Despite threats to the charitable status of faith-driven and pro-life non-profits, the Catholic and Christian organizations remain committed on carrying out their respective mandates.

That includes making their voices heard along the election trail.

These charitable organizations have recently been threatened by controversial recommendations outlined in a House of Commons finance committee budget report calling for the registered charity status of such entities to be removed.

It is left to future discovery if these contentious proposals, which drew the ire of Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) in a letter to the Department of Finance, will ever be enacted. 

Yet there is no doubt as to the impact these organizations have on the Canadian landscape. In its letter to Minister of Finance François-Philippe Champagne, the CCCB said “40 per cent of all charitable organizations in Canada are faith-based.” Citing a study from the non-partisan think tank Cardus, the bishops wrote that “the cost of replacing the services offered by faith congregations in Canada is $16.5 billion.”

The federal election campaign is offering faith-based, pro-life and public charitable entities a prime window to propose policies and measures that can help magnify the charitable sector’s impact. 

With Statistics Canada declaring that 23 per cent of households across Canada are food insecure, the secular Daily Bread Food Bank in Toronto, which reached over 3.8 million client visits in 2024, has urgent pleas for the competing political parties.

Rose Butler, the food bank’s interim vice president of research and advocacy, wants “more adequate incomes for all” by raising the Canada Disability Benefit (CDB) to above the poverty line, expanding the GST/HST credit to $1,800 per adult and $600 per child and implementing automatic tax filing. She also advocated for more affordable and secure housing by scaling up social housing investment and offering stronger renter support. She also called for permanent Employment Insurance (EI) reform by raising benefit amounts and extending eligibility durations.

“Ensuring that all Canadians have access to adequate income, stable housing and strong employment supports is key to reducing food insecurity and strengthening social and economic resilience,” said Butler.

While Daily Bread Food Bank and a host of other like-minded groups focus on compelling policymakers to tackle the food insecurity contagion unfolding nationwide, others want Canada to remain mindful of this country’s obligations abroad. 

Development and Peace-Caritas Canada, the Canadian Catholic Church’s humanitarian aid and international development agency, consulted with partners from around the world to learn what course of actions they would like to see the next federal government take after the April 28 election.

Minaz Kerawala, D&P’s communications and public relations advisor, in an email to The Catholic Register, said Global South partners would like to see Canada’s official development assistance budget increased instead of “following some peer nations’ moves to cut aid to boost the military budget.”

D&P also calls on federal leaders to take “bolder action on climate change, including more ambitious emissions reductions and increased funding to compensate countries suffering from loss and damage related to climate change,” said Kerawala. Additionally, the non-profit wants legislation that will “compel Canadian corporations to prevent, report and redress ecological and human rights abuses across their global operations and supply and value chains.”

Kerawala noted Canada is in an enhanced position to advocate for international change as the country holding the G7 presidency. From June 15-17, leaders from France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union will convene in Kananaskis, Alta., for the G7 Leaders’ Summit. 

There is a specific issue D&P wants Canada to champion during the three-day economic and political forum.

“Canada leading by example and, as the presiding G7 country, (should advocate) for cancelling or meaningfully renegotiating unjust debts for unsustainably indebted countries and establishing transparent, democratic mechanisms within the UN framework to make financing accessible to poorer countries on fairer terms to prevent future debt crises,” said Kerawala.

Chalice also wants all the parties vying for power to commit to international aid in the face of cutbacks from nations like the United States.

“As Canadians prepare to vote, we hope that all parties will remain committed to international aid,” said Fr. Pat Cosgrove, president and co-founder of the international child sponsorship charity headquartered in Halifax. “We have seen concerning trends elsewhere — including cuts to USAID in the United States — and we urge the political parties to recognize the positive impact that humanitarian aid has had in the developing world and guarding Canada’s reputation as a reliable global citizen.”

Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, wants the federal government to heed a recommendation from the UN last month that Canada repeal the possibility of euthanasia for individuals whose natural death is not foreseeable. He also endorses the UN’s plea for Canada not to expand medical assistance in dying (MAiD) access to individuals solely living with a mental illness or to “mature minors.” 

Schadenberg suggested the UN declaration “is a great beginning to reversing the euthanasia agenda in Canada.” 

Larry Worthen, executive director of the Christian Medical and Dental Association of Canada (CMDA), echoed Schadenberg in asking that MAiD for the solely mentally ill be repealed well in advance of March 2027 when it is set to become part of an expanded MAiD mandate. 

Worthen wrote that the CMDA would like to see “participation in MAiD by health care staff and facilities (to) be voluntary — no individual or facility could be forced to participate in any way against their will.” 

He also emphasized that “MAiD may not be offered to patients unless they request it — the power dynamic between patients and physicians is such that if a health-care professional offers MAiD the patient may feel that the physician has given up on them or that they are a burden to caregivers.”

Finally, Worthen also asked for the establishment of a Royal Commission “to publicly take testimony from Canadians who have been affected by MAiD so that recommendations could be developed to ensure that vulnerable Canadians are not at risk from the legalization of this practice.” He underscored that protections would need to be put in place so testifiers can step forward to speak without fearing potential reprisals.