Ottawa cuts funding to activist group accused of anti-Catholic bias
https://www.westernstandard.news/news/ottawa-cuts-funding-to-activist-group-accused-of-anti-catholic-bias/73604
A Toronto-based activist organization accused of targeting Catholics and pro-life groups has lost its federal heritage funding for the first time since 2020 after MPs raised concerns the taxpayer-funded group was fueling political division.
Access To Information records show the Canadian Anti-Hate Network received nearly $700,000 from the Department of Canadian Heritage over the past five years before its latest funding agreement expired Feb. 28 without renewal.
Blacklock's Reporter says internal government emails reveal officials were aware of allegations the organization promoted anti-religious bias and “further polarization.”
“We have an active multi-year agreement where the three years have been paid so far, leaving only a small amount still on hold pending final reports,” said a 2025 departmental email.
“Allegations are about spreading hate regarding religion and beliefs and further polarization.”
A separate parliamentary Inquiry Of Ministry tabled April 13 confirmed “the department does not have a current funding agreement with the organization.”
Federal records show the Canadian Anti-Hate Network received $698,750 in grants from Canadian Heritage beginning in 2020. The organization also secured a separate $200,000 research grant from the Department of Public Safety.
However, Public Safety officials privately questioned whether the group’s work was politically biased.
“In the past the Network has been accused of creating products that were not free from bias,” stated one departmental memo obtained through Access To Information laws. “Was this taken into consideration when providing funding?”
Government documents said the Anti-Hate Network claimed to track extremist and neo-Nazi organizations, but records show the group also focused attention on conservative activists and pro-life Catholics.
In 2021, the organization labelled former British Columbia premier Bill Vander Zalm and former Newfoundland and Labrador premier Brian Peckford as conspiracy theorists because of their opposition to pandemic mandates.
The group also published a 2024 booklet titled 40 Ways To Fight The Far Right that identified Campaign Life among “the kinds of far right and hate movements we have seen in Canada in the past few years.”
Campaign Life organizes an annual March for Life rally on Parliament Hill attended by thousands, including Catholic school students.
Scrutiny over the federal grants intensified during a Sept. 24 Commons heritage committee hearing when Conservative MPs accused the Trudeau government of subsidizing political activism that deepened social divisions.
“You’re collecting tax dollars from people all across the country with all sorts of beliefs from all sorts of backgrounds and those dollars are being used towards an organization that’s actually furthering or spurring greater polarization,” Conservative MP Rachael Thomas told the committee.
Thomas said part of the funding was used to hire an “investigative journalist” tasked with finding stories about so-called far-right organizations and individuals, including Catholics and pro-life Canadians.
“Something like this only serves to divide people,” said Thomas. “It’s a grave disservice to the unity of our country and the well-being of our people and it spurs further polarization.”
Then-Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault responded that the government’s role was to “unite people, not divide them,” and pledged to review the allegations against the organization.
“I will with the departmental team actually look at what has been done,” said Guilbeault. “If it turns out that what you say is true, we will take the necessary measures.”
When asked whether those measures could include cutting funding, Guilbeault acknowledged Ottawa had previously withdrawn grants from organizations that failed to align with “the federal government’s values.”