Gay advocates fight churches' charity status
Institutions fear losing tax breaks if they oppose same-sex unions; Rightly so,
gay-rights group says
Alex Hutchinson
The Ottawa Citizen
Sunday, June 12, 2005
Churches that oppose same-sex marriage legislation have good reason to fear for
their charitable status, a leading gay-rights advocate is warning.
"If you are at the public trough, if you are collecting taxpayers' money,
you should be following taxpayers' laws. And that means adhering to the
Charter," says Kevin Bourassa, who in 2001 married Joe Varnell in one of
Canada's first gay weddings, and is behind www.equalmarriage.ca.
"We have no problem with the Catholic Church or any other faith group
promoting bigotry," he said. "We have a problem with the Canadian
government funding that bigotry."
Several Liberal backbenchers have been pressuring Prime Minister Paul Martin to
amend the controversial gay-marriage bill, which is now before the House, to
protect the tax status of churches that refuse to perform such marriages.
Under current rules, donations to religious groups are tax-privileged as long as
the church refrains from partisan political activity.
"They can't connect their views with any political candidate," said
Peter Broder, the director of regulatory affairs at Imagine Canada, an umbrella
organization for charities and non-profit groups.
But the role of the Catholic Church in public debate is legitimate and legal,
according to Bede Hubbard, the associate secretary general of the Canadian
Conference of Catholic Bishops.
"Right from the very beginning, the representatives of the government have
called on Canadians to express their opinions," he said. "And
certainly, Canadian churches are among Canadian citizens."
Even if the churches are in compliance with tax laws --with or without an
amendment to the marriage bill -- they could still be subject to a challenge
under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. But this is unlikely to succeed, Mr.
Broder said.
"It's hard to see how that would happen," he said. "For example,
I'm not aware of any religious group having been challenged on their refusal to
marry divorced people."
Churches rely heavily on their charitable status to encourage more frequent and
more generous donations, according to Janet Epp Buckingham, the director of law
and public policy for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada.
"The loss the charitable tax status would really affect the ability of
these ministries to carry out their functions," she said. "That
includes a lot of things that are beneficial to society, like homeless
ministries, outreach to the poor, and international development."
As a result, the Evangelical Fellowship favours an amendment to the bill
guaranteeing that charitable status will not be challenged-- even though the
group opposes the bill as a whole.
"If they're going to redefine marriage anyway, we would like to see these
kinds of amendments in the bill," Ms. Buckingham said.
Bonnie Greene, a retired United Church official who specialized in tax issues,
said the charitable status of churches is not under any immediate threat.
However, the regulations governing charities are greatly in need of updating,
she said.
"In Canadian law, the definition of charitable activity is over 400 years
old, based on a legal case in England," Ms. Greene said. "This is not
good for democracy in Canada."
For Mr. Bourassa and Mr. Varnell, who run the website www.equalmarriage.ca,
the distinction between advocacy and partisan politics is artificial.
"Our website is completely self-funded," Mr. Bourassa said.
"We are not a charity, because fighting for our Charter of Rights is
considered by the government to be advocacy. What is the difference between
fighting for equality and fighting against equality? There's none."
Currently, groups promoting human rights, the environment and peace are not
considered charities. The rules should be changed to reflect the needs of civil
society -- needs that were not present 400 years ago, Ms. Greene said.
Any new rules will need to keep faith and politics separate to satisfy Mr.
Bourassa, who is a member of Metropolitan Community Church in Toronto.
"During the last election, my church removed all linkages to political
non-charitable groups that were fighting for same-sex marriage from their
website because of the political implications and the tax implications,"
Mr. Bourassa said.
And he intends to make other churches follow the same path.
"There are charitable activities that are legitimate within faith
communities," he said.
"Political activities are not charitable activities."
© The Ottawa Citizen 2005
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