A teen was asked by his employers at a safety meeting: “What steps would you take in the event of a fire?”
“Really big ones!” was the wrong answer.
Or how about this message posted on a teen’s bedroom door: “If my alarm is set for 6 a.m. and you wake me up at 5:55 a.m., prepare to die!”
Nevertheless, parents want their teens to have the opportunity to gain experience from summer employment. This may be one of the reasons why concern regarding the Canada Summer Jobs program isn’t going away any time soon. Most faith-based organizations feel that checking off the required attestation would be a violation of conscience. This includes a wide array of groups that are united on this issue – including Muslim imams, Sikh leaders, Jewish, Egyptian Copts and Christian denominations.
One major consequence could be services becoming limited or unavailable to Canadians. These services include: summer camps, athletic programs, inner-city work, maintenance, counselling, food banks, shelters and other opportunities for Canadian youth.
[emember_protected for=”2″ custom_msg=’For more on this story, please see the Feb. 2 print edition of The Cross Roads.’]
A popular question posed by Canadians is: “Since employers are not allowed to ask applicants questions regarding their personal values, why is the government doing it and denying applicants based on their response?”
Other concerned citizens are asking if this is just the beginning? If the government can apply this values test to one program, will it apply it elsewhere? It’s a valid concern that appears to be coming into play.
Recently requirements for the updated Canada Service Corps program were announced. Much like the Canada Summer Jobs program, the Canada Service Corps will not approve funding for any projects deemed to not “respect existing individual human rights in Canada, including the values underlying the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms”, which include reproductive rights. Unlike the jobs program, organizations won’t be required to sign anything attesting to their values. Instead, the department reviewing the applications decide if the program meets the government’s requirements.
When the prime minister was asked if the eligibility rules for the Canada Summer Jobs would extend to any other areas of the government, he responded saying, the government would be thoughtful about ensuring rights are protected, and people can expect them to be consistent on that.
But do Canadians want more of that? Recently, 25,000 Canadians objected to the horrific act of female genital mutilation being allowed in Canada; consequently safeguards were kept in place. It was a common sense response, and the only response that made any sense.
So once again, Canadians are looking for a common sense response from our Government. Many Canadians do not want this to be just the beginning; they want and deserve fair and equitable treatment.
What steps would you take if your rights and freedoms were taken away? “Big ones, heading straight to government to take them back.”
That’s the correct answer.
[/emember_protected] 
