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A new requirement from the Canadian government mandating support for abortion is causing countless organizations to find alternative ways to hire summer employees or shut down altogether. The Canada Summer Jobs Program has long been the way that many organizations across Canada have been able to create summer jobs for Canadian teenagers.
Museums, churches, and camps have all enjoyed the benefit of hiring summer help that the grant money allowed them. Now, however, more than 1,500 of those organizations have been denied their funding for refusing to check off a box on the application that says they support abortion. If the box is left unchecked, the application will be considered incomplete, and therefore, automatically denied funding.
READ: Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau: Pro-life views ‘not in line’ with society
Community Pentecostal Church in Orléans hires students each summer to run programs including an arts camp, a Bible school, and a free barbecue and block party for more than 1,500 people.
“The government is saying, ‘We’re right and you’re wrong and that’s that. Believe what we believe or don’t bother to apply for money,” Daniel Peacock of Camp Jordan in Nova Scotia, a Baptist-run camp that has relied on $4,000 in federal grant money to hire a student camp counselor for the last four years, told CBC News. “Our Baptist foundation told us that unless we check the box off, we would be ignored.”At least 50 organizations in Nova Scotia alone were denied their funding because they didn’t check off the box. CBC News is reporting that across Canada, over 1,500 organizations have lost funding to hire summer employees because they won’t agree to the assertation.
READ: Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau: Pro-life views ‘not in line’ with society
Community Pentecostal Church in Orléans hires students each summer to run programs including an arts camp, a Bible school, and a free barbecue and block party for more than 1,500 people.
“We couldn’t hold our integrity and check off the box about the reproductive rights,” said Jeff Hillier, lead pastor at the church. “[…] The fact that monies would be withheld from us based upon not agreeing with our prime minister’s position to me is appalling. I’m quite concerned about the freedom of religion and where this will lead us.”Lawyer and director of legal affairs at the Canadian Council of Christian Charities, Barry Bussey told CBC News that the government’s mandate is unconstitutional and violates Section 2a of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms which protects freedom of conscience and religion, as well as Section 2b, which protects freedom of belief and expression and Section 15, the equality right.
“We have received literally hundreds of messages from our membership who are very upset about the treatment they’ve received from the government with respect to this,” he said. “Many of them want to pursue a court action.”In addition to faith-based camps, the Bruno Cherry Sunday set for August 12 was affected by the new rule, canceling the annual event directly because of the new government rule to pledge support for abortion.
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