Copyright 2001 National Post
December 6, 2001
By Ian Bailey

VANCOUVER - The Friends of Clayoquot Sound -- a key player in anti-logging protests of the mid-1990s that saw hundreds arrested -- has been stripped of its ability to issue tax receipts to donors because it is too political.

The move by the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency has left Friends, based on Vancouver Island's west coast, hoping donors will carry on sending in cheques despite the fact they will not get tax breaks.

"Most donations come from small donors, people who send in $25 to $200," spokeswoman Maryjka Mychajlowycz said yesterday from Tofino, B.C. "We hope these people value the work we do and will support us regardless of whether we give them a tax receipt."

The Friends of Clayoquot Sound, founded as a non-profit society in 1979, is devoted to protecting the environment around the Sound, a region with nine watersheds, several large islands, and more than 2,000 square kilometres of rain forest.

Logging in the region prompted the blocking of logging roads in 1993, leading to the arrest of more than 900 people accused of violating an injunction against their action. A total of 857 were charged with contempt of court.

The group, which has about 3,000 members, continues to focus on logging, but also raises concerns about the environmental impact of fish farming.

Friends is working to set up a group called Sound Foundations, which would focus on charitable activities and overcome concerns raised by federal bureaucrats.

In a letter dated Feb.28, 2001, and released yesterday, the director of the compliance division of the charities directorate raises concerns about the work of Friends. Rheal Dorval suggests the organization is carrying on activities incompatible with a charity's designation for tax breaks.

"An activity is not charitable in law if it contravenes public policy or it is improper in nature," he writes. "Just as teaching students to be prostitutes or pickpockets is not charitable, so is teaching 31 activists at a four-day retreat the finer points of applied civil disobedience," he writes.

Among other things, he suggests Friends has trained and incited its activists to perform acts of social disobedience and worked with other organizations to ensure that all its activists arrested during acts of civil disobedience got legal representation.

The letter summarizes an audit of the books and records of Friends. "Audit evidence indicates that the political activities pursued by Friends go beyond the limits allowed by the [Income Tax Act]."

Mr. Dorval notes that charitable purposes, according to court rulings, are focused on relieving poverty, advancing education, advancing religion and "other purposes beneficial to the community as a whole in a way which the law regards as charitable."

Mr. Dorval's office did not return several calls yesterday. Error: Unable to read footer file.