Canada Summer Jobs: The Round-Up (for now)

I'm still laughing about this.

Visitors to DJ! over the past two or so weeks may have been bored to tears by noticed my rather compulsive compilations of apparently religious outfits that appear on the Canada Summer Jobs list of successful employers, i.e. groups that signed the evil abortion clause.

My point, of course, was to demonstrate that many, many religious organizations understood perfectly well what the government was trying to accomplish with the attestation despite the shrieking and spin from Conservatives, media, and the Church. The point was made by Michael Coren who had access to "official documents."

Official documents show that of the 2,728 faith-based organizations that applied for summer jobs funding this year, 58 per cent were willing to sign the attestation. Of the 115 Anglican groups that applied, only 10 refused so sign, and only two of the 199 United Church-affiliated organizations refused. Even more startling, none of the 89 Jewish or 130 Muslim groups withheld their support. Which leaves evangelical groups and, of course, Roman Catholics.

Opposition to abortion has become an absolute of conservative Catholic opinion even though, it should be noted, Canadian Catholics in general do not share this view and progressive Catholics have a far more nuanced approach.

Also, there is far more ambiguity in the Catholic response to the program than we have been led to believe. Contrary to what many critics of the policy have claimed, of the 365 Catholic organizations applying for funding, the overwhelming majority signed on, with less than a third (32 per cent) refusing to do so.

Indeed, the Catholic website, LieShite did their own compilation and came up with the number "157 identifiably Catholic groups" who checked the box.

“We didn’t start this controversy,” [Cardinal Thomas] Collins told Vatican Radio in February. “We’re trying to be cooperative, but we cannot check off the box.”

But despite this, at least 157 identifiably Catholic groups have done just that, according to the database of Canada Summer Job grant recipients for 2018, available online for some weeks.

Of these, the majority — 107, or 68 percent — are parishes, but charities, school boards, religious orders, hospitals, a day care, and care homes are also listed.

And even Jesuits!

LifeShite links to a PDF documenting who's keeping the dough, who's returning it, and who didn't bother to respond to LieShite's demand for explanations.

The site says that 30 groups intend to return the money. But sadly, not before:

They have now disappeared, but not, unfortunately, before a pro-abortion blogger gleefully displayed a screenshot of their names, with the derisive comment: “Make up you [sic] mind, guys.”

Of course that was me here. The typo was gratuitous.

The same day LieShite broke the news that 157 Catholic groups wanted the dough more than the martyrgasm, it also published a story about people "knowingly" ticking the box.

So, it looks like the evil-doers are getting spanked in public. I wonder if we'll ever know if they do actually return the money.

I've checked out the whole country now and I must say that we have an impressive array of do-gooders and entrepreneurs out there. As Coren says, not only Catholics, but other Christians, Jews, and Muslims will hire students with government help this summer.

In my perusal, I found Buddhists in Thornhill, atheists (!) in Lanark, and Knights of Columbus (!!!) in Miramichi and Sydney-Victoria. Coren doesn't mention a large number of Sikh groups, mostly in BC and Ontario.

Remember, this all started with Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada volunteers examining Canada Revenue charitable tax filings then matching the "government" funding up with Canada Summer Jobs.

Here are the info sheets. Funny, but absolutely nobody has picked up on the fact that ARCC also identified dozens of groups who did not properly report government funding. There is also a searchable PDF of which anti-choice groups got CSJ money, in which ridings, from which MPs and parties.

Finally, I'm happy to report that only one (maybe two) identified anti-choice group -- a fake clinic in Kitchener -- got approved this year. (The maybe second one is a maternity home partnered with a fake clinic in Calgary.

A friend had noted anti-LGBTQ groups that got CSJ money previously. They were happy to report that only three such groups succeeded this year, including Echo Lake Bible Camp in Saskatchewan.

So. The attestation is working as intended. We are pleased.

ADDED: Lists of religious groups getting Canada Summer Jobs money by province.

Ontario religious groups, part 1

Ontario, part 2

Alberta religious groups

Saskatchewan

Nova Scotia

Newfoundland and Labrador

British Columbia

Manitoba

PEI and territories

Nova Scotia

Quebec

New Brunswick

MASSIVE Temper Tantrum over Canada Summer Jobs

OK, it was to be expected that Fetus Freaks would freak out over having their funding threatened, but not even long-time observers (ahem) of their hilarious hyperbole saw this banshee-like SHRIEEK-fest coming.

Here are just a few of the terms used to characterize the very modest change to Canada Summer Jobs program eligibility (insert mandatory exclamation marks after each entry!!!!!):

"thought/belief control"
"ideological coercion"
"tyrannical"
"loyalty oath"
"ideological purity test"
"witch hunt" (I always love this one applied to xians)
"freedom under threat"
"totalitarianism"

And that's not even getting into the comments on their reality-impaired sites, where "Satan" figures prominently.

LifeShite broke the story on December 14, after a leak by über-anti-choice MP Brad Trost.

Global News also reported on it here with an update on December 19 when the program officially launched for 2018.

Back in September last year, we reported on some early findings by volunteer researchers at Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (ARCC).

Many anti-choice organizations, like Fake Clinics, have been granted charitable status and as such are required to file annual, public financial reports to Canada Revenue Agency.

ARCC volunteers took a peek at these filings and found that Fake Clinics were listing revenue from "Government." Well, this revelation begged for further research, didn't it?

After some more nosing around, a major source was pinned down -- the federal Canada Summer Jobs program.

A ton more work later, ARCC issued a media release.


When iPolitics found a Liberal (!) MP who had approved a sizeable grant to the loathsome Fetal Gore Gang, well, the shit hit the fan.

Then, the CPC nominee for Status of Women Committee, anti-choice Rachael Harder, was discovered to have also approved grants to Fake Clinics. More shit, more fans.

Then the "feminist" government announced that it would no longer allow federal funding to go to anti-choice groups.

There was some screeching at the time, but when the program was set to launch, Trost released the details. There is now a requirement that the recipients of tax-payers' dough respect the laws and Charter of Canada

To be eligible, the job must respect individual human rights in Canada, including the values underlying the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Charter) as well as other rights. These include reproductive rights and the right to be free from discrimination on the basis of sex, religion, race, national or ethnic origin, colour, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression.

Onerous, eh?

Or, as Michael Coren writing at iPolitics says:

What the government is suggesting is that it’s absurd for the public to directly fund and support groups that oppose the laws followed and the values held by the vast majority of Canadians. A very modest, very Canadian idea indeed.

Modest, Mr Coren? This is the END, the END, I tell you of civilization in Canada.

There have been 13 stories (so far) at LieShite about this, including one from the spokesthingy for the obnoxious Fetal Gore Gang.

LieShite is running a petition and a postcard campaign. Campaign Lie is also running a petition.

It seems all of these groups have a direct interest in this. Look at these numbers.



In addition to the 13 stories, there is this quick backgrounder on Justin Trudeau's tyrannical acts towards xians.

This news is only Trudeau’s latest attack on people of faith. The prime minister who so admires China for its “basic dictatorship” began his mandate with a mission to transform Canadian society into his libertine, anti-life image, and he has pursued this agenda with utter resolve.

I've got more to say about this, but I'm going to end for now with this eminently sensible comment on the Coren piece by Celia Posyniak.

It’s high time that government funding of anti-choice “pregnancy care” centres and extremist groups such as the Canadian Centre for Bioethical Reform (CCBR) [Fetal Gore Gang] ended. The so-called “pregnancy care” centres disseminate misleading information on abortion, use scare tactics to talk women into continuing pregnancies and then encourage adoption. They promote themselves through misleading advertising that hides who they are (evangelicals) and their true purpose – to convert clients to Christianity and “save” their babies. They are not interested in women who wish to continue their pregnancies and need support. They are only targeting what they call “abortion-minded” women. For this they are granted charitable status, which is bad enough. Granting them taxpayer money for an operation that at best can be described as disingenuous and is often harmful to women by delaying health care is ridiculous. So kudos to the Liberals for ending this sham.

As for the CCBR – their anti-social extremist behaviour should not be rewarded with taxpayer funds. They do not have charitable status and are in fact a political group seeking to undermine fundamental human rights. If you are going to fund them, you might as well fund alt right groups. Or if you think that’s too extreme a comparison, funding the CCBR is like funding anti-vaxxer groups that also work against public health and safety. Would Canadians be happy to see their money frittered away on that cause?

Let these anti-choice groups function on their own. If they can garner enough public support and convince Canadians of their position, then so be it. The government never gave groups like the Canadian Abortion Rights Action League money to promote the repeal of abortion laws. CARAL was successful through grass roots support and without charitable status.

LifeSite Is Just Embarrassing Itself: Fetal Pain Redux

They really got nuthin'.

Look at this from yesterday's LieShite.

The Journal of the American Medical Association [JAMA] is facing calls to retract a 2005 study that pro-lifers have labeled a “propaganda tool” for abortion activists.

In 2016, fetus freaks are attacking a study from 2005 still deployed to refute the BAD (biased, agenda-driven) science used to pass "fetal pain" laws, lowering abortion term limits and/or imposing idiotic protocols on providers, as recently in Utah.

What do the fetus freaks offer in support of their contention that fetuses do too feel pain?

Dr. Steven Zielinski, an internal medicine physician from Oregon, is one of the leading researchers into fetal pain. He first published reports in the 1980s to validate research showing evidence for unborn pain.

He has testified before Congress in the past that an unborn child could feel pain at “eight-and-a-half weeks and possibly earlier” and that a baby before birth “under the right circumstances, is capable of crying.”

That seemed eerily familiar. Look what I found from 2010, also at LieShite.

Dr. Steven Zielinski, an internal medicine physician from Oregon, is one of the leading researchers into the concept of fetal pain and published the first reports in the 1980s to validate research show [sic] evidence for it.

He has testified before Congress that an unborn child could feel pain at "eight-and-a-half weeks and possibly earlier" and that a baby before birth "under the right circumstances, is capable of crying."

More bells started ringing in my old brain. Yes! I had trashed Dr. Zielinksi's rep here in 2012.

But, maybe the doc has been up to more recent stuff. After all, I can find no reference to him beyond 1986, thirty years ago.

I googled "Steven Zielinski Oregon fetal pain" and got this.

Amusingly, DJ!'s 2012 trashing is eighth on the first page in an otherwise exclusive club of fetus fetishist sites. All of which refer to him as "one of the leading researchers into fetal pain."

Let's consult some real scientists, shall we? Here's Live Science, on May 17, 2016, speaking with "a leading expert on fetal pain," Dr. Anne Davis, OB/GYN and associate professor at Columbia University Medical Center, who appears a tad more impressive than the elusive Dr. Zielinski.

She says the 2005 JAMA study, now under SHRIEEK attack from the freaks, is still valid. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has also recently reaffirmed the study, saying "no research has contradicted its findings."

No new research. Same old bullshit references. Almost identical wording. Their "leading researcher into fetal pain" still MIA after thirty years.

They got nuthin'. But as long as they keep trotting this crap out, I'll be watching.


Previous DJ! posts on "fetal pain" and BAD science.

Fake Clinics Respond! With More Lies!

A couple of weeks ago, we reported on Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada's (ARCC) review of websites for 166 fake clinics, aka crisis pregnancy centres. (PDF link to entire study.)

LifeShite has since published a hilarious "rebuttal" that says, in essence, "sure, we lie, but we could lie a LOT more."

Some examples:

[Jared] White [executive director of Advokate Life and Education Services in Abbottsford, BC] said that the report’s numbers were misleadingly low. For example, the report notes that 24 percent of the centers “promoted sexual abstinence as the ideal solution for unwed women” on their websites. But White says, “I would think 100 percent would promote that” with women who get inside the door.

The report claims that 5 percent of centers claim there is “a possible risk” of breast cancer after abortion, which the report says has been “scientifically rejected.” But White commented,  “Again, I would have thought more centres than that would have claimed that there might be a link,” so the 5%-figure is far too low.

I don't need to tell DJ! readers that the abortion-breast cancer link is complete bullshit, do I? But White thinks more centres should be spreading more of this brand of manure.

Then there's a peculiar quibble with how the study posed questions.

Arthur’s report also claims that “48% [of the pregnancy centers] mentioned negative psychological consequences, primarily in the context of ‘Postabortion Syndrome’, which is not medically recognized.”

But this is not true. The question ARCC’s volunteers were asked was whether “sites claimed that abortion results in negative psychological consequences such as depression, suicidal thoughts, or ‘Post-Abortion Syndrome.’” So the 48-percent result could have been reached without a single reference to PAS.

A subsequent question specifically about Post Abortion Syndrome indicated only 20 percent of the websites – not 48 percent – even “mentioned” PAS.

This passage seems to say that they could have done quite adequate lying without mentioning PAS but that some websites throw it in anyway.

LifeShite of course does not mention the report's finding that a majority of fake clinics are registered charities, i.e. subsidized by the rest of us.

Global News, the only media outlet to report on the study, does care to inform its readers of that fact.

More than two-thirds (68 per cent) of the centres studied are registered charities, the report says. There are 66 charities dedicated to crisis pregnancies and pregnancy counselling registered with the Canada Revenue Agency. Many also get direct government funding.

The Global story includes a handy link to CRA's search results page, with more links, for the 66 fake clinics. Have a look. I find the paid employees sections interesting. Many people across Canada make a living from lying to pregnant people.

Speaking of lying, let's return to LifeShite for a couple more whoppers:

“We are just trying to help women in very trying circumstances,” Dr. [Laura] Lewis [of Canadian Association of Pregnancy Support Services] told LifeSiteNews. “We know whatever way they go, adoption, abortion, keeping the baby, they are making a life-changing decision. And if they choose abortion, we don’t put any obstacles in their way, but we could never facilitate it.”

As if manipulation, guilt-tripping, disease-mongering, and straight-up lying are not "obstacles" atall atall.

These centres don’t give women any help obtaining an abortion or contraceptive care because they can get that elsewhere, Lewis said.

Right. It's easy-peasy to get reproductive healthcare in PEI, say, or New Brunswick or Saskatchewan. Or any damned place away from cities.

According to this 2016 ARCC list of abortion clinics, including hospitals (PDF), there are 43 of them in all of Canada.

There are four times MORE fake clinics. There are MORE fake clinics registered as charities than abortion clinics.

The lying liars are doing pretty well. For themselves. As for pregnant people seeking factual, unbiased information and assistance, well, fuck them.

This is why we call them lying liars

In early September, there was a flurry of SHRIIIEEEEKY articles from fetus fetishists about evil sluts who abort their pre-born baybees being eligible for 'full maternity benefits'.

This seemed like pure horseshit to me, so I tracked the stories down and they all referenced one entry from LifeShite.

Canada’s employment insurance guidelines reveal that a woman who aborts her child after 19 weeks gestation is eligible to receive 17 weeks of maternity leave, the same as a mother who gives birth. For an abortion occurring before 19 weeks gestation, the woman can collect sick leave for the same length of time.

“The whole situation is pretty ludicrous,” said Mary Ellen Douglas, national organizer for Campaign Life Coalition. “Why should you pay for somebody killing their child, and then expect to pay for benefits if the child is no longer there?”

Unusually for LifeShite, the piece included a link which takes you here.

Amidst much archaic language like 'confinement' and 'accouchement', there's a bunch of bureaucratese defining various terms and setting out various limits. The words 'abortion' or 'termination' do not appear. Here's the only bit that seems at all relevant to LifeShite's claim.

One must, therefore, define "confinement" (and "accouchement" in the French text). The usual medical meaning of "accouchement" is any termination of the pregnancy during the third trimester, regardless of whether it is a live birth or stillbirth. The term "confinement" is less precise, but generally encompasses the concepts of delivery or childbirth.

So I looked further and found this.

Scroll down to nearly the bottom of page for 'Interrupted Pregnancies/Stillbirth'.

Although rather rare, some clauses in collective agreements deal with the issue of interrupted pregnancies, both voluntary and involuntary. Two types of provisions have been identified: those pertaining to miscarriages (sometimes including abortions) and those regarding stillbirths.

A period of leave may be necessary for an employee, both to recuperate physically and to deal with the emotional stress suffered in these circumstances.

'Some clauses in collective agreements'. So not universally applicable.

And what is the grand recompense for such circumstances?

The women are entitled to 'maternity leave without pay not exceeding three (3) weeks'.

A far, far cry from 'full maternity benefits', eh?

It turns out, for once, the comments at LifeShite were worth checking out. After I'd done that, I discovered that commenter RobnBob got there already, citing the same section.

He prefaces his remarks with:

I must say that I am disappointed in the research skills for this article and in all the individuals that take this “news” story at face value without looking into it.

Indeed. Deliberate lying plus total credulousness = PROFIT!

Yo! Fetus Fetishists! Breivik Is One of Yours!

Joining the furious back-pedalling from Anders Behring Breivik is LifeShite.

First, they get in the mandatory 'No True Christian/Scotsman' dealie: Not a Christian. Not atall atall.

While the mainstream media attempts to paint Anders Behring Breivik, the terrorist bomber and shooter who killed over 76 people in Oslo last week, as a “fundamentalist Christian,” a 1,500 page document he wrote reveals not only that he did not consider himself a Christian believer, but that he was a mason, held such anti-Christian views as supporting abortion for disabled babies, and that he also hired a prostitute prior to his killing rampage.

Eeeeek! No true Christian would ever hire a prostitute!

Then there's this:

Relevant to pro-life supporters, Breivik says that he supports abortion in cases of rape, and “if the baby has mental or physical disabilities.” (pg 1179)

Man, they had to wade through a lot of crackpottery (as P.Z. Myers styles it) to get to something fetus fetishists could disagree with.

Because even more relevant to 'pro-life' supporters, Breivik is like, totally, absolutely on board with the fetus fetishists.

No contraception. No sex education. No abortion. No education or careers for women.

Yo! 'Prolifers'! He's one of yours. Deal with it.

Polls, Schmolls: Show Us the Data

Antonia Zerbisias reports on the latest exercise in futility annual poll on 'Canadian Attitudes Toward Abortion Issues', commissioned by Life Canada.

She comments on the usual spin given the numbers by LifeShite, then wonders if we'll ever see the actual questions and data.

Back at Birth Pangs, we covered these polls a few times, here in light of Ken Epp's private member's bill C-484, aka Kicking Abortion's Ass Bill, and here in more detail.

That second post includes a dandy table tracking various attitudes from 2002 to 2007. It shows rather conclusively that support for the more extreme definitions of 'when life begins' is actually declining.

You can download a pdf of the 2007 poll here.

But I agree with Antonia. If the 2008 poll continues the trend seen since 2002 -- that is, increasing support for choice -- we likely never will see the data. Just spin spin spin.