By: C. Yvonne Chenier The title for the mid-day address of the Canadian Bar Association Charity Law Annual Symposium is usually the “CRA Comes to Lunch”. Lunch is served before we hear from the Director General, Charities Directorate, Canada Revenue Agency. At the May 11, 2018, Symposium, the morning sessions focussed on revisiting the meaning […]
Floods and fires and tragic accidents keep hitting close to home in the West. Ice storms and power outages and horrific weather causing vehicle pile-ups are happening in the East. Any of these terrible events could involve volunteers, staff or service users of a charity or not-for-profit organization. As these incidents play out on national […]
By: C. Yvonne Chenier Those of us, who deal with the Canada Revenue Agency Charities Directorate (the “CRA”) on behalf of clients on a regular basis, have often lamented about the old fashioned ways of communicating and filing that they use, i.e. telephone, fax and snail mail or courier. But similar to how businesses and […]
By: C. Yvonne Chenier The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) Charities Directorate has recently created a webpage discussing the involvement of charities in the practice of cause-related marketing (CRM).[1] The message on this new webpage zeros in on the benefit to the for-profit partner if the charity is considering issuing a receipt for a donation. Previously, […]
By: C. Yvonne Chenier, Q.C. Charitable food banks have been in the news lately. In Europe, the Government of France passed laws to stop supermarkets from throwing away food and instead making them donate it to charities and food banks. In California, where there is a sales tax on disposable diapers, a proposed bill […]
By C. Yvonne Chenier QC If I had time to dream at this time of the year, I would certainly conjure up the kind of vision found in a certain famous Christmas poem originally attributed to an anonymous author in the 1800s. My 2014 version would go something like this: ‘Twas the month before […]
By Yvonne Chenier Q.C. The social enterprise movement is gaining momentum in the non-profit and charitable sectors. There are frequently articles in the popular news about “successful” not-for-profits expanding their activities to include revenue generating activities. There are enterprises like the old standby enterprise of selling used clothes and goods, but we hear more about […]
Alberta Bound? By C. Yvonne Chenier, Q.C. On September 22, 2014, amendments to the Alberta Societies Act that we have previously alerted our readers to were proclaimed in force. New sections 36.2 and 36.3 now allow certain not-for-profit organizations to either continue from other jurisdictions into Alberta or continue from Alberta to other jurisdictions. This […]
By C. Yvonne Chenier, Q.C. I have kept a file, with various CRA communications, that I call “Stuff the CRA says” ever since my colleague Adam Aptowitzer got a laugh with a somewhat saltier version of the same line at a slide presentation given to fellow lawyers at a continuing legal education seminar in Alberta. I […]