Founded in 2002, Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF) works to protect the constitutional freedoms of Canadians through education, communication, and litigation. The charity defends constitutional rights in courts of law and public opinion. CCF works to ensure that all Canadians have the knowledge to protect their constitutional rights. Outside of CCF’s main litigation program, it also runs education, and communication programs.

Through its Litigation program, Canadian Constitution Foundation brings cases to court in defense of constitutional freedoms. In F2018, CCF secured a victory on behalf on Maggie and Terry Reilly, in their fight against the Ontario government for the unjust seizure of two rental properties. Additionally, the Supreme Court of Canada decided in the Highwood Congregation of Jehovah’s Witness v. Wall case that courts do not have the jurisdiction to review the membership and internal disciplinary beliefs of private volunteer associations, another victory for the foundation in F2018. In F2018, CCF lost the ruling of the Comeau case; however, not long after the decision, Justin Trudeau called a meeting to discuss reducing internal trade barriers. CCF reports that it is optimistic as even though it lost the case, the underlying issue of internal free trade has since become a topic on the national agenda. Lastly, CCF’s on-going Healthcare Freedom case which seeks to allow patients to take more control of their own healthcare and implement a system with increased patient choice will continue in F2019.

Through its Education program, CCF hopes to inform Canadians on their constitutional rights and freedoms. On June 29, 2018, CCF published Not Admitted Free, a report detailing Canada’s interprovincial barriers to trade in alcohol. This report also makes the legal and economic case for free trade within Canada. Another component of this program is the Runnymede Society, a program that ensures free speech and intellectual diversity remain a part of Canadian law schools through on-campus debates and discussions. The Runnymede Society hosted more than 20 events in F2018.

The charity's communication program focus is on discussing constitutional rights and freedoms with Canadians. In F2018, CCF published a series of short videos promoting its on-going cases. Additionally, the charity's staff took part in numerous interviews featured on national and regional television and radio.

Canadian Constitution Foundation is a large charity with donations of $5.0m in F2019. Its administrative costs are 4% of revenues and its fundraising costs are 1% of donations. The charity’s T3010 filing was not yet available for F2019, as such admin and fundraising costs are potentially understated as all “staff salaries and benefits” were allocated to programs. For every dollar donated to the charity, 95 cents go to CCF’s programs. This is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. The charity has funding reserves of $1.7m. Reserves can cover program costs for 4 months.

This charity report is an update that has been sent to Canadian Constitution Foundation. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on August 29, 2019 by Stefan Tetzlaff.