As election day approaches, Canada\u2019s non-profit sector is feeling anxious and vulnerable. It fears that its right to advocate is running into political interference. It looks at the chaos south of the border with well-founded alarm. Yet, despite all this, sector leaders report that there is also a resolve, a sense that if a fight is ahead, it is a fight worth having. In short, the sector is also having its \u201celbows up\u201d moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are facing a moment of existential crisis as a country, and philanthropy is part of that,\u201d says Jean-Marc Mangin, the president and CEO of Philanthropic Foundations Canada. \u201cWe are moving from making sense of the moment to collective action,\u201d he says. \u201cThere is a real appetite to step up. That feeling of the \u2018elbows up\u2019 collective moment we\u2019re feeling in the country is being felt in philanthropy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nWe are facing a moment of existential crisis as a country, and philanthropy is part of that . . . There is a real appetite to step up.<\/p>\nJean-Marc Mangin, Philanthropic Foundations Canada<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
But there are distinct headwinds. The anxiety comes from a looming recession that would mean a dip in donations and government funding. Foundations are dealing with investment losses along with the rest of the country. A recession means greater need at a time when the sector has fewer resources to help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The vulnerability stems from the unprecedented attack on civil society in the United States from a Donald Trump administration that seems bent on outlawing empathy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the wariness springs from a blunt attack on the Century Initiative, a charitable think tank, by Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, who has vowed to shut it down. Many feel that this is part of a worrying trend toward the demonization of charities whose missions do not align with the views of political parties \u2013 a trend that has been detected in both major parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Putting sector concerns in the electoral window has always been a challenge, says Bruce MacDonald, president and CEO of Imagine Canada. \u201cThis election is unique,\u201d he says. \u201cThere is one issue that starts with two Ts: Trump and tariffs. There are not that many other issues getting much attention in a short campaign. It was already difficult, but with a campaign that is almost exclusively focused on these two issues, it is even more challenging.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Imagine Canada has released a sector platform<\/a> with 26 recommendations and areas of focus it wants the new government to deal with in the first 100 days, including affordability, housing and homelessness, the environment, mental health, labour, and the resilience of the sector. MacDonald says the sector wants to work alongside government as part of a solution to the looming crises. That will include the formation of a rapid response team, inspired by a similar U.S. initiative, bringing key policy and advocacy players together to respond quickly to government statements or initiatives or work with government on amendments to legislation so the sector is not left holding its hands in the air saying, \u201cHey, you forgot about us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe should be able to work with any government regardless of political stripe,\u201d MacDonald says. \u201cThe risk to the sector is not ideological, but more pragmatic. Both of the main parties have signalled fiscal restraint moving forward.\u201d Poilievre has long preached austerity, and Liberal leader Mark Carney\u2019s cutting of the cabinet from 39 to 24 (eliminating some portfolios that deal with diversity) sends a clear signal about fiscal oversight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nWe should be able to work with any government regardless of political stripe.<\/p>\nBruce MacDonald, Imagine Canada<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
The looming recession and the Trump attacks on civil society will hit the sector hard, Mangin says. \u201cThe Trump administration is a clear and present danger to Canada, and the postwar order, which has been critical to Canada\u2019s democracy, security, and prosperity, is being rapidly destroyed. It was already frail, but it is now disintegrating before our eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The sector has been here before. During COVID, resources dwindled but demand increased. A tariff-driven recession will place the same strains on a sector that has not fully rebounded from pandemic shutdowns. However, according to polling by the Angus Reid Institute<\/a>, Canadians are split on the need for austerity versus acceptance of a deeper federal deficit to protect programs such as national dental care and the embryonic beginnings of a national pharmacare program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Continued attacks on the rule of law and civil society south of the border have shaken the sector in this country as well. Universities, legal firms, independent media, and immigrants are just some of Trump\u2019s targets. \u201cEven empathy as a core societal value is under attack and is being portrayed as a sign of weakness,\u201d Mangin says. Indeed, Trump has called non-profits \u201cslugs and sleazebags.\u201d Elon Musk says U.S. non-governmental organizations were making \u201ccrazy money\u201d off the homeless. He has called the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) \u201ca criminal organization.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Universities and some U.S. law firms have been accused of rolling over to Trump\u2019s threats and have acquiesced to his demands to protect their government funding and access. Many in the philanthropic sector, feeling under siege, have gone quiet or scrubbed any mention of diversity, equity, or inclusion (DEI) from their websites and mission statements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the MacArthur Foundation has announced it will increase its disbursements<\/a> from 5% to at least 6% over the next two years to help a sector under attack, a move it estimates will mean an increase in spending of about US$150 million over two years, on top of the US$400 million it pays out annually. Mangin says a similar move is being discussed by several Canadian foundations who will be more agreeable to viewing the 5% disbursement quota in this country as a floor going forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The context in Canada is different, Mangin says, because the sector does not walk around with a target on its back like its U.S. counterparts. But he agrees it should expect more scrutiny in what is anticipated to be a period of government austerity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nIf the sector can speak with confidence about its competence and its ability for kindness, then everyone will see themselves in it.<\/p>\nAndrea Nemtin, Social Innovation Canada<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have a different path available to us than the U.S.,\u201d says Andrea Nemtin, CEO of Social Innovation Canada, \u201cone rooted in collaboration and peace, order, and good government. Collaboration and niceness are Canada\u2019s superpowers,\u201d she says. \u201cWhat do we do when we\u2019re under attack? We take care of each other. Canadians know how to take care of each other.\u201d Key to that is a social sector, Nemtin says, that is valued by a new government as a tool to drive prosperity for Canadians, not just as something \u201cnice to have. If the sector can speak with confidence about its competence and its ability for kindness, then everyone will see themselves in it.\u201d Any government that seeks to meet its goal in social policy needs to invest in the sector, she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the chaos and danger in the United States is beginning to spill over into Canada. Some major Canadian fundraisers refused to attend the annual Association of Fundraising Professionals conference, in Seattle, citing concerns about harassment and potential detention at the border and the growing economic boycott of the United States, which is having an impact on its tourism industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Plus, there is a homegrown concern brewing in the Canadian sector \u2013 that trend toward the politicization of charities from both Conservative and Liberal governments in past years. Some have been demonized, others faced audits, but it is a trend that must be halted, sector leaders say. They point to moves such as the threat of the Justin Trudeau government to revoke charitable status of organizations that funded pregnancy counselling services that did not include abortion as an option and a recent recommendation of a Senate committee to revoke the charitable status of any organization campaigning against the East Coast seal hunt. Former prime minister Stephen Harper moved to restrict the political activities of charities, and former Alberta premier Jason Kenney launched a provincial inquiry targeting environmental charities that opposed the oil and gas sector in his province. As U.S. toxicity seeps across the border, Mangin says charities helping refugees or providing services to 2SLGTBQIA+ Canadians are under harsher scrutiny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nThere is a homegrown concern brewing in the Canadian sector \u2013 that trend toward the politicization of charities from both Conservative and Liberal governments in past years.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
But the biggest red flag is Poilievre\u2019s vow to \u201cstop\u201d the \u201cradical\u201d Century Initiative, a registered charity and non-partisan think tank that advocates for responsible population growth in Canada, with a target population of 100 million by 2100. It equates population growth with a stable and secure Canada, but Poilievre sees it as part of a Liberal plot to turbocharge immigration at a time when support for immigration in this country is notably waning. The Conservative leader points to Mark Wiseman, chair of the board of Century Initiative and a member of Carney\u2019s Canada-U.S. advisory team, as evidence of some type of Liberal conspiracy to open the immigration floodgates. Bloc Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois leader Yves-Fran\u00e7ois Blanchet first raised the Century Initiative in the last Parliament, introducing a motion to urge the government to reject its proposals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCentury Initiative is not political, but we have become a target of convenience,\u201d CEO Lisa Lalande said in a statement to the Toronto Star<\/em><\/a>. \u201cEfforts to mischaracterize our work are politically opportunistic and do a disservice to voters. We remain committed to facts, informed policy, and Canada\u2019s future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Poilievre cannot stop Century Initiative, but he could order Canada Revenue Agency audits to chill its activities while it spends money and time complying with government orders. It was a method used by the Harper government against environmental charities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe prime minister of Canada is not the King of Canada,\u201d says former senator Ratna Omidvar, a sector advocate who sits on the Century Initiative board. \u201cKing Trump may be able to do that, but we have laws here. You cannot shut down a charity without due process. If one advocacy sector is shut down today, tomorrow it could be an environmental charity and the next day a religious charity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nOur country is better when organizations are engaged in public policy advocacy and debate. The response should not be \u2018shut down the voice.\u2019<\/p>\nJean-Marc Mangin<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
To disagree with an advocacy organization\u2019s recommendations is fair game, Mangin says, but delegitimizing the organization is out of bounds. If a charity is duly registered and follows all the rules and obligations, MacDonald says, \u201ca response to \u2018we disagree\u2019 should not be \u2018shut it down.\u2019 Our country is better when organizations are engaged in public policy advocacy and debate. The response should not be \u2018shut down the voice.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe sector should be freaking out,\u201d says one sector leader who has been in discussions regarding the attack on Century Initiative but asked not to be identified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the political demonizing of charities here and the toxic social discourse in the United States, non-profits, regardless of their missions, become targets of emboldened social media trolls and harassment, and threats put further stress on those working in the charitable sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Omidvar, who has described herself as an \u201caccidental Canadian,\u201d says she has been very gratified to see this quiet, self-effacing country go \u201celbows up\u201d in a crisis and willing to tackle some large problems. It is a lesson the sector is growing to embrace as well. \u201cTrump has really done us a favour,\u201d Omidvar says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the greatest fears of the sector revolves around a global trend to cut foreign aid. Although USAID represents roughly 1% of the U.S. budget<\/a>, Trump and Musk \u2013 the unelected head of his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) \u2013 have frozen crucial work in countries in need of help, ranging from Haiti to Yemen, Afghanistan to South Sudan, Nepal to the Philippines. The United States is \u2013 was \u2013 the planet\u2019s largest provider of foreign aid, at US$71.9 billion in 2023, more than half of it funnelled through USAID. Trump has vowed to eliminate 83% of USAID\u2019s projects<\/a>, says he will cut its workforce from 10,000 to 294, and has suggested he could kill the agency by the summer, its remaining work rolled into the State Department. The United Kingdom has also slashed aid budgets, Belgium has announced cuts, and others have signalled that aid will be tied to their national interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nNow is not the time for Canada to be turning inward.<\/p>\nKate Higgins, Cooperation Canada<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
In the Canadian campaign, Poilievre has vowed to \u201ccut wasteful foreign aid to dictators, terrorists, and multinational bureaucracies<\/a>\u201d and use the savings for tax cuts and defence spending. But Canada\u2019s foreign aid budget<\/a> is $6.9 billion, so even if the Conservative leader cut it all, he would still fall short of his goals on the tax and defence side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kate Higgins, CEO of Cooperation Canada, says the USAID cuts could be \u201ccatastrophic\u201d for millions worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n