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ONTARIO, July 8, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – A Canadian federal judge has ruled that the Canadian government unfairly denied access to an Ontario University and a Bible camp to Canada’s Summer Jobs Program (CSJ) because they hold traditional Christian views on marriage and family.
In a judgment made last week, the Honourable Justice Richard Mosley of Canada’s Federal court said the government had breached “procedural fairness” in how it treated the Redeemer University, located in Hamilton, Ontario.
Mosley ruled that CSJ funding for the school was denied solely because it holds the biblical view that marriage is between a man and a woman. He then ordered the federal government to pay the school’s full legal costs, a total of $102,000.
Albertos Polizogopoulos, a lawyer representing Redeemer University, said in a National Post report that he has “never seen that in any court, let alone the federal court,” adding that Mosley’s ruling was a “punitive” measure against the federal government.
Redeemer University had applied in 2019 for $104,187 in funds from the CSJ program to help pay the costs for 11 temporary openings at the school.
The school was denied the funds after a time lag of two months on the grounds that the school could not validate “that measures have been implemented to provide a workplace free of harassment and discrimination.”
The controversy surrounding the Canada Summer Jobs Program (CSJ) began in 2017 after then Employment, Workforce and Labour Minister Patty Hajdu mandated that groups wishing to receive funding from program sign an attestation supporting the so-called “right” to abortion.
At the time, applicants to the CSJ had to sign a document affirming that “both the job and the organization's core mandate must respect individual human rights in Canada, including the values underlying the Canadian Charter of Rights & Freedoms as well as other rights.”
The guide stated that the “rights” to which employers were obliged to pledge to included abortion access, as well as LGBTQ and transgender ideology.
After backlash, Hajdu said the government was modifying the controversial 2018 Canada Summer Job attestation, but the revised version in 2019 stated “Any funding under the Canada Summer Jobs program will not be used to undermine or restrict the exercise of rights legally protected in Canada.”
Also added to the revised attestation was the requirement to explain “how your organization will be providing a safe, inclusive, and healthy work environment free of harassment and discrimination.”
Judge also rules in favor of Bible Camp
In another ruling, Mosley declared that Mill Stream Bible Camp operated by BCM Canada International was unfairly denied $45,600 in funds for six jobs for summer camp counsellors because of their traditional Christian views.
According to Mill Stream’s legal team at the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF), Mosley ordered the federal government to pay the camp’s legal costs.
The JCCF was in court on behalf of Mill Stream on April 14, 2021.
According to the JCCF, internal government records obtained by them showed that Mill Stream was deemed “ineligible for grants from the Canada Summer Jobs program on account of its Christian beliefs.”
In 2019, BCM Canada International sued the federal government due to being denied funding from the CSJ program.
The JCCF also noted that BCM Canada International had for years received funding from the CSJ program, but that Service Canada claimed that summer camp positions at Mill Stream would “restrict access to programs, services, or employment, or otherwise discriminate, contrary to applicable laws, on the basis of prohibited grounds, including sex, genetic characteristics, religion, race, national or ethnic origin, colour, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression.”
This meant the camp was not able to hire enough counselors and was limited in its operations in 2019.
Mosley said that “The Minister did not provide (BCM) an opportunity to provide relevant evidence” in denying the decision to not provide CSJ funds.
“As a result, the Minister breached her procedural fairness obligation, wrote Mosley.
“It remains to be considered, perhaps in another case, whether government officials should be basing their program advice to Ministers on their opinions of what constitutes ‘controversial church beliefs.’”
Jay Cameron, Litigation Director for the JCCF said that despite the fact “religious organizations do an incredible amount of charitable work in Canada,” Mosley’s ruling shows that “the federal government has continued its campaign of discrimination against those who hold beliefs the government disagrees with.”
“Such actions are directly contrary to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which protects the right of religious groups to hold and profess their beliefs, and to associate accordingly to carry out their charitable purposes. Allowing government employees to dictate who can and cannot participate in a government program, based on the beliefs or bias of those government employees, is absolutely unacceptable in a free and democratic society.”