During the 2021 election, the Liberals introduced a policy that the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) would be requested to remove the charitable status of pregnancy centres if they provided “misinformation”.

According to documents obtained under the Access to Information Act, dated September 10, 2021, a “compliance consideration” was made to the CRA requesting a review of the charitable status of these pro-life agencies.  The CRA is governed by both legislation (Income Tax Act) and the common law (which defines “charity”).  The CRA correctly pointed out that it audits charities for fraud, i.e., determines whether they are acting outside their charitable status mandates.  The CRA further advised the Liberal government that it did not have the authority to look into the philosophy behind the organizations it was auditing.

It was obvious, too, that the authority to remove charitable status from pregnancy care centres because of their providing “misinformation”, would apply also to the government funded abortion clinics.  To do otherwise would be discriminatory.  Simply put, abortion clinics must comply with the same standards as pregnancy care centres.

It was fortunate for Trudeau that he did not push forward with this policy by amending the Income Tax Act.  A court decision, on Nov 8, 2023, in the State of New York should be a warning to him.

In June 2022, the State of New York passed a law targeting pregnancy care centres for government investigation.  It authorized the New York Commissioner of Health to have access to internal documents, and force pro-life centres to turn over all private information.  This would jeopardize the trust relationships the centres have with women seeking help from them.  A similar situation would also occur in Canada if the CRA had been given the authority under the Income Tax Act to investigate life-affirming pregnancy care centres.  This would have permitted the CRA to seize documents and private papers from the centres which would have no choice but to turn them over.

This New York law meant that the privacy of vulnerable women seeking assistance would be violated, and confidence reduced in the centre because of the breakdown of this trust.  This would result in these centres closing their doors.

This probably was the end game intended by the Trudeau policy.  The CRA would not even have to find “misinformation”, just the ability to seize the centres’ sensitive documents by CRA officials would be sufficient to shut the pregnancy centres down.

Fortunately, a New York based religious community, the Sisters of Life, (which also has a community in Toronto), which is committed to assist pregnant women in distress, received pro bono assistance from lawyers at the Washington DC based prolife foundation, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, to request the federal court for an order to protect them from this law. Throughout 2022 and 2023, the Sisters of Life were not able to move their case forward because the State of New York repeatedly delayed their case, rather than provide a defence.  However, on November 8, 2023 the State of New York agreed to a court order that forbade them from demanding information from pregnancy centres and punishing them for refusing to provide such information. This was a victory protecting the rights of women at a time of their greatest need.

Trudeau should be aware of this US court decision, though whether that will dissuade him remains to be seen.