Concerns of Muslim charities are heard, PM says

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government is “extremely concerned” about recent reports that Muslim charities are being unfairly targeted for federal audits and sanctions.

Trudeau told a news conference Tuesday the Liberal government is looking “very closely at our processes,” adding it is unacceptable to single out any particular community.

“We do have important work to do to make sure that charitable organizations are following all the rules involved,” Trudeau said.

“But recognizing that systemic racism exists in all of our institutions, in all of our governments and all of our organizations, means listening to communities who point out barriers or discrimination that they’re facing and pledging to work with them to solve these challenges.”

Almost 100 Muslim organizations and civil society groups wrote to Trudeau this week asking the Liberals to announce reforms to the Canada Revenue Agency’s practices on Thursday at a national action summit on Islamophobia.

They also want the government to overturn the revenue agency’s recent decision to suspend the ability of long-established charity Human Concern International to issue tax receipts following an audit.

The organizations point to a June report by the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group that said the revenue agency’s Review and Analysis Division works with national security agencies to carry out its audits, with little accountability.

In response to the report, the revenue agency said it does not select registered charities for audit based on any particular faith or denomination.

Charities, non-profit organizations and supportive civil society voices flagged their concerns in a letter last month.