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CUPE Funds Campaign to Save Activist Court Challenges Program

Public servants fund campaign to save taxpayer funding for program to force government to change laws

By Gudrun Schultz

OTTAWA, Ontario, October 10, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Canadian Union of Public Employees is contributing funds to a campaign to “save” the controversial Court Challenges Program recently cut from federal funding, according to CUPE’s special Save the Court Challenges Program website. (http://www.savecourtchallenges.ca/action/savecourtchallenges?gclid=COTcmvie7IcCF...)

The CUPE, Canada’s largest union, which represents taxpayer paid federal public servants, has consistently supported activist groups pushing for pro-homosexual and pro-abortion issues, using mandatory worker’s dues for funding. The union actively participated in promoting legislation for homosexual “marriage”, lobbying before the House of Commons Justice Committee in 2003 in a show of support for homosexual activism.

While the CCP was originally billed as a funding source for nationally-significant legal cases, in particular those dealing with language rights, the Court Challenges program quickly became a vehicle for activist organizations furthering social engineering goals.

A 2004 report by Family News in Focus pointed out that while pro-life and traditional family groups were  denied funding under the CCP, organizations challenging family autonomy through radical interpretation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms were consistently subsidized by the organization.

While the CCP claims to be “completely accountable to the Canadian people,” the program was shielded from Access to Information legislation under the Liberals, effectively preventing an accurate accounting of where taxpayers’ money goes.

Lorne Gunter, writing for the National Post September 27, pointed out that in all the years of its existence the CCP has never funded any case other than those “brought by leftist special interests.”

The CUPE-funded campaign to reinstate the program implies that constitutional protection for the rights of the poor are threatened by the loss of the program.

“Without the Court Challenges Program, most people have no access to their constitutional rights. Without it, rights are only meaningful for the rich.”

In fact, as Gunter pointed out, the two main beneficiaries of CCP funding--the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund and the homosexual activist group EGALE--are two of the most powerful lobby groups in the country.

REAL Women of Canada, a pro-family women’s rights organization that has opposed the CCP for years, in September warned Canadians opposed to the policies of the CCP of an accelerating campaign by program supporters to reinstate the Program.

“Numerous newspaper articles and letters to the editor have been flooding the country over the past few days,” REAL Women’s announcement stated. “However, these articles and letters have not been telling the real story behind the CCP which has had such a powerful influence in shaping the social values of our country over the years. The truth about the CCP is that is has been used to allow left-wing special interest groups to bypass Parliament and allow controversial social issues to be resolved by judicial fiat. The cancellation of the CCP was long overdue.”

See related LifeSiteNews coverage:

Don't expect the Court Challenges Program to go Quietly
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/sep/06092811.html

Canadian Conservatives Look for End of Liberal Founded Court Challenges Program
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/sep/06090705.html

LARGEST CANADIAN UNION ARGUES FOR HOMOSEXUAL MARRIAGE
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2003/feb/03022707.html

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