In December 2017, Justin Trudeau and his federal government made a change to the Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ) application.
He and his government now require that all organizations who want to apply to receive funding must respect human rights, such as reproductive rights.
The CSJ program offers wage subsidies to employers who are looking to hire students over the summer months.
How did this all start? Last year, people became outraged to find out that the Conservative Party status of women critic gave $11,681 of federal money to the Lethbridge Pregnancy Care Centre and the Lethbridge and District Birthright Society under the program in the summer of 2016.
Both of these organizations are pro-life and faith-based. They provide support for young pregnant women, but do not provide or recommend abortion.
To show their support for anti-discrimination, the Liberal government changed the requirements surrounding which organizations can be eligible to apply for the Canada Summer Jobs grants.
Stating: “The objective of the change is to prevent Government of Canada funding from flowing to organizations whose mandates or projects may not respect individual human rights, the values underlying the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and associated case law. This helps prevent youth (as young as 15 years of age) from being exposed to employment within organizations that may promote positions that are contrary to the values enshrined in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and associated case law.”
Why is the government of Canada worried about children being exposed to contradictory positions?
And since when is having or promoting a position or having a belief contradictory to people’s rights inherently bad? In fact, it’s a fundamental freedom!
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms lists freedom of religion and of thought, belief, opinion, expression and culture as being amongst the fundamental freedoms that everyone has a right to enjoy.
The question must be asked: can organizations that vehemently disagree with a value enshrined in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but that still respect human rights, receive government funding?
Many people of faith believe that it is wrong to have sexual relations before marriage. If their organization promotes that belief, are they ineligible for funding?
For many people of faith, their belief that abortion is wrong is grounded in their faith.
If a faith-based organization vehemently believes that abortion is wrong and promotes that belief in any way, but still respects a person’s right to abortion, are they ineligible for funding?
In Canada, many Christian summer camps rely on the Canada Summer Jobs application to provide funding. These camps employ high school and post-secondary students from all over Canada to run the day-to-day activities.
For many of these camps, agreeing to this new change to become eligible for funding would mean rejecting a part of their faith.
Do Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government have the right to disregard an organization’s freedom of belief, opinion or expression if it is in line with their own? And do religious organizations have to sacrifice their freedom of religion to be eligible for federal funding?
In Canada, the answer should be no.
