Grants from Canada Summer Jobs Program Support Political Attacks on Human Rights

NATIONAL — Federal government grants from the Canada Summer Jobs program for youth have provided ongoing support to political organizations that advocate against human rights, including the right to abortion, doctor-assisted dying, and LGBT rights.

Grants from the Canada Summer Jobs program are supposed to help young people gain the skills, abilities and work experience they need to find and maintain good employment. According to Employment and Social Development Canada, these grants are intended to support the provision of services in the community, support local priorities, and provide career-related work experience or early work experience.

“Funding anti-human rights groups does not support communities or teach skills that lead to full-time paid employment with ethical employers,” said Joyce Arthur, Executive Director of the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (ARCC). Of particular concern to ARCC is the funding of the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform (CCBR), an extremist political organization that is best known for its offensive campaigns against abortion using graphic images of aborted fetuses, including postcards hand-delivered to homes, highway banners that have caused traffic accidents, and the anti-Semitic “Genocide Awareness Project” that trivializes the Holocaust by comparing it to abortion.

“The government should not be funding groups that try to remove human rights with bullying and harassment campaigns,” said Arthur.

“The Canada Summer Jobs program should revise its criteria to make it clear that groups are ineligible if they will use government money to train young people to oppose human rights protected by the Charter and Supreme Court decisions,” said Kathy Dawson of Alberta Pro-Choice Coalition and spokesperson for ARCC.

“We call on the Employment and Social Development Canada, Service Canada, and elected Members of Parliament to permanently and completely stop funding CCBR’s hateful campaign against women, trans men and non-binary people, and all other funding that supports anti-human rights organizations.”

Background facts and figures:

Fact sheet on four funded political organizations: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7twzwJxG8BeXzczTEg5TUYwNGs/view?usp=sharing

Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) grant reports: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B7twzwJxG8BeZ1hoZ3dpVnNvZnc?usp=sharing  

Canada Summer Job Funding to Anti-Human Rights Groups, for the period 2010-2017

	2010-	2011-	2012-	2013-	2014-	2015-	2016-	Grand
Political Organization	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	Total
Canadian Centre for Bio-
Ethical Reform (CCBR)		16,205	15,040	16,380	21,156	17,136	56,695	142,612
Campaign Life Coalition		14,201	27,891	28,520	36,447	39,054	40,868	186,981
Life Site News	4,630		2,468		2,504			9,602
Wilberforce Project (formerly Alberta Pro-life)			5,045					5,045
Grand Total	4,630	30,406	50,444	44,900	60,107	56,190	97,563	344,240

Some of CCBR’s political activities, supported by Canada Summer Jobs grants, include the:

• “Abortion Caravan”:
• Fetal gore on a van travelling across Canada, timed with Canada Day
• Graphic fetal gore postcards to every home
• Fetal gore pictures hanging from a pole in your neighbourhood
• Newspapers, radios swamped with anti-abortion propaganda
• “Genocide Awareness Project” – graphic displays on campuses and near schools
• An anti-Semitic comparison of abortion to the Holocaust and other horrific genocides
• Implying that pregnant people and their healthcare providers are committing genocide by accessing abortion care.
• “Face the Children” campaign of graphic postcards delivered to every constituent of the Liberal premier of New Brunswick (Brian Gallant), and six federal Members of Parliament (Stephen Harper, Michelle Rempel, Bal Gosal, Parm Gill, Rick Dykstra, and Chris Charlton).
• “No to Trudeau” campaign during 2015 federal election campaign – over one million graphic postcards were delivered to homes across Canada, targeting Justin Trudeau for supporting abortion.
• Samples from their site: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B7twzwJxG8BeZ2FobWVfdU1jbk0?usp=sharing

Media Contacts:

Joyce Arthur	Executive Director / Directrice générale, ARCC-CDAC, Vancouver	joyce@arcc-cdac.ca	604-351-0867
Kathy Dawson	Alberta Pro-Choice Coalition, Edmonton	kathy@arcc-cdac.ca	780-914-4695
Carolyn Egan	Ontario Coalition for Abortion Clinics, Toronto	c.egan@sympatico.ca	416-806-7985
Peggy Cooke	ARCC-CDAC, Toronto	pedgehog@gmail.com	416-709-1457
Julie Lalonde (parle français)	ARCC-CDAC, Ottawa	julie.s.lalonde@gmail.com	613-301-2697
Josie Baker	PEI Abortion Rights Network, Charlottetown	peiabortionrights@gmail.com	902-368-7337
Christopher Kaposy, PhD	Ethicist, Memorial University / Éthicien, Université Memorial, St. Johns NL / T.-N.	christopher.kaposy@med.mun.ca	709-864-3375 (w / bur.)