What does the Strong Borders Act have to do with charitable donations?

The government recently introduced Bill C-2, Strong Borders Act. Commentators and news outlets have raised concerns about its potential impact – from refugees to privacy to cash donations to charity. Here we’ll take a closer look at the proposed change to cash donations.

What is Bill C-2?
First, some context is important. Bill C-2 is an “omnibus bill.” An omnibus bill is a government bill that proposes to “repeal, amend or enact more than one Act” without any comment element. In other words, it’s a mish-mash of changes to a wide variety of laws. That can make it challenging to effectively respond to the bill as a whole because some parts might be good, while other parts might be bad.

What is proposed?
There is a lot to review in the 140 pages that make up Bill C-2, but the proposal to prohibit cash donations of $10,000 has already raised some questions for the charitable sector.

Part 11 of the Bill would add a new section to the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (Cash Transactions):

77.‍5 (1) Every person or entity that is engaged in a business, a profession or the solicitation of charitable financial donations from the public commits an offence if the person or entity accepts a cash payment, donation or deposit of $10,000 or more in a single transaction or in a prescribed series of related transactions that total $10,000 or more.

What’s the reason?
The Minister of Public Safety said the reason for the change is to “enable law enforcement and agencies to enforce, in a much stricter way, penalties for any form of illicit fundraising that takes place.”

What’s the solution?
Not much else has been said about this proposed change. One simple way to address this potential change (should it come to pass) is having the donor give by cheque, e-transfer(s) or wire transfer instead of cash.

What is CCCC doing?
Even so, we’re writing to the relevant ministers to ask for more details. We understand the need to ensure the integrity of the charitable sector and eliminate illicit fundraising. But we also think it’s important to understand why existing compliance tools are inadequate and to consider any unintended consequences or problematic precedents that could be set using this kind of approach.

As always, we’ll be sure to share any updates to this part of Bill C-2 and any response we receive from the Ministers.