Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ) is an initiative of the Summer Work Experience program. It provides wage subsidies to employers to create employment for secondary and post-secondary students. Both businesses and not-for-profit organizations are eligible, and the federal government specifically says they welcome applications from faith-based organizations in the application form.
CSJ applicants will be required to attest that both the job and the organization’s core mandate respect individual human rights in Canada, including the values underlying the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms as well as other rights. These include reproductive rights and the right to be free from discrimination on the basis of sex, religion, race, national or ethnic origin, colour, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.
The government recognizes that women’s rights are human rights. This includes sexual and reproductive rights — and the right to access safe and legal abortions. These rights are at the core of the Government of Canada’s foreign and domestic policies.
Religious groups such as the Southern Alberta Bible Camp (SABC) say they can't agree to that. "We don't believe that abortion is right and we're being told that in order to be able to access these grants we need to affirm that," said Jon Gartly, executive director of the SABC. According to Gartly, the SABC stands to forego approximately $40,000 in funding for around six summer counselor positions if they cannot access Canada Summer Jobs funding.
Don’t blame the rules that are equal for both men and women. Women have the right to make decisions about their body, pregnancy and reproductive health. If it costs six counselor positions, never mind, but all institutions must obey rules if they want money and that’s roughly what Canada’s Prime Minister said.
“An organization that has the explicit purpose of restricting women’s rights by removing rights to abortion and the rights for women to control their own bodies is not in line with where we are as a government and quite frankly where we are as a society,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at a town hall in Hamilton, Ont. on Wednesday.
In a statement, a representative for Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour Patty Hajdu said, "We are committed to ... ensuring that federal funding supports employment opportunities that respect existing laws, including human rights law and labor law, to which public, private and not-for-profit organizations are already subject."
Hajdu’s office confirmed that religious groups would only be excluded if their core mandate was connected to anti-abortion or anything that violates human rights under the Charter. They still actively encourage faith-based groups to apply for funding.
Photo Credits: Wikimedia
