Whose values?

The Canada Summer Jobs program should be about students getting seasonal employment, gaining valuable workplace experience and helping fund their education.

What could go wrong? Just ask the federal government which became entangled in a year-long controversy, largely of its own making.

Trouble began in 2016 when an MP approved funding for an anti-abortion group in her riding. A summer job protesting outside a women’s clinic stretches the limit of what a taxpayer-funded summer jobs program is all about. Soon, pro-choice groups were lobbying to deny funding to groups which offer anti-abortion activities.

The Liberals rushed in last December with an ill-advised attestation requirement for 2018 – that applicants must express support for the government’s position on reproductive rights. All employers seeking a grant had to attest that both the job and the organization’s core mandate respect values in the charter of rights and freedoms.

The Liberals’ values test saw more than 1,500 Canada Summer Jobs applications rejected this year, including many from Atlantic Canada. Hundreds of other organizations withdrew their applications or did not apply due to their refusal to sign the attestation.

Many applications were for ecological and environmental projects, with no connection to charter or reproductive rights. But sponsors refused to check the attestation box because they believed it was an unconstitutional incursion by the federal government. No check box, no federal dollars.

Should federal program funding be dependent on applications supporting a Liberal platform or party ideology? It was a leap that enraged church, faith groups and many others across the nation. Protecting charter rights for some Canadians shouldn’t depend on violating religious and free speech rights for others.

Ottawa took steps recently to ease those concerns, dropping its attestation requirements – sort of. The new wording states any funding under the job program will not be used to undermine or restrict the exercise of rights legally protected in Canada. The application also lists projects and activities that are ineligible for funding, including those that “actively work to undermine or restrict a woman’s access to sexual and reproductive health services.”

While not satisfying everyone, it goes a long way to addressing the concerns of many religious and faith groups. But concern remains that the application process continues to suppress viewpoints not shared by the government. Many groups are still waiting to see the exact wording.

While the revisions appease faith groups and other organizations that opposed the values test, it closes the same door on pro-life organizations. Groups advocating against abortion rights or the equality of LGBTQ community will not get funding.

A federal values’ test has no place in a tolerant, multicultural society such as Canada. In its rush to defend the rights of some, Ottawa infringed on the rights of many others.

Employment Minister Patty Hajdu said the changes are a reflection of conversations with Canadians – of government listening to a variety of voices. A looming federal election and nine federal court cases challenging the attestation requirement probably had something to do with them as well.