UPDATE (9/16/24): JNF Canada gets political in hopes of reversing revocation of its charitable status
For the past month, The Canadian Jewish News has followed events surrounding the Jewish National Fund of Canada, ever since the charity announced it would be going to court to fight a decision to revoke its status. Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) subsequently pulled the trigger that ended 57 years of being allowed to issue tax receipts, a development discussed further on our news podcast.
Thanks to our charity-law expert Mark Blumberg, we learned we could ask the CRA for its trove of documents outlining the communications between JNF Canada and the tax department over the years leading up to revocation. They gave it to us: all 358 pages, whose contents we reviewed, along with interviewing JNF CEO Lance Davis for his response to what the documents said. We knew this was a wider story that we had to tell, as the documents shed light on years of problems between JNF Canada and the CRA. The charity had kept quiet about this dispute for nearly a decade, all while receiving millions in donations from thousands of Jewish Canadians for worthy projects in Israel. During the past couple weeks, our team produced four stories: two written reports, plus two additional podcast episodes.
The Canadian Jewish News is dedicated to serving you with independent journalism that follows the highest ethical standards of transparency and rigorous research, and reporting of this nature is reviewed by our lawyer prior to publication. You can find links to all of the related pieces below—and stay tuned for more from The CJN Daily.
- Jewish National Fund is taking the federal government to court after its charitable status is revoked (July 30)
- Jewish National Fund and Ne’eman Foundation have lost their Canadian charitable tax status (Aug. 13)
- JNF Canada ‘blindsided’ after Ottawa fully revokes charity status. What’s next? (Aug. 14 podcast)
- Read about why JNF Canada lost charitable status after a decade of problems (Aug. 26)
- JNF Canada CEO Lance Davis blasts CRA after charity’s status revoked (Aug. 27 podcast)
- JNF Canada fights back after losing its charitable status (Aug. 27)
- These JNF Canada donors are split over the embattled charity’s future (Aug. 28 podcast)
UPDATE (9/16/24): JNF Canada gets political in hopes of reversing revocation of its charitable status
UPDATE (11/10/24): JNF Canada loses appeal to retain charity status—days before a deadline to disburse remaining assets
