Documents released under Access To Information reveal that then-Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland asserted in a 2023 email that the government could sanction charities for spreading information it deemed “false or misleading,” including threats to revoke their tax status.“Registered charities are generally required to ensure that the information that they provide is accurate and evidence-based and are prohibited from disseminating information that is false or misleading,” Freeland wrote. “These requirements apply equally to registered charities that provide reproductive health services to Canadians.”No such requirement exists under the Income Tax Act, which does not mandate government-approved speech or define “false or misleading” content. Freeland did not provide a source for her claim.According to Blacklock's Reporter, the email is part of 1,464 pages of censored finance department records concerning a 2024 proposal to force Christian charities offering pregnancy counseling to disclose their positions on abortion “in all public communication.” A department Backgrounder explained that “public communication would generally include any advertisement such as bus ad, poster, billboard, social media posts or websites put out by the charity or on the charity’s behalf, and any other communication aimed at the public.”“Where a charity fails to meet the requirements specified in the legislation the Minister of National Revenue would be permitted to revoke its registration,” the Backgrounder stated. A Ways And Means Motion introducing the amendment on October 30, 2023, never passed..Records also show that the finance department circulated a blacklist from the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada, naming 313 “anti-choice groups” and 207 “anti-choice charities,” including Beginnings Pregnancy Support Program of Penticton, Central Alberta Pregnancy Care Centre of Drumheller, Saskatoon Pregnancy Option Centre, Pembina Valley Pregnancy Care Centre of Winkler, Aid to Women Crisis Pregnancy Centre in Toronto, La Roseliere of Québec City, Pregnancy & Wellness Centre of Moncton, Open Door Women’s Care Centre of Halifax, Birthright Charlottetown, and Centre for Life of St. John’s.The censored files contained numerous complaints from Canadians opposed to the amendment. “This is not to be decided by politicians,” one wrote. Another said: “It frightens me. As Canadians we enjoy the freedom to support whatever charities we choose without government interference. Politicians are not to hand pick which charities have status.”Then-Equality Minister Marci Ien stated on October 29, 2023, that she had conducted personal research on the issue. “I did some research. I’ve been doing research. We’ve talked to people,” she told reporters.“Far too often women across Canada seeking birth control and abortion care face judgment, misinformation and fear tactics when all they really need are clear answers and compassionate support. No matter how someone gets into that room, whatever life events led them there, they deserve evidence-based information.”Records show that the only research conducted by tax analysts involved requesting a single periodical from the Library of Parliament: Contraception Journal, Volume 92, Issue 5, dated November 2015, which contained a 75-page article titled “Toll-Free But Not Judgment Free: Evaluating Post-Abortion Support Services In Ontario.”
