CANADIAN WATCHDOG RAISES CONCERNS OVER AUDITS OF MUSLIM CHARITIES

Sun 05 October 2025:

Canada’s federal tax agency has been criticized for how it investigated Muslim charities over alleged terrorism links, with a government watchdog warning that the process may have been influenced by bias, according to a media report Thursday.

CBC News said the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA) examined the work of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), which oversees registered charities.

The watchdog found that a special division of the tax agency often launched audits “without credible risks of terrorist abuse,” despite claiming to focus only on high-risk cases.

The division, the Review and Analysis Division (RAD), is responsible for ensuring that charities are not misused.

The report said that from 2009 to 2022, two-thirds of the charities audited by the division were Muslim-led, while nearly one in five were Sikh.

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According to CBC News, the investigators warned that this approach could put the CRA at risk of violating the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Tim McSorley of the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group said the findings expose longstanding problems.

“This finally sheds the light on those concerns and really points to the fact that these systemic issues of biases and discrimination persist across government departments,” he told CBC.

The Muslim Association of Canada said the review confirms what the community has experienced.

Spokesperson Sharaf Sharafeldin noted that the group has undergone a seven-year audit with no concerns about terrorism financing ever being found.

While the CRA stated that it accepts most of the watchdog’s six recommendations and has already begun reforms, the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) argued that more is needed.

NCCM has for years charged the CRA with bias when it comes to Muslim charities.

“We believe it’s time to dismantle the RAD and to implement real CRA oversight in budget 2025,” spokesperson Steven Zhou said.

CRA Commissioner Bob Hamilton, in a statement Thursday, insisted the agency “remains committed to transparency and fairness” while carrying out its counter-terrorism role.

A report by the Office of the Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson in 2023 also found that bias creeps in unconsciously, and training would “improve the CRA’s services to both Muslim-led charities and charities in general.”

-Source: AA

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