Jewish National Fund - Federal Court of Appeal states that an allegation of CRA bias must be based on a tangible concern based on potentially credible evidence

The Jewish National Fund of Canada sought to set aside the Minister's decision to revoke its status as a registered charity, alleging inter alia that such decision was tainted by bias, relating to a weighty and illegitimate pressure campaign against it.

It moved for an order allowing its appeal on the basis that the Minister had disobeyed some of the search terms in the June 10, 2025 order of the Court, which required a supplementary search of CRA's records, including records of the Charities Directorate, to ensure the disclosure of, among other documents, any further materials within CRA's possession that were not included in the certified tribunal record and that were “in respect of the allegation that the Minister was biased,” including any “relevant material” in the possession of CRA “relating to communications from and to the public”.

Stratas JA indicated that the Court could make a search and production order where there is an “air of reality” to an allegation of maladministration, i.e., ”a tangible concern supported by some circumstantial or direct evidence” that is “capable of being believed” and there was proportionality, as assessed by the court, between the time, expense and court resources involved in carrying out the order and the importance of the matters at stake. He did not comment directly on the vagueness of the “materials … in respect of the allegation … [of] bias …” criterion in the order, but stated: “Regardless of whether it was issued in accordance with the principles set out in these reasons, it must be followed.”

Stratas JA found that the Minister's conduct (described below) did not warrant granting the appeal, as there was “no egregious conduct amounting to a serious abuse of process where no remedies will do”. However, the Fund persuaded him that the Minister had not fully complied with the Court's June 10, 2025 order:

• The Fund’s cross-examination of the CRA affiant indicated that she did not address a supplementary search request to any of the Tax and Charities Appeals Directorate, the Public Affairs Branch, the National Leads Centre, the Commissioner's Office, the Deputy Commissioner's Office, or the Minister's Office, and it was plausible that these departments might possess relevant documents.
• The Fund, in its prior motion for search and production, had referred to an email chain discussing a potential meeting between the Commissioner and another senior employee regarding the Fund's case. While the Minister had directed the participants in the chain to search for records of this meeting, no such request was made of the Commissioner or any other purported attendee of the meeting and it should now do so.
• The affiant testified that CRA's standard practices for searches had been followed but was unable to describe those practices or confirm that they had indeed been followed.

Accordingly, the Minister was ordered to conduct a further search for certain documents, confirm the adequacy of certain previous searches, and provide a further affidavit detailing the nature and scope of the searches conducted, with the Fund to be granted the opportunity to cross-examine on this affidavit.

Neal Armstrong. Summary of Jewish National Fund of Canada Inc. v. Canada (National Revenue), 2026 FCA 63 under Rule 317.