Asian Pacific Post
November 30, 2025
The Canadian arm of the contentious Falun Dafa religious movement has lost its charitable status after failing to file tax returns.
The Falun Dafa Association of Canada’s registration was revoked on Nov. 1, according to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).
Grace Wollensak, a national co-ordinator for the association, told the IJF that the group has filed for reinstatement. She said the association filed its 2024 tax return, but it was somehow missed by the CRA, and the 2025 return was filed late because of an accounting oversight.
Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, is described by its practitioners as an ancient Chinese spiritual tradition, although it was founded in the 1990s.
The movement is banned in China, where it’s been declared an “evil cult.” Members there have been sent to prison and labour camps, where deaths have been reported, and some have levelled allegations of torture and organ harvesting against the Chinese government, according to Amnesty International and other groups. China has denied those claims.
In Canada, Falun Dafa practitioners can often be seen in parks and other public spaces, performing the slow movements and meditation that are central to their practice, or protesting outside Chinese consulates or its embassy.
The movement has been the subject of controversy in recent years.
Falun Dafa members in the U.S. founded the Epoch Times newspaper, a publication that’s become widely known for spreading conspiracy theories about COVID-19, climate change and the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Local Falun Dafa groups in Canada and the U.S. also organize shows by the Shen Yun Performing Arts, which has been the subject of a series of investigations by the New York Times.
The newspaper reported that the dance group exploited young performers, subjecting them to gruelling schedules and then discouraging them from seeking medical care, and built its worldwide presence on the free labour and financial contributions of Falun Dafa members.
The organization has denied those allegations, calling the newspaper's reporting biased and unethical.
This summer, CBC News reported that the National Arts Centre in Ottawa would not host a Shen Yun performance in 2026 after two decades of shows at the centre, following concerns about the treatment of disabled audience members and allegations of contract breaches. In response, Wollensak said she was mystified by the centre's decision, and that the centre's CEO later told them the issue was rental availability.
Wollensak said her organization “does not run any newspaper business nor performing arts company, and is entirely independent of the Epoch Times and the U.S.-based Shen Yun Performing Arts company in terms of ownership, funding, operations, governance and activities.”
The Falun Dafa Association of Canada has reported little in the way of charitable work in the last few years.
Records in the IJF’s charity tax returns database show just $48 in revenue and $4 in expenditures in 2023. The year before, the association reported no revenue and $22 in expenditures.
In its 2023 entry in the CRA’s charity registry, the organization wrote, “Due to the pandemic, there is no enormous charity event or program during the 2023 fiscal year.”
https://asianpacificpost.com/article/10479-falun-dafa%E2%80%99s-charitable-status-canada-revoked.html
