Federal Office of the Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson: Final Update

The Federal Office of the Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson (Ombuds Office) recently released a final update on its 2023 report, Charity Begins with Fairness. You can read more about the report background, findings and recommendations in our 2023 blog post Federal Office of the Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson: Report on CRA Audits. In brief, the report was the result of an examination of CRA’s audit practices. The examination was prompted by concerns from Muslim-led charities about their experiences with CRA and in accordance with direction from the Minister of National Revenue.

In its final update, the Ombuds Office reviewed how the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) implemented its action plan in response to the report. The Ombuds Office concluded that the CRA’s action plan “sufficiently addressed the spirit” of the report’s recommendation to create unconscious bias training for Charities Directorate employees.

The CRA implemented the action plan over the short-term, medium-term, and long-term. The Ombuds Office final update responded to each part of the action plan.

Short-term

Although the Ombuds Office did not specifically recommend it, CRA added mandatory unconscious bias training in 2023-2024 for all permanent staff, and voluntary training for contract workers.

The Ombuds Office took issue with two things: (1) the training focussed too much on relationships instead of decision making and (2) the training was not mandatory for contract workers.

Medium-term

The CRA created a new mandatory training suite that drew on existing government courses, but included new content relevant to decision-making in the Charities Directorate.

The Ombuds Office found this plan addressed the spirit of its recommendation.

Long-term

All of the CRA’s employees involved in charity audits have completed an unconscious bias course. Only those who were on leave or other assignments did not complete the training.

The Ombuds Office was satisfied with this action item.