expression and association.

Le gouvernement fédéral a soutenu que l'affaire devrait être rejetée, affirmant que le choix de l'association par l'agence du revenu pour une vérification et l'examen ultérieur ne portent pas atteinte aux droits garantis par la Charte.

Last year Superior Court Justice Markus Koehnen dismissed the charity’s bid to stop the audit, saying it was too early to intervene in the federal examination.

Koehnen said while he was sympathetic to many of the association’s arguments, a court should not involve itself in a government body’s process while it is still playing out.

The process includes a possible internal appeal within the revenue agency, as well as a right of appeal to the Tax Court of Canada in the case of financial penalties, and to the Federal Court of Appeal in the event of revocation of charitable status.

In the latest ruling, a panel of Appeal Court judges found no error in Koehnen’s decision to dismiss the association’s challenge as premature.

Writtem by Jim Bronskill | Read the full article: Muslim charity calls court ruling on audit a green light for government overreach (thestar.com)