B.C. Christian charity files court challenge to stave off status revocation by CRA
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VANCOUVER – A Vancouver-based Christian charity founded by a wealthy businessman has filed a constitutional challenge in B.C. Supreme Court, claiming the Canada Revenue Agency has no right to revoke its charitable status.
The Coram Deo Foundation, founded by private education magnate Peter Chung, filed a court petition this week in Vancouver that alleges the federal government has “usurped the provinces’ exclusive jurisdiction” over Canadian charities.
It says the federal government is wrongfully using its taxation powers to “take over all aspects of” regulating charities, and revoking its charitable status will also make its directors, including former Canadian Alliance leader Stockwell Day, ineligible to be involved in charity management.
The foundation’s petition says the CRA audited the charity and found it was failing to operate for “exclusively charitable purposes” and issue donation receipts properly.
The petition says tax authorities found that the foundation paid more than $36,000 in consulting fees to Peter Chung’s son, Samuel Chung, in 2021 and 2022 with no “formal agreement” in place.
The court document says the audit found the foundation also gave two loans to corporations controlled by Peter Chung, “which were repaid late.”
The foundation’s lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while the Canada Revenue Agency said in an email that no one was available for an interview.
The B.C. Supreme Court granted the foundation an injunction in January restraining the minister of national revenue from publishing a notice of the revocation to give it time to file the constitutional challenge.
Justice Richard Fowler, who granted the injunction, found “deregistration of the charity will cause irreparable harm to donees, beyond those associated to the ‘ordinary consequences’ of losing registered charity status.”
The judge also noted that the allegations against the Coram Deo Foundation didn’t involve any evidence of misappropriation or “non-charitable” use of donation funds.
“While I accept that a charity making non-arms-length loans is a serious misuse of charitable funds, in this case the loans have been repaid to the charity with interest,” Fowler wrote.
The foundation’s website says it supports “charities with solid Christian doctrines locally and worldwide.”
“We hope to play our part in God’s work and commit and participate in God’s mission,” it says. “Coram Deo is a Latin phrase meaning ‘in the presence of God,’ and our foundation pursue to be the followers of Christ living our lives Coram Deo: in the presence of God, under the authority of God, for the glory of God.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 5, 2026.