Calgary foundation’s $3.5M loan to director's company provided 'undue benefit': CRA

EDMONTON, November 5, 2026 – A charity tied to a Calgary developer has had its charitable status revoked after an audit revealed it made a loan to a company owned by its director, according to documents from the Canada Revenue Agency.

In a June 4 revocation letter to Western Shelter and Charitable Foundation, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) Charities Directorate wrote that an audit had found several “non-compliance issues” that constitute serious breaches of the Income Tax Act. Because of these findings, the tax agency concluded that Western Shelter “no longer meets the requirements for charitable registration.”

The areas of non-compliance included the foundation’s failure to meet annual quotas for amount spent on charitable activities or donations and providing undue benefit to its director.

Robert Friesen, president of the foundation, is the founder and owner of UBG Builders Inc., a now-defunct real estate development firm. At its peak in 2007, the company was responsible for multiple projects in Alberta and throughout the U.S., and boasted assets of more than $500 million, according to an affidavit filed as part of its 2012 insolvency proceedings. 

But as a result of the decline of the housing markets in Alberta and the U.S., and the bankruptcy of its “prime supplier and marketer of land in Canmore, Three Sisters Developments,” UBG was put on the path to financial collapse, Friesen declared in the affidavit.

Between 2001 and 2012, Western Shelter made unsecured loans to UBG and its affiliates totalling more than $3.5 million, according to CRA documents. 

In a letter to the tax auditors, the foundation said its intention with the loans was “was to earn investment income that could be spent on gifts to qualified donees.” But due to UBG’s bankruptcy, “the loan was deemed uncollectible in 2012.”

A report from auditors found that as of 2024, the foundation’s tax returns still listed the $3.5 million as “amounts receivable from non-arm's length persons.” 

“Given the loan was made to a non-arm's length person or persons, it is our position the organization has improperly used its resources to provide a benefit to a non-arm's length party that was not a proper beneficiary of charitable resources,” the auditors report stated.

“Further, it appears the organization has failed to collect on the amounts owing on this loan (or loans).”

Western Shelter is not included in a list of creditors related to UBG’s 2012 insolvency. The only mention of the foundation in Friesen’s affidavit is under a “corporate philosophy” subheading, where he states the foundation was established to support affordable housing and had donated $720,000 to Attainable Homes Calgary in 2011.

The CRA’s calculations found that between 2019 and 2022, the foundation made $5,200 in charitable contributions, falling short of its required disbursement quota by some $490,000.

The foundation argued that because the fair market value of the loan, which is included in its assets when calculating disbursement quotas, was actually nil, it should not count towards its charitable obligations. It also stated that because the loan was made for investment purposes, it did not confer an undue benefit.

The CRA denied Western Shelter’s request that no penalties be imposed, and gave the organization two options: enter into a compliance agreement to pay back the disbursement shortfall or the foundation’s charitable registration would be revoked “for cause,” subsequently making its directors ineligible to hold positions of control in any Canadian charity.

Western Shelter’s status was revoked on Oct. 3.

The IJF was unable to reach Friesen for comment before publication.

Brett McKay is an Edmonton-based journalist specializing in investigative and data-driven stories with the Investigative Journalism Foundation. Title image: Downtown Canmore, Alberta with Three Sisters mountain range in background (photo by teerapat mahingsa on Unsplash).