The Department of Finance has declined to clearly state whether pro-life non-profits will retain or lose their privileged charitable status in the 2025 federal budget to be tabled Nov. 4.

For over a week, The Catholic Register sought to secure a clear-cut answer from the finance department’s media relations team. A representative from the department, headed by Minister of Finance and National Revenue François-Philippe Champagne, was previously willing to share in an email that the federal government “is not at this time considering removing the advancement of religion as a qualifying charitable purpose under the Income Tax Act.”

However, upon asking for a similar statement regarding anti-abortion organizations — the federal government’s preferred descriptor of pro-life groups — a communications officer again supplied the previous proclamation about not revoking the status of faith-based charities.

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Considering the finance department had thus far manifestly refused to use the terms “pro-life” or “anti-abortion” in any correspondence throughout this email thread, the Register asked for declarative confirmation if the Liberal Party considered pro-life institutions as faith-based charities. A media representative replied, “as per the response we provided — we have nothing to add.”

All emails between the Register and the Department of Finance were sent to Campaign Life Coalition, the political arm of the Canadian pro-life movement. Jeff Gunnarson, Campaign Life’s national president, wrote that “it is deeply alarming that the Department of Finance, when asked directly, refuses to confirm that pro-life organizations will not be stripped of their charitable status in the forthcoming Nov. 4 budget."

“In the absence of any reassurance, we are left to assume the worst — that the government may in fact be preparing to revoke charitable status from pro-life groups.”

Apprehensions about such a course of action began to escalate last December when the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance (FINA) issued a Pre-Budget Consultations in Advance of the 2025 Budget report. Recommendation 429 of 462 called on the budget to “no longer provide charitable status to anti-abortion organizations.”

Recommendation 430 of that same FINA document called to “amend the Income Tax Act to provide a definition of a charity which would remove the privileged status of ‘advancement of religion’ as a charitable purpose.” Alongside the finance department, the current FINA chair, Liberal MP Karina Gould, also confirmed recommendation 430 is not on the table.

Gunnarson noted in his email that rescinding the charitable status of pro-life groups has been a stated objective of the Liberal Party for years now. Indeed, the Liberals’ 2021 federal election campaign platform included a pledge to “no longer provide charitable status to anti-abortion organizations that provide dishonest counselling to women about their rights and about the options provided to them at all stages of pregnancy.”

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While the finance department and FINA chair are communicating that faith-based charitable status will not be altered in the federal budget, Gunnarson shared why religious non-profits would ultimately be imperiled by pro-life organizations no longer being accorded the same designation.

“Let us be absolutely clear: many churches and dioceses operate pro-life ministries from within their own parish buildings and chancery offices,” stated Gunnarson. “If the government retains the committee’s recommendation to remove charitable status from ‘anti-abortion organizations,’ it would function as a back-door mechanism to strip churches of their charitable status as well.

“Dropping the proposed amendment to remove the privileged status of ‘advancement of religion’ as a charitable purpose alone is not enough. The clause targeting pro-life groups must also be scrapped, otherwise churches remain directly in the line of fire.”

Cardinal Francis Leo, the Archbishop of Toronto, expressed similar convictions about recommendation 429 in a Feb. 21 letter to MP Dominic LeBlanc, the minister of finance at the time.

“If this recommendation were to pass, every Catholic Church and social service agency in Canada would lose its charitable status due to our ‘pro-life’ approach," the Cardinal wrote. "These deeply rooted beliefs form the basis of much of our work, from operating hospitals to providing for the vulnerable and marginalized to welcoming the stranger/migrant/refugee and caring for every individual in need — body, mind and soul.”

Pregnancy Care Canada (PCC), a Christ-centred organization supporting 80 pregnancy centres across the nation with resources, education and support, is withholding comment until the budget is introduced and noted the formal written submission PCC supplied FINA as part of the pre-budget consultation process over the summer.

Laura Lewis, the executive director of PCC, called for the government to reject Recommendation 429 as “stripping status from ethical charities due to ideological disagreement would harm thousands of Canadians who voluntarily access these services, especially vulnerable women facing unplanned pregnancies.”

Lewis also critiqued Recommendation 429 for not “clearly defining what constitutes ‘anti-abortion.’ This ambiguity places hundreds of legitimate charities at risk."

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Amid the uncertainty leading up to the federal budget’s introduction, Gunnarson is calling for prayer.

“We urge Canadians of faith to pray earnestly that this recommendation is not included in the budget, and to remain vigilant in defending both the fundamental right to life and the charitable works that flow from it.”