Research: Occasional Papers

Noted charity law scholar and retired justice of the Ontario Superior Court, Maurice Cullity, Q.C., has written a discussion paper examining the common law and Income Tax Act considerations relating to Canadian charities undertaking political purposes or activities.

Pemsel Board member David Stevens and his colleague, Faye Kravetz, have undertaken a comprehensive analysis of the Income Tax Act provision under which non-profit organizations are defined, the case law interpreting its meaning and the Canada Revenue Agency positions on the requirements set out in the provision.

Miller Thomson Partner Andrew Valentine has researched and written a detailed analysis exploring the legal principles and procedures pertaining to interventions in law of charity cases in Canadian courts.

Pemsel Case Foundation Board member Carl Juneau is a former federal government official, who served in an executive role in the Canada Revenue Agency Charities Directorate and as a policy advisor in the Department of Finance. He has been following developments in Canadian charity law for more than four decades.

University of Toronto Law School student Alicia Grant reviewed the treatment of the term “substantially all” in various Income Tax Act and other contexts and reports on her findings.

 Pemsel Case Foundation board member Carl Juneau explores the question of purposes and activities and proposes reform that would simplify both administration of, and compliance with, the regulatory regime under which resisted charities work.  

Australian academic, Natalie Silver, has examined the approaches used by four countries to regulate charities’ conduct abroad and reports on her findings.

A Look at Some Potential Changes:  Former finance official Edward Short suggests how to focus the income tax act meaning of a charity more on the framework provided by the common law, and considers the consequences for other criteria for registration and the related policy issues that would arise.  

University of Toronto Law Student, Leigha Haney, explores the “Incidental and Ancillary” doctrine, and considers how it applies to Federal registered charities in Canada.  

Legal scholar and Pemsel Foundation Board member, Adam Parachin, examines regulation of Canadian registered charities’ political purposes and activities and the policy basis for doing so.

Pemsel Case Foundation former Executive Director Peter Broder has written a paper exploring the various recommendations in the report of the senate special committee on the charitable sector, which was released last summer.

The Pemsel Case Foundation Board Member Bob Wyatt has written a paper discussing the existing process for appealing charity registration refusal or revocation decisions and the increasingly common view amongst sector leaders and their advisors that such appeals should be heard by the Tax Court of Canada and involve a . . .

A Pemsel Case Foundation paper authored by Board Member Bob Wyatt examines transparency in Canada’s charitable sector, focusing on what information about charities and prospective charities is—or ought to be—released and to whom. The analysis explores the Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) disclosure practices and restrictions, questioning whether these limitations impede . . .