In 2024, Just Peace Advocates and Writers Against the War On Gaza Toronto (WAWOG TO) submitted a formal complaint to the Canada Revenue Agency demanding they audit HonestReporting Canada’s (HRC) charitable status. This month, we filed a second complaint detailing HRC’s continued violations of Canadian charity law.
In the 17 months since our initial complaint, HRC has sent over 1,000 action alerts directing its 60,000+ strong mailing list to threaten the livelihoods and safety of media and non-media figures alike. HRC describes this activity as wielding a “digital army for Israel” towards “controlling the narrative.” These alerts have included:
- Multiple instances of sexual harassment, including photographs that HRC digitally manipulated to sexualize their targets
- The full names and/or likenesses of minors
- Attacks on the individual livelihoods of over a dozen healthcare workers. HRC has boasted about how one of their campaigns resulted in the firing of a psychiatry resident.
- Months of e-mail blasts targeting a family-run, Palestinian-owned restaurant. The restaurant documented some of the threats they received following HRC’s alerts
- Repeated incitement of racist and Islamophobic fears about Palestinian refugees and students fleeing the genocide, by claiming that all Gazans are “prone to extremism,”
The Canada Press Freedom Project has documented the impact of action alerts against media workers, deeming HRC a “targeted harassment machine” that has prompted journalists to “[scrub] their contact information online and [retreat] from social media — making them less accessible to harassers, but also potential sources.”
HRC, aware of the increased scrutiny being placed on it, has since attempted to insulate its charitable status from its racist reputation. This attempted rebrand has involved trying to separate “HonestReporting Canada” from “HR Canada Charitable Organization” – a separation that did not exist prior to October 2025. Both entities continue to share revenue streams and staff, and for all intents and purposes, remain the same organization.
This February, the CRA revoked the charitable status of Canada Charity Partners after scrutiny was placed on it from Just Peace Advocates for the way it operated as a conduit for “Israel Gives.” Among the organizations that would fundraise through Israel Gives to launder Canadian charitable donations was HRC’s Israeli counterpart (known simply as “HonestReporting.”)
Check out the donors who support HonestReporting Canada.
Despite all this, HRC remains a registered charity in Canada. This means Canadian tax dollars are subsidizing a vehicle engaged in anti-Palestinian racism, misinformation, doxing and harassment.
Join the tens of thousands who have demanded that CRA take these violations seriously and withdraw HRC’s charitable status.
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