Recently, I watched The Cable Public Affairs Channel present a November 5, 2018 meeting of The Special Senate Committee on the Charitable Sector to:
"...examine the impact of federal and provincial laws and policies governing charities, nonprofit organizations, foundations, and other similar groups; and to examine the impact of the voluntary sector in Canada."'Here is the transcript to that session.
Senator Terry M. Mercer, chair of the committee introduced the panel, including
"...from the Chinese Canadian Military Museum Society, King Wan, President"I have posted below the full presentation by King Wan, and below that excerpts from the Q&A session with him and the senate.
The whole session is an eye-opener on how specific ethnic groups demand governmental funding to advance their very specific ethnic organizations. In this case, it is Chinese Canadians who served in the Canadian military. This particular session is about the funding source for a museum for Chinese Canadian veterans requested by The Chinese Canadian Military Museum Society.
A normal country would say: All veterans who served in the Canadian forces are Canadian Veterans and will receive their pensions and charity funds from such a general pool.
But guilt is the great weakner. One of the arguments to allow the Chinese Canadian Military Museum Society charitable status presents is by indirectly referencing the Chinese railway workers who came to Canada's west coast at the turn of the 20th century to start building the cross-country railway system. When they remained in Canada after the work was done, the Canadian government took many years before establishing their Canadian citizenship. That was never the government's plan, but rather to expedite their return to China. This is seen as a great "racist" affront by all Chinese Canadians, and is part of their lore.
All other special interest requests and interactions with the government as an ethnic body is colored by this background. And the government more often than not concedes.
King Wan, President, Chinese Canadian Military Museum Society: Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. The Chinese Canadian Military Museum Society is a nonprofit organization consisting entirely of volunteers. We have no paid staff, and I am just a volunteer. Thank you for the opportunity to come here to talk to the senators about our situation.---------
I am not as eloquent as Mr. McRae in that, as a volunteer and in terms of our time committed to the museum, it is all in our spare time. Most recently, we had a big dinner last Saturday night, which is our annual fundraising event where our main funds come from for operations.
I would like to talk about a few things. One is that we would like to share with the senators on the committee here that we would like to see broader cultural giving in our society to provide funding for smaller organizations like ours. We are a small organization. Our only funding is through donations from our members and then sponsors. As I was saying before, the major proceeds that we receive in the year is from our annual fundraising dinner. We are fortunate to have had a large crowd of people attend our function.
We looked at the tax credit that is given to charities, and I found that the current CRA tax credit given to donors is adequate from our perspective because we are a small organization. Those who give us funds will get their normal percentage of tax credit. However, that doesn’t mean that it cannot increase to provide them with a further incentive to donate to smaller organizations like ours.
I would like to see more government programs to support smaller organizations like museums. I know for a fact that there are multiple departments in the government that would provide funding for different charities, foundations and so on, and I think there is opportunity for more, be it from Veterans Affairs Canada, Canadian Heritage or other departments, where they could spend additional funds to provide that incentive for the smaller community museums to pursue their particular objectives.
One of our objectives, again, is narrowly focused. The Chinese Canadian Military Museum Society is mainly to promote and preserve the legacy of the Chinese Canadians who served in the Canadian military. I personally served in the military myself. At the same time, there are not many left of those who served in World War II. We have post Cold War era veterans that also need to have their stories told. Most recently, Afghanistan veterans coming home should have their say and their stories preserved for prosperity for our fellow citizens.
Some of the reporting requirements in the CRA are somewhat cumbersome. I also belong to a number of other organizations where, because they are national in scope across the country, their filings of T3010s and other forms are somewhat of a challenge. When you are dealing with volunteers, people may not be as responsive as people who are paid staff, so sometimes the timing of those reporting requirements is somewhat onerous for those who are working on a voluntary basis.
I also agree with Mr. McRae on a number of issues he mentioned. I learned something from him, as well, this evening, which is the whole concept of charity in our current setup in Canada. I read a lot of submissions that were sent to us earlier through your website. We are fairly progressive, but there are countries like the U.K. and the U.S. that have certain features we should consider emulating or learning from. I am not an expert in those charities. At the same time, I do share some of the more advanced charity-giving policies and procedures.
Again, I want to thank you for giving me the chance to come here to speak to you. I appreciate any comments and questions from you.
Q&A
[About the museum]
Mr. Wan:[About the museum's funding sources]
We are located in Vancouver — Chinatown. The Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Vancouver has a building, and we are a lodger of that building. We occupy a hallway and a small room. Fortunately, since I look over as president a few years ago, we believe in the museum, not only to present something on a one-time only basis, but I believe it has to be refreshed on a regular basis. If you have seen the museum once, you may not go back if there is nothing new to show. For a number of years, we have been changing our theme and focus of displays on a fairly regular basis. To do that requires funding. Although our volunteers are very active and passionate about what they do, at the same time, it requires a lot of effort and funds to create those new displays.
Senator Omidvar:[About charitable organizations' reporting standards]
...You talked about government grants and donations. On an average year, what is the level of charitable contributions you receive from individuals?
Mr. Wan:
We have been fortunate in the last year or so to have one or two major benefactors. For that, we are thankful that we received maybe $20,000 to $30,000 over the last few years.
We have been also receiving some grants from the government. That was back in about 2011-12. We got funding from the Canadian Heritage group. There was a historical community fund that came out, and we were able to get about $50,000 or $60,000 that year to hire someone to help us create some exhibitions, and we were able to use that to get to the Canadian War Museum for a short time.
Senator Omidvar:[About the uniqueness of Mr. Wan's organization: The Chinese Canadian Military Museum Society]
Thank you. If you in an average year get $20,000 in charitable donations from individuals and you have to make a pretzel out of yourself to report on it, do you think that there should be a change in the law that requires variable reporting and depth of reporting based on the levels of contributions you receive? Why should a small organization like yours have to go through the same hoops as the SickKids Foundation, which gets millions of dollars every year?
Mr. Wan:
Exactly. We are small potatoes in terms of the big picture, but we have also been fortunate. When I say $20,000 or $30,000, that is strictly through individual donors and through membership, and we were able to get a bit more the last couple of years. But it is quite correct that small museum charities should not have the same standard of reporting as someone like the hospital foundations that get $60 million or whatever the case is.
Senator Martin:[About the bias and decrease in diversity in the approval of charitable organizations]
Mr. Wan, it is nice to see you here in Ottawa. It is fitting, with Remembrance Day coming up and Veterans’ Week, that you are representing a unique society in Canada. In terms of the society, is it quite unique in Canada? Are there other such societies? You have a very specific mandate, as you explained. Does that limit your access to funding? I want to understand whether funding opportunities are available to you, or, with a specific mandate, whether it is more challenging?
Mr. Wan:
Yes, it is more challenging because we are narrowly focused on veterans and on a certain ethnic group as well.
The major government funding would come from Veterans Affairs Canada or Canadian Heritage. Those are the two main ones we can get money from. Sometimes the procedures are more onerous, and we are competing against other veterans organizations as well. That is the challenge we have.
Don McRae, Charity Researcher:[On the national benefits of a localized (or ethnic) organizations, and why they need government grants]
The research that I have done shows that, over the past couple of years, the number of charities in Canada has remained stagnant. Since January, we lost about 200 charities. When I was going through my career, the number of charities increased every year. I wanted to find out about that.
CRA is being more restrictive in terms of their approval rate of registrations. I like numbers, so give me a minute. From 2002 to 2006, the approval rate was 74.5 per cent for charities. That changed and went to 44.8 per cent from 2014 to 2017-18. The rate has gone down approximately 30 applications per 100.
The revocations have increased in terms of how many charities lose their registration. If you fail to file your T3010, you lose your registration. You can get it back with a $500 penalty, but the rate of re-registrations has gone down. I did a study that looked at it from 2002 to 2014, and it went down by about 10 per cent. It is decreasing that way.
I also go through and see who the new charities are. By and large, the new charities are not as diverse as our Canadian society. I find that problematic. It hasn’t changed that much from when I was doing my job.
Mr. McRae:[On the government's obligation to fund organizations like the Chinese Canadian Military Museum Association]
The problem with the [Canada Revenue Agency] regulator is that it keeps on reinterpreting some things like public benefit...I would say that one of the reasons why CRA thinks they are not charities is because of perceived personal [as opposed to public] benefit but, in a country like Canada, we can’t look at philanthropy as one whole thing. There is a spectrum of philanthropy. When you have newcomers coming to Canada, the first thing they want to do is support their family. The next thing they want to do is support their clan, to use a Scottish term...There is a spectrum of philanthropy, and people move. My research, when I was working in Canadian Heritage, showed that ethno-specific organizations move their philanthropy from local and focused on their own to being greater, and that takes time. In order to get them to that greater thing where there is no perceived personal benefit, we need to help them along the way. If we can get rid of restrictive agency agreements, that’s one way, but we need to try to move the definition so that some of those people are not seen as outsiders.
Senator Seidman:
Mr. Wan, I saw you nodding, so I will ask if you want to add to that.
Mr. Wan:
I think Mr. McRae was quite right in saying that. The museum has been established for 20 years, so we are somewhat mature in terms growth. Initially, it was the Chinese Canadian veterans. As I mentioned, we expanded to include other veterans activities, such as the Battle of Hong Kong. Canadian soldiers went overseas to help. We talk about Indigenous veterans. As they grow and have that foundation, they can build on expanding it to encompass all Canadians.
Mr. Wan:[Senator Duffy on "every Canadian" and moving beyond ethnic groups]
Better access to greater funding would certainly help our organization, being a small museum, to grow and expand. I think that is very important. At the same time, it would require some effort from the government or some other organizations to make those things happen for us in order for us to gain access to this funding.
Senator Duffy:
Thank you both for coming. Fascinating. I would encourage our viewers to visit Mr. Wan’s museum online. I’ve had a look. The stories that you tell there are amazing, about amazing Canadians, including Douglas Jung, who was a war hero and a spy. They are phenomenal stories about how this country was built, and every Canadian, not just those of Chinese descent, should hear about these amazing people.