Churches, Charities Face Loss of Summer Jobs Funding

Hundreds of churches and charities across Canada, including Mountainview Christian Reformed Church in Grimsby, Ont., will not receive funds from the Canadian government to hire students for work in one of their programs or ministries this summer.

That is because Mountainview CRC and others have concerns over questions asking them to attest that they agree with the government’s stance on reproductive rights and other issues on an application for the Canada Summer Jobs program.

“The government decision will affect us big-time. We will have to raise our fees and raise funds, but we will be holding the camp,” said Alice Posthumus, ministry and worship coordinator at Mountainview CRC, which last year used funds from the jobs program to hire 12 young people to work at the six-week summer camp.

Challenging as this may be, they didn’t check the box because, said Posthumus, “We believed we had to stand up for our beliefs with our brothers and sisters in Christ and work with whatever hand God has given us. We believe the government is infringing on people’s rights.”

In Dec. 2017, the Canadian government announced its decision that any group or organization seeking funding through the Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ) program must attest in writing that they respect individual human rights in Canada, including what the government calls reproductive rights and the right to be free from discrimination on the basis of many categories.

After that, many faith-based groups and offices such as the Christian Reformed Church’s Centre for Public Dialogue protested the move and rallied behind a legal challenge to the provision.

But Canada’s House of Commons voted last week to defeat a motion, put forth by lawmakers from the Conservative Party, that criticized the attestation requirement.

“We are very concerned about this,” said Mike Hogeterp, director of the Centre for Public Dialogue. “The CSJ program has provided helpful funding for community service and youth leadership development. The attestation requirement places unfair limits on those opportunities.”

Through funding from the jobs program, churches, charities, and other groups have been able to hire students to participate in many different programs -- from food banks or soup kitchens, to refugee support programs for refugees, to camp experiences for young people who couldn’t otherwise afford it.

Apparently the decision to require the attestation was driven by media reports from last summer that suggested “radical pro-life groups” were using the CSJ funding to pay people to push their agenda, said Hogeterp.

“I think all Canadians need to think long and hard about this situation,” said Barry Bussey, legal director of the Canadian Council of Churches, an organization of which the CRC in Canada is a member. He helped to encourage the opposition leadership to develop a motion questioning the attestation requirement that went before lawmakers but was defeated.

“Government has made it very clear that it has no problem with compelling speech of applicants for funding,” said Bussey.

As a result of the new rule, the government has rejected more than 1,500 applications from groups refusing to sign the attestation. Last year that number was about 125.

“The affected charities will now have to consider whether they will undertake further options such as seeking legal remedies,” said Bussey.

That means this could turn into a time of “soul searching as charities do not want to be involved in court, but they want to do their charitable work,” said Bussey.

Before the March 19 vote in Parliament, the Centre for Public Dialogue sent out an online action alert making CRC members aware of the “attestation requirement” and how it denies “government funding to reputable organizations because their perspectives on reproductive rights are not the same as the government’s beliefs.”

Response to the action alert was positive, said Danielle Steenwyk-Rowaan, coordinator of the CRC’s Justice Communications Team. “In less than a week, more than 150 people from coast to coast urged their Members of Parliament to support the Opposition motion questioning these new requirements,” she said.

Shannon Jammal Hollemans, racial justice team leader for the CRC offices of Social Justice and Race Relations, said the denomination has a long history of speaking to governments and advocating for the protection of human life.

In 1972, she said, synod called believers to promote legislation that reflects the biblical teachings about preborn human life (Acts of Synod 1972, pp. 63-64), and Synod 1976 endorsed a human life amendment to the U.S. Constitution (Acts of Synod 1976, pp. 63-64).

In addressing the issue of human life, the synods were following the call to speak out to public issues when necessary.

“As far back as 1937, synod declared that political matters are church matters when ‘doctrinal and ethical issues of sufficient moment and magnitude are involved’ [Acts of Synod 1937, p. 11],” said Jammal-Hollemans.

As Reformed Christians, it is important to join with others at times such as this “to speak truth to power,” she said.

The current situation is complicated.

Andrew Hibma, who runs New Hope Bikes in Hamilton, Ont., said his board of directors discussed the issue at length.

Given the nature and focus of their ministry, they decided to check the box, said Hibma.

Once a ministry of New Hope CRC in Hamilton, the bike program has grown into a separate non-profit that now has a storefront that helps people in the community repair their bikes. They also hold bike drives, repair bikes and sell them, and hold classes in local schools about bike-riding and repair and safety.

“Biking is our focus, but we see ourselves as taking part in the restoration process. If something is broken, we fix it and make it so it can be useful again,” said Hibma.

New Hope Bikes has received summer job program grants over the years to hire a few high-school and college students to work in the ministry during the summer, “which is our busy time,” said Hibma.

Even though many members of his board of directors are pro-life advocates, they agreed to go ahead and do what was needed to receive funding this year.

“We talked it through and, as an organization, we don’t have a stance on this issue,” said Hibma. “We don’t require our staff to have certain beliefs. We don’t have a faith statement at the forefront of what we do.”

By checking the box, they will be eligible to be assessed to receive funding this summer and will be able to hire workers.

“I know this is a difficult thing and there are different views on it,” said Hibma. “I’m on the board of a summer camp, and it decided not to” check the box and won’t be getting money from the Canadian government this year.