On June 30, 2024, as rainbows and drag queens marched down Yonge Street with the Toronto Pride Parade, a trio of evangelical churches in Greater Toronto hosted the leader of the opposition and local Conservative Party candidates for campaign-style rallies at their church services.
Thomas Jefferson's "wall of separation between Church and State" and the Canadian "duty of religious neutrality" have long delineated political and ecclesiastical matters. However, another wall has long existed between charities (including churches) and the state. Today, we're examining whether those religious rallies have breached that wall.
Pastors Tania and Rob pray over Conservative Party of Canada Leader Pierre Poilievre and MP Jamil Jivani at the June 30, 2024 service at Kingdom House Christian Centre in Brampton, ON. (YouTube)
Charities in Canada were for a long time restricted in their political activities and prohibited from engaging in any partisan activities. Recent changes have allowed charities to engage in any political advocacy that furthers their missions; however, they are still banned from endorsing or opposing specific candidates or political parties.
Global News' story on the three churches focused on the politicians' interest in courting evangelical voters. Here, we dig into the services and whether the churches' decisions to host these rallies breached their duty to remain non-partisan. Some of this work dates back to the 2022 BC local elections when we received a tip about a Victoria-era church openly endorsing candidates.
We have not attempted to do a thorough analysis of the potential partisan activities of charities in Canada, that might be a subject for future research. Instead, we took this opportunity to explore those cases that came to our attention. We'll begin with a deeper look at the rules governing charities before going through these case studies.
The law
The Income Tax Act governs how charities operate in Canada. It includes strict rules around charity’s political activities. While "public policy dialogue and development activities" that further a charity’s stated purposes (such as a Humanist organization promoting secular governance and advocating for the rights of the nonreligious) have been fully permitted for several years, partisan activities remain strictly proscribed:
The Income Tax Act prohibits a charity from devoting any part of its resources to the direct or indirect support of, or opposition to, any political party or candidate for public office.
In summary, charities can talk about policy but not politicians.
These rules extend to both direct and indirect support. This means a charity cannot explicitly endorse or donate to a candidate or political party, including inviting only one candidate to speak to the charity’s supporters. Charities can still engage or even host forums with candidates but need to give equal opportunity to members of each party.
Further, charities are free to communicate with elected politicians or members of government. For example, they can invite a Cabinet member to speak about the government's work on an issue they care about or invite local politicians to bring greetings at a gala. Such presentations must be strictly non-partisan, meaning they shouldn't attempt to influence attendees' vote.
While the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) seeks to resolve compliance issues through education first, charities found to violate these rules could face a one-year suspension of tax-receipting privileges for each infraction. Repeated violations can lead to the revocation of the charity's registration.
Anyone can submit an anonymous report to the CRA online; however, unless the charity is subjected to a sanction or its status revoked, there is no public record of whether the CRA is investigating an individual charity.
Most religious groups in Canada are registered charities and these rules apply equally to churches, homeless shelters, environmental charities and the BCHA.
Oaklands Bible Chapel tells Victoria voters to support VIVA Victoria
During the 2022 BC municipal elections, Oaklands Bible Chapel (now Oaklands Mosaic Chapel) Pastor Dan Anderson told congregants that “we should, as a church, support” three candidates who were running for election in Victoria with the local elector organization Vancouver Island Voters Association (VIVA) Victoria.
Despite its claims to be non-partisan, VIVA Victoria had deep ties with the People’s Party of Canada and was sharply critical of the provincial sex ed curriculum.
The three who appeared on stage at Oaklands were Victoria City Council candidates Jeremy Maddock and Emmanuel Parenteau, and Salventina Agba for the Greater Victoria School Board. All three lost their election bids. Maddock and Parentau received just over 2,000 votes each. Agba received 5,500 votes. Those losses, however, don't obviate the potential violation of the Income Tax Act.
Oaklands also played a role in founding the far-right organization We Unify and hosted its 2023 Reclaiming Canada conference. Protesters with 1 Million Voices for Inclusion denounced this year’s conference for platforming transphobic speakers, which was held at the Victoria Conference Centre. The church also openly violated public health restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Family Life Worship Centre in Brampton, ON
We found recordings from two of the three Toronto-area appearances by the Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre mentioned in the Global News article. Each of these was also posted to Poilievre's social media accounts.
While introducing Poilievre at the Family Life Worship Centre, Bishop David Saffrey told a story about cracks in a home's walls being caused by a shifting foundation and compared that to Canada. Saffery, looking at Poilievre, said, "Sir, I think we are experiencing some shifting foundations and I believe in God that the next Prime Minister will be the one to turn things around." Poilievre later picks up on this in his speech saying, "Lately we're seeing a lot of cracks in the walls."
The Bishop also mentioned that they previously hosted former Conservative Party of Canada leader Andrew Scheer at a Sunday service before the pandemic.
A local Conservative candidate, Tim Iqbal, was also in attendance. The pastor introduced him as a close, personal friend.
It was an honour to join the Sunday services at Family Life Centre and Kingdom House Christian Centre in Brampton with our leader, Pierre Poilievre, to celebrate our shared values of faith, family, and freedom. #Brampton #bramptonchinguacousypark#timiqball #cpc_hq pic.twitter.com/zUQDj4S4wD
— Tim Iqbal (@Tim_IQBAL) July 5, 2024
Kingdom House Christian Centre in Brampton, ON
The second video comes from Kingdom House Christian Centre, also in Brampton. While pictures from the other services were shared on the Conservative leader's social media, Kingdom House shared photos of Pierre Poilievre and Conservative MP Jamil Jivani on their social media, tagging each directly and referring to them as "community partnerships."
Pastor Rob Meikle introduced Jivani, who is a member of the congregation. Jivani then introduced Poilievre.
In his speech, Poilievre said:
"Pastors, as we go forth, we ask that your congregation will keep Jamil and our entire Common Sense Conservative team in your prayers that we might uphold our shared values of faith, family and freedom; that we must be ever grateful for the incredible nation in which we live; for the maple leaf that flies over our heads; for the Dominion that God has given us and that we may be worthy of that incredible gift of God. And so thank you very much for upholding the message of the great redeemer Jesus Christ."
After his speech, Pastor Tania Meikle said, "We are so grateful to be partnering with you both to bring the light into this country that we so love...we are very blessed to have you both here today because you represent the light and the salt and we are grateful to partner with you as we go forward."
Then, the two pastors prayed over Poilievre and Jivani before telling congregants the two men were eager to meet and "hug" them in the foyer.
Pentecostal Living Water North Assembly in Markham, ON
Finally, there was no livestream from Poilievre's appearance at the Pentecostal Living Water North Assembly. We also couldn't find an active social media presence for the church. So we were left to rely on pictures shared by the Conservative leader from his appearance on his social media account.
Poilievre's speeches at the other two churches on June 30 were similar in tone and content: Critical of the governing Liberal Party and promising changes if his party is elected. We are left assuming that his speech at the Markham church was a similar campaign event, although we can't say for certain whether their pastors endorsed the Conservative Party of Canada.
Conclusions
There is no strict prohibition on politicians appearing at a religious (or any charity's) gathering. They can provide information about the work of the government and listen to concerns. However, politicians should not be campaigning in places of worship nor should religious organizations show favouritism to members of one political party to the exclusion of others.
Open endorsements, like Oakland Bible Chapel's call to "support" VIVA Victoria candidates or Kingdom House's "partnership" with Conservative MPs, are seemingly contrary to the spirit and letter of the Income Tax Act. As such, the BCHA has alerted the CRA to each of the above instances and asked for investigations. We expressed our concerns about Oakland Bible Chapel last year and the other three earlier this month. Unfortunately, due to the CRA's processes, we cannot know if they are investigating any of these instances.
Beyond the CRA, local governments may want to consider whether religious organizations that engage in partisan politics should see their property tax exemptions stripped. The City of Victoria, for example, granted Oaklands Bible Chapel a $6,597 permissive exemption from property taxes in 2023. Meanwhile, Elections Canada and Elections BC only regulate third-party engagement in partisan politics in the lead-up to an election.
While the next federal election isn't scheduled until October 2025, politicians are already jockeying for votes. There is also a provincial election coming up this fall. Let us know if you hear of more cases of politicians campaigning in places of worship. You can also submit a tip directly to the CRA.
If you support our work promoting secular and progressive values, join the BCHA or donate to support our ongoing work.