FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 December 7, 2018

Ray Pennings, Executive Vice President of think tank Cardus, released the following statement today regarding the recently announced changes to the Canada Summer Jobs grant program for 2019:

“We’re glad to see that the government realized last year’s changes to the Canada Summer Jobs program violated the fundamental human rights of freedom of religion, freedom of conscience, and freedom of speech, even though this realization comes a year late and after causing real harm to approximately 1,500 organizations and many more young people.

There is still the potential for problems, however, with the new eligibility criteria. They apply an internal values test on applicants using opaque wording subject to interpretation by the government of the day behind closed doors. The proof of genuine respect for Canada’s religious pluralism will come when we see how many and which organizations whose applications the government rejected in 2018 successfully apply for the 2019 program. 

The new requirements are also redundant in terms of human rights. Employers are already guided by very robust human rights codes. Asking employers to adhere to already existing codes comes across as empty virtue signalling.”

MEDIA INQUIRIES
 Daniel Proussalidis
 Cardus – Director of Communications
 613-241-4500 x508
 dproussalidis@cardus.ca