Canadian Constitution Foundation

About Canadian Constitution Foundation:

Founded in 2002, Canadian Constitution Foundation’s (CCF) mission is to “protect the constitutional freedoms of Canadians through education, communication and litigation”. 

Through its Litigation program (77% of program costs) in F2016, Canadian Constitution Foundation’s support of Gérard Comeau in R v. Comeau resulted in him winning a New Brunswick court ruling over the interpretation of the Canadian Constitution regarding interprovincial free trade. The province has since appealed the decision and, as of July 2017, the case is set to be heard by The Supreme Court of Canada.

CCF also took on a civil forfeiture case in F2016 supporting Margaret and Terry Reilly. The Reillys had their rental property seized from them by the province of Ontario as some of their tenants allegedly sold illegal drugs while renting the property from the Reillys. The case was still pending as of July 2017.

Through its Education program (14% of program costs) in F2016, CCF released a research report entitled “Civil Forfeiture in Canada”, which investigates Canada’s civil forfeiture laws and their societal impact. Also in F2016, CCF founded the Runnymede Society, “a student membership organization dedicated to exploring the ideas and ideals of the rule of law, constitutionalism and individual liberty”.

Through its Communication program (9% of program costs) in F2016, CCF was referenced for its work on R v. Comeau in over 150 articles in national print and online media, CCF staff wrote over 120 articles for news outlets, and had appearances on radio and television over 90 times. Finally, CCF published a collection of scholarly articles entitled “Law, Liberty and the Canadian Constitution: A Freedom-Centred View” based on topics covered at the CCF’s annual Law and Freedom conference.

Financial Review:

Canadian Constitution Foundation is a small charity with donations of $958k in F2016. According to its CRA T3010 filing, CCF reports its administrative costs are 78% of revenues and its fundraising costs are 6% of donations. This is highly likely to be a misallocation in reporting that can be corrected. CCF's audited financial statements prepared by PWC provide itemized costs rather than "activity-based costing". This too can be corrected. As reported, for every dollar donated, 16 cents go towards CCF’s programs, falling outside of Ci’s reasonable range. The charity has $842k in funding reserves, resulting in a program cost coverage ratio of 126%. This means that CCF can cover just under 1.3 years of its annual program costs using its existing reserves.

This charity report is an update that is being reviewed by Canadian Constitution Foundation. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on July 14, 2017 by Kevin Silberberg.