Seven days after the federal government announced on Dec. 30 that the deadline would be extended so that non-profit donations would be eligible for 2024 tax support up until Feb. 28, 2025, Justin Trudeau prorogued Parliament on Jan. 6.

Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF) executive director Joanna Baron and litigation director Christine Van Geyn have said that charities are experiencing a financial chill after the federal government instituted the Emergencies Act to deal with the Freedom Convoy snarling the streets of Ottawa.

WE Charity is a Canadian non-profit organization that I contributed time and effort to throughout my years in elementary and secondary school.

Facing a steep drop in revenue due to the COVID-19 crisis, charities and non-profits are seeking a multi-billion-dollar lifeline from governments and foundations.

OTTAWA – A poverty-fighting group, fresh from a victory over a law that threatened its status as a charity, is facing another round of legal fighting after the federal government appealed the court ruling.

WASHINGTON – Catholic dioceses and charities are quickly organizing to help in the aftermath of a Category 4 hurricane that made landfall with heavy rains and winds of 130 miles per hour late Aug. 25 into the Rockport, Texas area, northeast of Corpus Christi. The National Weather Service said in a tweet Aug. 27 that the rainfall expected after the hurricane and storm are over "are beyond anything experienced before."

VATICAN CITY – With a trip to South Sudan postponed indefinitely, Pope Francis is sending close to a half-million dollars to help two church-run hospitals, a teacher training center and farming projects for families as a way to show the people there his solidarity and support.

TORONTO - After years of free service, churches, shelters, charities and non-profit organizations could be on the hook as the City of Toronto plans to start charging a fee for trash pickup.

The city has said there will be no increase for homeowners in terms of their garbage pickup, but parishioners may be asked to give a little bit to help offset the new fees for churches, said Neil MacCarthy, director of communications for the archdiocese of Toronto.

“So really, you’re just going back to the same people to ask for more to support this change,” he said.

The proposal is one of the items on the table as the city works on its 2012 budget. A long list of cuts and increased service fees are on tap as the city struggles to find ways to balance its budget.

MacCarthy said while he understands the city is looking for ways to realize some cost efficiencies, the new proposal is going to have significant implications on the roughly 125 parishes within city limits in the archdiocese of Toronto.

“It really depends on the frequency of pickup at a church for garbage and… the number of bins they might have at a church,” he said. “So if it������Ƶapp weekly with a bin, they’re talking about $800 a year.”

But it������Ƶapp difficult to say how many parishes would be affected by this as some use city services while others use private garbage collection, said MacCarthy.

The city wants to start charging a fee for this service “in order to make the system fair overall and to prompt those new to the fee system to improve their waste diversion efforts,” according to a document sent to non-residential customers.

For a curbside bin emptied bi-weekly, the cost is $403, weekly is $806 and twice weekly is $1,612.

The changes would be phased in, with a yearly 25-per-cent increase effective July 1, 2012 and full trash pickup fees effective Jan. 1, 2015.

St. Francis Table, a ministry that provides meals for the less fortunate in Parkdale, would be one of the agenices affected by the trash pickup fee. Br. John Frampton, who runs St. Francis Table, said it������Ƶapp a crime that charities and church groups are being singled out to pick up the city������Ƶapp costs.

“We try to keep it to a minimum,” he said. “We compost, we take care of the paper and plastics. We comply with garbage bag content and I just think it������Ƶapp another money grab to pay for services that are costing too much.”

The poor are getting poorer, he said.

“We are feeding the hungry here six days a week,” said Frampton. “And other groups are doing justice amidst injustice that������Ƶapp being done by the government that should be responsible to these people.

“St. Francis Table is responsible for feeding the hungry of Toronto and this is the appreciation we get.”

The proposal also includes charging transfer station tipping fees of $100 per tonne of waste to previously exempt non-profits, including the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

“With the collection, we get a lot of really generous donors that are really careful about what they donate, but we also get a lot of stuff that������Ƶapp just not usable at all and it has to go to the dump,” said Louise Coutu, executive director of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in Toronto.

“For years, the Society has had an arrangement with the city where we don’t pay tipping fees because it������Ƶapp realized that this stuff is our responsibility, but if it weren’t going to us to be sorted, there would probably be more going directly to the dump,” she said.

Coutu estimates this will cost an additional $20,000 on its annual budget.

“It������Ƶapp not just the tipping fee we’re paying, it������Ƶapp our truck out there, our guys,” she said. “So it is expensive for us. We’ve seen it as part of our service. You can’t look in everyone������Ƶapp bag when they’re donating to you.”