CTS charity – CITS Media Resources Organization

Readers of BDBO rock! (Just wanted you to know that)

Am I any closer to understanding how CTS can claim CITS Media Resources Organization is a charity able to issue tax receipts? Not exactly. Closer, but not fully understanding this ‘charity’ legally yet.

In the meantime I said I’d post a history of CTS (Crossroads Television System).

Rather than re-invent the wheel may I point you to an excellent historical summary of CTS from the Canadian Television Foundation. The article is in plain English and gives a succinct overview.

Television system is a unique Canadian term which refers to TV stations which share common ownership, brand and programming.
CTS is a privately owned non-profit with shareholders who expect a reasonable return on their investment. CTS hasn’t said that to me personally, I’m drawing that conclusion based on an email from a former employee and this comment at ChristianWeek. If I’m wrong, by all means pipe up.

CTS is regulated by Industry Canada and the Canadian Radio-Television & Telecommunications Commission. It is carried to consumers by Bell and Shaw (StarChoice) by satellite, and is also on cable in most provinces and territories in Canada. According to the CRTC religious broadcasting policy:

Accordingly, the Commission considers that any religious organization or foundation using the Canadian broadcasting system to solicit funds should be a charity, and should be registered as such with Revenue Canada in accordance with the Income Tax Act. Registered charitable organizations or foundations must, among other requirements, make available an annual public information return describing the charity’s purpose and activities and setting out financial details regarding receipts and disbursements.

Yesterday I asked how a non-profit media company could call an appendage of the company a charity.
The appendage is called CITS Media Resources Organization, marketed under Our Cause at the CTS website and website called Hope for TV.

There are days I realize how much I don’t know. This has been one of them. Any corporation or company can decide at any stage in it’s life to file a letters patent, that’s not at all unusual.
CTS made it’s application in 2008.
Yep, CITS Media Resources Organization has been on Corporation Canada’s website since October 2008.

October 2, 2008 to be precise this application was filed in the municipality of Burlington. CITS is licenced to broadcast by Hamilton with repeaters in London and Ottawa. In 2008 CTS got a licence to broadcast out of Edmonton and Calgary.

On October 27, 2008 a copy of a letter from a representative of the Industry Minister was attached to file # 449772-4.

The first three directors were Richard Grey, former President of CTS, Janine Maxwell, a businesswoman from the USA, and  Rev. Keith Parks of Bethel Pentecostal Assembly in BC. Does anyone know who the directors are now?

I scoured Alberta and Ontario Gazettes yesterday, and it finally twigged to try Canada Gazette. A reader thought to look also and sent the link.

That answers my question. Sort of. By what authority does CITS Media Resources Organization have the right to call itself a charity? If I am reading correctly – by the authority of former Industry Minister Jim Prentice.

(Update: Sarcasm aside, Industry Canada cannot grant charitable status. The remaining question is this: has this corporation registered as a for profit or a not for profit? It’s been Gazetted, the next step would be application to Revenue Canada Charities)

A letter of patent is the public granting of a right, in this case a request by CTS (a media organization) to have it’s own charity. Canada Gazette is the official newspaper or publication of government, a public announcement of record.

I’m not a lawyer and I don’t play one online, I’m not a politician or a business owner.
I’m just trying to figure out why a religious broadcaster applied for a charity appendage in 2008 and unveils it now; knowing that for all intensive purposes CTS is robbing it’s home donor base.
I’m trying to figure out where the tax receipts will come from because there is no listing for CITS Media Resources Organization federally- and located where I’m used to finding charities listed – Revenue Canada Charities.

Is this an opps? Was this marketed before Rev Can Charities approval?

Ms. Maxwell, one of the original applicants may be a Canadian citizen, a dual citizen or a US citizen.
I don’t know. Perhaps citizens of other countries are permitted to set up or help set up Canadian charities.
Dick Gray was president of CTS and owner of Dick Gray Broadcasting Consulting. We don’t know if the original applicants are current charity directors.

According to the letters patent, this CTS ‘charity’ is permitted to operate in Canada and elsewhere. Elsewhere?

Who oversees this CITS Media Resources Organization?

Given what happened with the alleged ponzi scheme with Crossroads Christian Communications Inc. this summer, is this CTS charity something donors can put trust into?

My brain is about the consistency of poutine as I write this. Two days of scouring gazettes, newsletters, and regulations to find out where this charity sprang from is tiring. And depressing.
Shining through all the legalize is a great deal of ambition.
Religious programming in Canada is not very transparent.
Canadians don’t pay much attention. We are stuck with channels like CTS, and like any speciality channel we aren’t interested in, we don’t tune in.

If you are interested in the goals of CITS Media Resources Organization (which go beyond the ads and glossy brochure in the letters patent) let me know and I’ll lay them out in a post. I think CTS has some talented broadcasters, who believe with all their hearts they are working for God. They work hard, do they have any input or awareness?

As a Christian who worked in ‘liberal/secular’ media, and a bit in religious media, I don’t like the approach the marketing has taken.

It’s fear based, shallow, and targeting vulnerable people. Parents in Canada have v-chips in their TVs. They are capable of monitoring their kids viewing, and making decisions without a religious broadcaster telling them their new ‘charity’ appendage can do it for them. Other vulnerable groups may sincerely believe they are giving to God in giving to The Cause, when giving may be effective closer to home.

The CRTC licence granted to CTS Alberta weighed out the conflict Canadian Christians are expressing. Some feel Canada needs more religious programming, some don’t. Some object to balanced programming.
In a 2004 article in Mediacaster Magazine, called Channelling Faith, the author looks at religious broadcasting in Canada.

However, the model of religious broadcasting which CSNY sang about, is strictly American evangelicals. Their congregations number over 10,000 and the level of bombast, dire predictions, and product pitches (they sell a lot of books and VHS tapes) is not reflected in the Canadian faith programming, however these preachers do buy time on the Canadian channels. And, proving that forgiveness is still a hallmark of the Christian faith, Bakker is back on the air (and can be found on Miracle Channel) – and Swaggart and Falwell of course, still have their shows, but not on Canadian television.

Can you picture 100 Huntley Street’s David Mainse, now retired, who had been on Canadian television for over 40 years, dancing, or waving his arms around predicting where the hellfire will strike, or hollering at viewers, or dissolving into raging tears? Thought so. This is not the model of faith broadcasting in Canada.

That’s reflective of the viewers, says Miracle Channel’s vice-president, broadcasting Gord Klassen. “There is a totally different dynamic of viewers in Canada than in the States,” he says. Some of the things that have gone on with some of the religious broadcasters in the States, that would just not be tolerated up here… it’s less glitz and flash.”

Indeed, a look at the Canadian programming on our faith channels shows no wild Canadian preachers and a lot of sober, thought-provoking discussion where the underlying message is largely Christian. While U.S. evangelicals are likely to use a Bible-verse-fuelled verbal jackhammer, sometimes complete with a similar decibel level, to make viewers into believers and donors, the Canadian way is more along the lines of, “we have a message that we want to talk about, but do it in a way that you would do it if you were talking to people over a table at Tim Horton’s,” explains Klassen. “It’s a lot more laid back, and real. I think that’s the way I’d put it.”

“We’re not going to beat people over the head until they convert,” adds NowTV’s Jeff Thiessen. “The pink hair doesn’t fly with us.” NowTV is a Vancouver-based Christian broadcaster which also holds a license for Winnipeg, which it plans to put to use this fall.

That was 2004, I think the conclusions are less true. Think of Canadian religious broadcasters as the branches of a tree, not the trunk. There are  offshoot companies from these broadcasters.  Peter Youngren has started GraceTV and is comfortable modelling US televangelists.
CTS runs retro shows from the US as well as originals, balanced and ministry according to their CRTC mandate.
How many of CTS ministry shows below (click on the ministry link above) do you see as originating in the US?
How many originate from the US on other religious broadcasting channels in Canada? The duplication of programming on religious channels  is not going to be solved by a CTS charity for new programming (among other goals).
Media is a business, airtime is bought. Advertising is bought.
I hope potential donors go into this with their eyes wide open.

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CITS – wiki