If We Tolerate This, We Will Be Next.
Canada’s nonprofit sector is watching the U.S. civil society implode and acting like it couldn’t happen here. But it already is.
“If you tolerate this, then your children will be next.”
— Manic Street Preachers, 1998
These words feel less like lyrics and more like prophecy.
As a Canadian watching the Trump Administration attack civil society in the United States, I feel one part horror, one part admiration.
Horror at the brazen attacks on democratic norms, and admiration for leaders who refuse to stay quiet.
One of the people I have been watching is Diane Yentel.
Since Trump’s return to power, I’ve been closely following updates from the National Council of Nonprofits (NCN), where Yentel has been president for a total of five months. From the very beginning of the Trump administration’s second term, Yentel has been doing something that too many nonprofit leaders avoid: fighting back.
Project 2025’s Goal to Destroy Civil Society
In February, Trump issued a series of executive orders that gutted federal contracts with nonprofits engaged in diversity, equity, and inclusion work, support for 2SLGBTQIIA+ communities, immigrant services, and human rights advocacy. Universities were also targeted—particularly those that refused to comply with political demands to shut down pro-Palestinian protests, branded as “antisemitic” by the administration.
More recently, Trump’s administration has launched a legal and political assault on Harvard University, attempting to undermine its independence. This isn’t a glitch or a mistake - it’s the plan. The attacks are straight out of Project 2025, the far-right’s roadmap to dismantle institutions they view as “un-American.”
If you haven’t heard of Project 2025 by now, I can’t help you. I’ll assume either you’ve been in a coma, or you’ve been ignoring the headlines. In either case, this post probably isn’t for you.
The Courage to Speak
What Diane Yentel has done - what she continues to do - is rare.
Yentel has chosen to use her platform and her position to call the Trump Administration’s attacks on the nonprofit sector clearly and publicly. Her LinkedIn feed reads like a dispatch from the frontlines. She has updated the sector on lawsuits, shared resources for nonprofits under attack, and refused to normalize what’s happening - and at great personal cost.
In fact, early on in the administration’s attempts to gut the sector, the NCN filed a lawsuit to block an executive order to defund thousands of nonprofits around the country. Yentel was out of the gates quickly with the following statement:
“This order is a potential five-alarm fire for nonprofit organizations and the people and communities they serve. From pausing research on cures for childhood cancer to halting food assistance, safety from domestic violence, and closing suicide hotlines, the impact of even a short pause in funding could be devastating and cost lives. This order could decimate thousands of organizations and leave neighbors without the services they need.”
And Yentel’s unrelenting defence of the sector has continued in the months to follow. She even testified in front of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Delivering Government Efficiency (DOGE), where she laid it all out for the political class:
“Weaponizing the power of the government to silence dissent and undermine individual choices threatens democracy... A strong, independent civil society is essential to our democracy; undermining it weakens us all.”
I would highly recommend you read her full testimony word-for-word. It is as strong a defense of civil society and nonprofits as we may ever seen in our lifetimes.
Yentel’s been in her role with the NCN for just over five months, and she’s already shown more backbone than many sector leaders show in a lifetime.
Canada: This Can Happen Here
We like to imagine we’re different in Canada. Nicer. Safer. Immune.
We’re not.
Canadian nonprofit and charitable sector leaders have shown too little courage for far too long.
We have done too much “quiet diplomacy,” in an attempt to avoid confrontation. We spend a lot of time trying to appease government officials who don’t respect us, while pretending our seat at the kids’ table is good enough.
Here’s the truth: Canada’s charitable sector makes up 8% of our GDP, which is larger than transportation sector. And yet, we don’t even have a federal cabinet portfolio. We are politically invisible, and it is by design.
We cannot be vocal in our opposition if we have no one to speak to. Without a home in government—no cabinet seat, no formal representation—there’s no lever to pull. If the sector remains structurally excluded, we are not just unheard—we are invisible. And you can’t change a system that pretends you don’t exist.
“Maple-Washed” Autocracy
In Nova Scotia, we are seeing the same attacks on the civil sector.
Premier Tim Houston, who campaigned on one platform around housing and healthcare, and is now governing on an entirely different agenda. In the last legislative session, his government rammed through Bill 12, giving the Minister of Advanced Education sweeping control over research funding, governance, and campus priorities.
Sound familiar?
And it gets worse. In February, Houston’s government released fundraising letters railing against “special interests and professional protesters”—a label I’ll wear with pride.
And when journalists tried to report from the legislature? The government tried to ban scrums. Reporters had to stage a boycott to reverse the policy.
It’s the same authoritarian playbook, but with a Canadian accent.
Where Are Our Leaders?
The response from the Nova Scotia nonprofit sector?
Crickets.
No statements. No op-eds. No testimonies. Just whispers about how the Premier has “consolidated power” and suggestions from boards that we “need to improve government relations.”
What we actually need are leaders willing to take a risk.
Willing to speak truth to power.
Willing to be unpopular.
Where are the Diane Yentels in Nova Scotia? Where are the voices of outrage across Canada?
This Is a Call to Action
We need more than polite advocacy.
We need fire.
We need outrage.
We need voices.
If you're a fundraiser, a nonprofit leader, or anyone working in civil society in Canada, this is your moment.
Because the authoritarianism creeping across borders won’t stop unless we push back.
As Yentel said in her congressional testimony:
“We must protect the freedom and independence of nonprofits to identify and meet local needs without political interference, without fear of retribution, and without facing punishment for holding a different point of view from those in power.”
Amen to that.
If you tolerate this, we will be next.
In solidarity my friends,
Liz
