Just remove the check box from the form

Marianna Harris and Lucille Swerdelian are troubled by Trudeau’s interference with the student summer job program.

Marianna Harris, a retired United Church pastor, used funding from the then-Conservative government to hire one student every summer to coordinate her congregation's social media accounts and plan activities like a community teddy bear picnic. With the new announcement, she told The House she fears for other groups with similar values.
"If the job that's being done is against government policy, then maybe they don't get [funding], but it's not just [based on] what they believe. There's a difference between those two things," she said.
While many pro-choice advocates are lauding the government's stance, others across the country share Harris's unease.
"It is not just a religious issue. There are non-religious groups that see this interference as the beginning of government dictating personal ideology," Lucille Swerdelian said in an email to The House.

Marianna Harris wishes the political side could be removed from the issue entirely.

"That's why I wanted to speak up for these people, because I think those grants need to be free of political influence," she stated.
"I'd say take those check marks off that form because it's creating too much difficulty for some faith groups."

Deborah Gyapong reports that Minister Hajdu stands by ‘mandate’ of summer jobs funding as opposition grows. She quotes Neil McCarthy, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Toronto.

“There doesn’t appear to be any change,” said Neil McCarthy, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Toronto, one of many Catholic dioceses telling applicants not to sign the attestation. “There is still a requirement to check an attestation box that endorses values that are not part of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and that would run counter to the conscience and beliefs of countless religious organizations and many other Canadians.”

 Stephen Maher comments that Liberals are choosing to play politics with summer camp funding, and taking a stupid legal risk in the process.

The government could easily change the document to respond to the concerns of religious groups, narrowing the language to make certain that the summer students don’t spend their time handing out anti-abortion pamphlets, but they are instead choosing to play politics with summer camp funding.

References




(2018, January 27). Government faces pushback for injecting politics into summer jobs .... Retrieved January 27, 2018, from http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thehouse/when-metoo-and-time-s-up-collide-with-canadian-politics-1.4503794/government-faces-pushback-for-injecting-politics-into-summer-jobs-1.4506362

(2018, January 24). Minister Hajdu stands by 'mandate' of summer jobs funding as .... Retrieved January 27, 2018, from https://www.catholicregister.org/item/26706-minister-hajdu-stands-by-mandate-of-summer-jobs-funding-as-opposition-grows

(2018, January 19). Justin Trudeau should read the Charter of Rights - Macleans.ca. Retrieved January 22, 2018, from http://www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/justin-trudeau-should-read-the-charter-of-rights/