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Muslim charity calls court ruling on audit a green light for government overreach

Jul 16, 2024 | 1:51 PM

OTTAWA — A major Muslim charity is disappointed about losing another court battle in an ongoing bid to halt a Canada Revenue Agency audit.

The Muslim Association of Canada says a new Ontario Court of Appeal ruling is a green light for government overreach, and will allow the federal government to infringe the Charter rights of Canadians with impunity.

The association contends that a long-running revenue agency audit of its activities is fundamentally tainted by systemic bias and Islamophobia.

Last year an Ontario Superior Court judge dismissed the charity’s bid to stop the audit, saying it was too early to intervene in the federal examination.

Justice Markus Koehnen said while he was sympathetic to many of the association’s arguments, a court should not involve itself in a government body’s process while it is still playing out.

In the latest ruling, a panel of Appeal Court judges found no error in Koehnen’s decision to dismiss the challenge as premature.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 16, 2024.

The Canadian Press