Charitable Sector Governed by Outdated Standards

Senator Ratna Omidvar has spent the past year and a half hearing from representatives and experts from Canada’s charitable sector and is convinced that the applicable rules and legislation need to be modernized.

“The world has changed, but the sector continues to be governed by a completely outdated regulatory and legal regime,” said the Ontario senator, who is vice-chair of the Special Senate Committee on the Charitable Sector. “Modernizing this regime is important to ensure that the sector is vibrant and prosperous.”

The work of the special committee began in January 2018 and will wrap up at the end of June with the tabling of a report that will include recommendations for reform. More than 150 witnesses appeared before the committee and approximately 80 briefs were received. More than 700 organizations responded to the online questionnaires.

“This is the first time the Senate has examined the charitable sector,” said Senator Omidvar. “The sector is huge. It includes roughly 170,000 charities and non-profit organizations involved in a wide range of causes and services. I believe that the best way to describe this sector is that it is the glue that holds us together.”

More than 24 million Canadians (two-thirds of the population) contributed to a charity in 2013. The group CanadaHelps estimated these contributions at over $9 billion in 2015, although they have remained stable over the past decade when inflation is taken into account.

As well, the sector is facing aging donors and volunteers. Some religious organizations, including the Catholic structures that are predominant in Quebec, are even more affected by this problem.

The Senator said that she sensed an appetite for reform with sometimes differing proposals. She added that sometimes it is enough to simply look elsewhere in the world to find insightful examples of transformation.

The case of Australia came up constantly in comments in the Senate. That country established the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) in 2012 to “maintain, protect and enhance public trust and confidence in the sector through increased accountability and transparency.” The organization reports to a minister, and legislation clearly defines what a charity is, as well as simplifying the relationships with government bureaucracies.

“Canada is lagging behind,” said the Senator. “We haven’t done anything similar. We need to find a made-in-Canada approach. Different levels of government across the country interact differently with organizations, and it would be worthwhile to streamline the system, such as by agreeing on definitions and categories of charities.”

Click here to read the full article in French on Le Devoir’s website.