With two local charities under scrutiny by the Canada Revenue Agency, activists say the recent round of "political activity" audits have silenced some environmental and immigrant groups.

"They don't want to be criticizing governments and calling for major changes," said Eric Reder of the Wilderness Committee. "We simply have less information out in public, less discourse about the options or whether a policy is going in the right direction."

No´lle DePape, a well-known advocate for immigrants and refugees now involved with the Winnipeg-based Immigration Matters in Canada Coalition, said she's noticed "a muting of voices" in the last two years, even among groups whose political advocacy comes nowhere close to the CRA's cap.

"Definitely we've seen more fear on behalf of the settlement sector to speak out to the federal government because of fear of losing charity status," said DePape.

She said groups are less likely to participate in forums and town halls, speak with the media or meet with government staff for fear they'll raise red flags with the CRA or even get their federal funding cut.

Staff at three other local charities, all of whom did not want to speak on the record, agreed.

The CRA is now in the third year of a four-year review of the political activities of registered charities, which are barred from any partisan activity and can only devote 10 per cent of their resources to political work. By the end of this fiscal year, full audits will have been launched on 60 charities, with many more receiving initial screening reviews, information letters or some other compliance action.

The move sparked criticism that only charities critical of the Conservative government were being targeted, including Amnesty International, the David Suzuki Foundation and PEN Canada. Recently, the union-backed Steelworkers Humanity Fund Inc. revealed it is the latest charity to be audited. Many groups have said the audits have created "advocacy chill."

In recent months, the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg has been audited by the CRA, which looked at the agency's finances and its political activities. Staff there say they believe the CRA found few problems and expect a letter confirming that soon.

"As open and helpful as the CRA staff have been with us, it was still a process that causes concern given the power that the CRA holds to withdraw our charitable status," wrote executive director Kate Kehler in an email. "It is our understanding that we passed given our non-partisan approach and what we believed to be careful consideration of the legislation."

One other local non-governmental organization that works on environmental issues said it was also being reviewed by the CRA. The group got notice of the review in the past month. Staff there felt it prudent not to comment on the record.

Both agencies believe they are not among the 60 charities singled out for specific "political activity" audits. But word of their audits have percolated through Winnipeg's poverty and environmental activists.

Staff at the Canada Revenue Agency said they couldn't comment on individual audits or reviews because of confidentiality rules. A spokesman referred several questions to the CRA's website.

Revenue Minister Kerry-Lynne Findlay has repeatedly denied suggestions her government is using tax rules to target opposition groups, and the CRA has said it pays no attention to political leanings when it chooses which charities to scrutinize for their political activities.

Reder said the Wilderness Committee, bracing for an audit, did an internal evaluation of all its activities to make sure it was following the rules.

Since then, Reder tracks all his activity -- every meeting, news conference, research trip, report-writing day -- in half-hour increments to help make sure the Wilderness Committee is not violating the 10 per cent cap.

Kehler said she, too, is tracking her time, especially since the legislation is fuzzy about what counts as political activity.

For example, a recommendation to government to change legislation may count as political activity. But the time spent researching policy and formulating an argument may not be.

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