Update on Judicial Review Ruling & Wind Down Date
Update on Judicial Review Ruling & Wind Down Date
Our saga with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) continues, and we wish to bring you up to date on the most recent developments including our request for a judicial review of the decision to revoke JNF Canada’s charitable status before a ruling is made from the Federal Court of Appeal.
When the revocation of our charitable status was published in the Canada Gazette on August 10, 2024, we indicated that we had been blindsided. In a 2019 conversation with our lawyer and in a follow-up internal email, the CRA confirmed that they "would not proceed with a revocation until JNF had exhausted their appeals process in Federal Court of Appeal or Supreme Court of Canada.” This approach was consistent with past practice of the CRA as reflected in its policies, publications and internal communications.
Our request for a judicial review and for a mandatory injunction requiring a retraction to be published in the Canada Gazette was heard last Thursday in the Federal Court. JNF Canada’s lawyer, Adam Aptowitzer, argued forcefully on our behalf, while the Department of Justice focused their argument on the technicality of jurisdiction. Madam Justice Whyte Nowak issued her ruling just before Shabbat on Friday, dismissing our motion on the grounds that “this Court is without jurisdiction to entertain this motion, or to grant the relief requested.” Her position is that the matter should be brought before the Federal Court of Appeal, as it is a novel case without precedent.
We continue to have a strong argument, and the Board of Directors has decided to take our case to the Federal Court of Appeal. We will communicate the date of our judicial review when it is set.
Wind Down Deadline of Nov 13
Late on Nov 6, JNF Canada received a letter from the CRA via mail, responding to our request for clarifications on Sept 25. After reviewing with legal counsel to ensure the correct interpretation of this letter, we can confirm the CRA has now clarified that we will not be required to disburse our assets by Nov 13, as was previously implied in earlier communications. We gratefully thank the 7000+ letter signers and elected officials for demanding the CRA provide clear, unambiguous direction on this matter so that JNF Canada understands it's obligations and can plan accordingly.
What’s Next
We maintain that it is unjust for the CRA to revoke a charity without any efforts to negotiate a charitable object that it accepted almost 60 years ago, nor to consider ten new objects that JNF proposed in order to move forward in a collaborative manner.
We maintain that the revocation decision is based on a misapprehension of the facts and law; flawed and unfair process; and bias.
We will continue to challenge it in the Federal Court of Appeal. But this is not our preferred scenario.
As we have stated, it is in everyone’s best interest that we reach a negotiated settlement. We continue to be bewildered as to why the CRA prefers to litigate this in the Federal Court of Appeal, rather than enter into a settlement which we have requested several times. It is a waste of the taxpayers' money for the Department of Justice to litigate on behalf of the CRA, instead of the CRA simply meeting with the JNF to resolve this dispute.
More than a year after the terrorist attack of October 7th, the needs of vulnerable Israelis of all backgrounds continue to grow. Vulnerable Israelis including those with PTSD, victims of terror who require rehabilitation, children requiring medical services and more are not obtaining the support they need because the CRA has decided to publish a letter of revocation regarding JNF Canada. We stand by the people of Israel, and thanks to the generosity of more than 100,000 JNF Canada donors from coast to coast, we will continue to be there for them.
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NEWS | CRA
NEWS | CRA