Please click here to read a letter from Cardinal Collins about the Canada Summer Jobs program and a media release from the Archdiocese of Toronto.
Please click here to read Bishop Fabbro's update and message of thanks.
The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has released an update about the Canada Summer Jobs Program (dated March 28, 2018). This statement was issued in the name of the ecumenical and interfaith participants who were part of a meeting on March 21 with the Honourable Patricia A. Hajdu, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, at which the CCCB was represented by His Eminence Thomas Cardinal Collins. The update is further to information already shared by Cardinal Collins with the other members of the Permanent Council. The text is posted on the CCCB website and the sites of the other participants in the meeting, and has also been made available to media. Please feel free to share it with your own family and friends.
The statement is accompanied by information concerning the attestation – both the original wording which is on the government’s website as well as possible new wording which was proposed by the ecumenical and interfaith representatives but rejected by the Minister. This information about the attestation is currently available only in English; the French version will be made available as soon as possible.
Please click here to read the update.
The "attestation" has been in the headlines repeatedly, since it was announced just before Christmas. Click here to see a list of story links compiled as of April 5, 2018: Canada Summer Jobs in the Headlines. All of the hyperlinks are clickable.Excerpted from a Jan. 11, 2018 statement by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops:
Employment and Social Development Canada posted information on its website, dated 19 December 2017, announcing a major change to its requirements regarding applications for federal funding under its Canada Summer Jobs program for youth employment. Attestation must now be included 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."
This new policy conflicts directly with the right to freedom of religion and conscience which too are enshrined in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms as well as in associated case law. It seriously undermines the right to religious freedom since the Government of Canada is directly limiting the right of religious traditions to hold, teach and practise their principles and values in public.
In addition to the obvious and regrettable infringement of freedom of conscience and religion in such matters as are raised by the new policy, there will be unfortunate consequences on the ground: summer camps will be forced to close; the services of numerous non-profit organizations will be reduced; valuable opportunities for apprenticeship will be lost. These effects, to name but a few, will be felt in Catholic dioceses and organizations as well as in many other faith communities across Canada.
To read the entire statement please click here.
Click here to read the interfaith statement of concern signed by more than 80 Canada religious leaders about the Canada Summer Jobs Program.
Click here to watch a video of the live news conference held Jan. 25, 2018. Please note: the news conference begins around 18 minute and 40 seconds into the video recording)
If you would like to write your local MP and express your concerns, and would like some help with the text, here are some samples provided by the Archdiocese of Toronto: https://www.archtoronto.org/summerjobs/Pages/sample-letters.aspx
Photo from one of our CCLC camp weeks - Mass with Fr. Peter Keller. View more photos here.