Abortion Group That Helped Deny Summer Jobs Funds to Pro-Life Groups Now Working With ‘Dying With Dignity’ to Do the Same for MAID Opponents

A hospitalized patient lies in in bed while connected to an IV drip tube in this file photo. Shutterstock

The head of a pro-abortion group has written to MPs to have employers opposed to assisted suicide disqualified from receiving funding under the Canada Summer Jobs program. The letter, sent to the House of Commons human resources committee, is from the same group that successfully lobbied in 2017 for funding to be withheld from employers that don’t support abortion.

“Rights include not just reproductive rights but also LGBTQ rights, racial equality, the right to medical assistance in dying and any other fundamental right protected under our Charter and human rights codes,” wrote Vancouver-based Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada executive director Joyce Arthur, in a letter obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter.

The coalition is also partnering with Dying With Dignity Canada, committed to “protecting end-of-life rights,” on a study of individuals who have been “refused MAiD care or information.” In a Dec. 8, 2023, posting titled “Do you know someone who was denied medical assisted [sic] in dying?” the coalition said University of Ottawa researchers are “recruiting participants for a study gathering experiences on belief-based denial of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD).” It says participants will receive Amazon gift certificates for taking part.

The Abortion Rights Coalition says it “strongly opposes belief-based care denial” and is partnering with Dying With Dignity Canada, which has “collected multiple examples from the media of patients forced to transfer from religious hospitals to secular hospitals for MAiD.”

“Our study should shed light on the extent of this practice in Canada, and how to mitigate the harms,” said Ms. Arthur. “We hope this knowledge will help improve access to MAiD, and make the experience less stressful for patients and families.”

The principal investigator of the study is Anvita Dixit, a postdoctoral fellow in interdisciplinary health sciences at the University of Ottawa who works with the National Abortion Federation “contributing to research on demedicalizing medication abortion,” according to the website Our Bodies Ourselves Today, an initiative of the Center for Women’s Health and Human Rights at Boston’s Suffolk University.

MAID has been legal in Canada since 2016 for eligible Canadians who suffer from a terminal illness. It was expanded in 2020 when the House of Commons passed Bill C-7, amending the Criminal Code to allow MAID for Canadians whose natural death is not “reasonably foreseeable.”

Many Christian groups have spoken out against MAID, including the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) and the Canadian Centre for Christian Charities (CCCC), calling out inconsistencies in how funding is awarded under the Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ) program.

Ms. Arthur, in her letter to MPs, said the type of employment being subsidized under CSJ isn’t relevant to the receipt of funding.

“When groups have a main focus on opposing human rights, funding them would contradict and even harm the government’s obligation to ensure equality,” she said in the letter. “Regardless of the Canada Summer job, even if it is to mow the lawn, that work gives sustenance to the group’s harmful mandate and activities.”

The Abortion Rights Coalition succeeded in convincing the government in 2017 that employers should be denied funding if they refused to support abortion.

Employment and Social Development Canada that year changed the application process so that any organization applying for a grant to hire a student would have to sign a federal oath recognizing “the right to access safe and legal abortions” regardless of their purpose in hiring students.

The Right to Life Association of Toronto and the Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform of Calgary sued the government after 1,559 applicants were denied funding because they refused to sign the oath. The lawsuit was settled out of court.

Ottawa, as a result, rewrote the oath in 2018 to require that applicants “respect individual human rights.”

Ms. Arthur referenced that change in her letter.

“My understanding is the changes put in place in December 2018 still have the same basic effect as the original attestation,” she said. “Anti-choice and other groups that primarily work to oppose human rights have their applications rejected out of hand while churches and religious organizations remain eligible as long as they don’t use Canada Summer Jobs funds to discriminate, such as by refusing to hire LGBTQ youth or spending the funds in a way that discriminates or undermines rights.”

Under Review

The CSJ program has been under scrutiny by the Commons human resources committee since last October as part of a review of the program. CSJ provides 50 percent wage subsidies each summer, allowing businesses and charities to hire students aged 15 to 30.

Two Christian organizations recently sent letters to a parliamentary committee saying Christian employers applying for CSJ grants continue to face discrimination by the federal government.

The EFC alleged the Employment Department continues to deem some faith-based groups ineligible for funding, despite a Federal Court ruling three years ago that Christian employers could not be singled out because of their beliefs.

“We are now concerned the values screening has moved behind closed doors,” the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada wrote MPs in a letter obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter earlier this year.

Despite the ruling, the EFC accused federal employees of continuing to flag “some faith-based groups’ applications for review or deem them ineligible for Canada Summer Jobs grants” because they are Christians.

The CCCC also wrote to the MP committee, citing examples of churches being singled out for questioning unrelated to their reason for hiring a summer student.

The CCCC, in a June 2020 blog post, said a B.C. hospice had its funding rescinded by the local health authority after it discovered the facility offered a “life-affirming perspective” with no MAID permitted on site.

“This should serve as a wake-up call for Christian ministries everywhere,” the post said. “It tells us that organizations and ministries that object to MAID will come under increasing scrutiny.”

The CCCC has also expressed concern about a new category of “ineligible employers” that has been added to the 2024 CSJ program.

Previously, employers had to affirm that “any funding under the Canada Summer Jobs program will not be used to undermine or restrict the exercise of rights legally protected in Canada.”

Employers must now attest that “​​I confirm that neither the job activities nor any of the activities of my organization which are directly or indirectly supported by the job activities in any way infringe, undermine, weaken, or restrict the exercise of rights legally protected in Canada.”

The CCCC said it is concerned about the new wording.

“We trust that the new category of ineligible applicants will not be used so as to exclude more faith-based organizations; however, it does beg the question, what purpose will it serve?” the blog post author wrote, adding that “it seems that it may be used to justify an expanded ability for ESDC staff to look beyond the job or job activities.”

The CCCC has promised to “closely monitor” how the modified clauses might impact faith-based organizations’ CSJ Applications.

The Epoch Times contacted Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault’s office for comment but did not hear back by press time.