A Religious Freedom Issue

From the Issachar Group

The EMCC as an affiliate partner with the EFC (Evangelical Fellowship of Canada) relies on the research capacities of the EFC to provide background, perspective and suggested ways we can respond to social and religious freedom issues. The Federal Government has made the Canada Summer Jobs Grants program a religious freedom issue. Your urgent response to your MP and to Patty Hajdu, Minister of Workforce Development and Labour is called for! Please take time to look at the EFC website to learn how you can respond. On the EFC website, you will find:

    1. A helpful statement consisting of:

• Background to the issue;
• What the EFC is doing; and
• What you can do.

   
    2. A sample letter written to Minister Hajdu which provides reasons why the change in guidelines to the Canada Summer Jobs Grants program are discriminatory and will hurt the people of Canada.

A word of encouragement! Do not despair if the Federal Government refuses to alter course. Our God is bigger than our government and God’s people will be generous when called upon. Our duty as Christ followers is to be the voice of conscience to our governments for as long as we can. If our government chooses to ignore our voice we then alter course and press on!

If your Canada Summer Jobs Application has been returned...
See this important next step offered by the Canadian Council of Christian Charities.

If you are applying for a Canada Summer Jobs Grant...

The Canadian Council of Christian Charities has provided this helpful notice:

It is vitally important that if you would like to hire summer students, you do apply to the program as usual, but apply using the paper option, NOT the online option. That way, you can add margin notes to your application, and the government will know you have applied. Details about how to complete the application are in the FAQ​ blog post​ below​, along with two requests.

• FAQs: We have received many emails and phone calls about this, and we respond to common questions here.
  
  
• Keep Us Informed: Please contact us to let us know about the success of your application for a Canada Summer Jobs program grant for 2018. We want to keep track of the actual experience that our members have with this program.
  
  
• Application Denied? If you have received funding in the past but in 2018 it is denied because of your refusal to accept the government's attestation, please email us at the CCCC office as to the next steps.