Two charities tied to the Group Health Centre are still collecting donations after having their registration revoked over the summer, SooToday has learned.
Both the Sault Ste. Marie and District Group Health Association and the Group Health Centre Trust Fund had their status as charitable organizations yanked in July for failing to file information returns with Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) for the 2022 and 2023 fiscal years, according to the Government of Canada website.
Founded in 1963, the Group Health Centre provides outpatient primary care, specialty care, and a range of other health services to the population of Sault Ste. Marie and the Algoma District.
The non-profit organization attributed the “temporary” revocation of its charitable status to an "administrative oversight” by staff in an email to SooToday Thursday.
“Although our returns were submitted on time, an outdated version of the T3010 form was used. This led to the CRA not accepting the returns, triggering a failure to file,” wrote spokesperson Giordan Zin.
“As soon as we discovered this, we took immediate steps to correct the matter, and the necessary paperwork has now been submitted. We’ve also formally requested an expedited review to resolve this as quickly as possible.”
Zin assured the public that all donations received during the revocation period will continue to go towards supporting programs and services at Group Health Centre.
“Once our status is reinstated, the revocation will be reversed, and we will issue tax receipts for all eligible donations made during this period,” he wrote.
In May, members of United Steelworkers Local 2251 — Algoma Steel's largest collective bargaining unit — voted to launch legal proceedings to fight the de-rostering of its members by Group Health Centre.
In all, approximately 10,000 Group Health Centre patients lost access to their primary care and same-day clinic services earlier this year amid a shortage of care providers.