Legal Affairs Update

Picture of Supreme Court of Canada sign and building

June 2025

As summer begins, our Legal Department continues to work diligently on your behalf by securing favourable outcomes and shaping a regulatory environment that supports our members and the wider Christian charitable sector.

Your support makes this work possible. Every donation to the Legal Defence Fund is a tangible commitment to protecting religious freedom, advocating for fairness, and ensuring that Christian charities can continue to serve and enrich our communities. Thank you for standing with us in this vital mission!

Court Interventions

Equal Access to Public Facilities (Quebec)

In 2023, a religious group rented a government-owned conference centre in Quebec for a prayer event. But months later and shortly before the event, the Minister of Tourism cancelled it. The reason? The religious group leader had made pro-life statements in the past. The government declared Quebec to be "resolutely pro-choice," that pro-life views are at odds with the province’s “fundamental principles” and therefore the event generated “deep unease” with the Minister. This was despite the fact that the event itself was prayer-focused and unrelated to pro-life or pro-choice views.

Together with the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada and Réseau Évangélique du Québec, CCCC is intervening to defend:

Collective religious freedom, and
Freedom of expression

Our coalition argues that public spaces must remain open to all voices—including religious ones—without political censorship. The case is scheduled to be heard in November 2025.

Conscientious Objection to Euthanasia (British Columbia)

In April 2025, CCCC was granted intervenor status in a landmark case that asks: Can a religious healthcare institution be compelled to perform euthanasia?

A euthanasia advocacy group claims that allowing faith-based organizations to conscientiously object to participating in euthanasia violates Charter rights. CCCC is stepping in to raise two crucial arguments:

The need for collective conscience protections—not just for individuals, but for entire organizations.
The importance of respecting charity law, which obliges charitable institutions to act in line with their foundational purposes.

The trial is scheduled for January 2026, with written submissions to follow. The outcome could radically reshape the landscape for faith-based healthcare in Canada..

Charitable Status

Since Fall 2021, CCCC has actively monitored and spoken out against any attempts to politicize or jeopardize charitable status. For a recent summary, see our blog Staying Informed about Charitable Status.

The most recent issue came from troubling recommendations in a former House of Commons Finance Committee report. Two of the 462 recommendations were to “no longer provide charitable status for anti-abortion organizations” and “amend the Income Tax Act to provide a definition of charity which would remove the privileged status of advancement of religion as a charitable purpose.”

CCCC quickly responded with a letter to the government. We spoke about the issue in an interview on 100 Huntley Street, and our concerns and letter were shared in other media such as Christianity Today, Canadian Affairs, the Catholic Register, and The B.C. Catholic.

We reiterated these concerns in our March 2025 federal pre-budget submissions. We specifically called on the federal government to cease its threats to revoke charitable status, and to retract and condemn the recommendations made by the House Finance Committee. We will carefully review developments as the federal government sets its priorities and continue advocating for the protection and preservation of charitable status.

Looking Ahead

We are always looking for ways to champion faith-based charities. So what’s next for CCCC advocacy work?

In response to an access to information request, CCCC recently received a copy of the CRA’s guidance, CG-031 Advancement of religion and charitable registration. Though used by the government when evaluating charities that advance religion, it has never been formally published like other guidance documents. We are currently analyzing the guidance and will share both the document and our findings in the near future.

CCCC is also looking to address concerns about politicization of charitable status through a formal research paper for the Law Commission of Canada. It’s recent research projects address various charity law topics.

We continue involvement in Ontario and Canadian Bar Associations to ensure there is a faith-based perspective at the table for submissions, policy priorities and discussions. We also continue representing you in meetings such as the Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council roundtable on Strengthening Solidarity Across the Charity Sector (February 2025) and our ongoing consultations with CRA in the Technical Issues Working Group. Through involvement in legal and government advisory committees, we stand boldly for the Christian charitable sector, providing input on policies and priorities that impact our community.

Thank You!

Thank you for taking the time to read this update. As we look ahead to new challenges and opportunities, we invite you to pray for wisdom and discernment as we engage in this important work. We are deeply grateful for your ongoing support!.

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