No funding for rights-denying outfits

Volunteers for Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (ARCC) are continuing their research that we reported on here into the funding of rights-denying anti-choice organizations.

Specifically, we are looking for public money — government, arms’-length granting bodies — going to these gangs. Remember DJ!'s success in getting an Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) grant rescinded from Lambton Crisis Pregnancy Centre?

At the time, we were impressed by the anti-discriminatory language used by OTF and its promise not to fund such outfits again.

So it was with some disappointment that a volunteer ran across this, an announcement of a two-year grant of nearly $129K to a fake clinic in Huntsville called Christine’s Place.

Here’s a screen shot.

(I defy anyone to tell me WTF they plan to do.)

I wrote to my old bud, Thomas Chanzy, VP, Public Affairs, on Monday to alert him to this new oopsie.

Zoom.

Today I received this.

Dear Fern Hill,

In light of the concerns you have raised with us, we have looked into this matter and I can confirm that this grant has actually already been rescinded in full before any payment was made to this organization. There is therefore no reason to consider your request that we rescind this grant.

I want to thank you for the attention and consideration you give to the Foundation and its impact in Ontario communities.

"Already rescinded." Grand.

We applaud OTF for its ability to evolve and for its commitment to public input.

UPDATE: My pal Thomas Chanzy has two corrections to make.
1. Trillium Foundation's budget does NOT come from gaming proceeds. Rather, funding comes directly from the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport.

2. The rescinding of the grant was at the request of the organization itself.

So, it seems we credited OTF with a bit more evolution than is warranted. We'll keep our eye on grants awarded.

Public Money for Fake Clinics (An ongoing series)

Here at DJ! one of our aims is to defund and disrupt the operations of fake clinics, aka crisis pregnancy centres (CPCs).

Their outrageous lies, manipulation, sneakiness, and slut-shaming are well documented. They've been around a long time in North America and are somewhat cannier here than they used to be thanks to relentless investigations.

But they're relatively new in Ireland, where just a few days ago, a counsellor at a CPC in Dublin was caught on tape telling an undercover reporter that abortion causes breast cancer. (It does not, in case that needs saying again.)

Of course in a "free" country, people can believe whatever they want and proselytize however they want.

What we object to is their unregulated and blithe lying while receiving public funding.

Today in our desultory ongoing series on public money for lying liars, we begin our reports on investigations into Ontario fake clinics.

Using the Canadian Revenue Agency's handy public listing of CPCs that have charitable status (65 of them! more than abortion facilities in Canada), we've been focussing on fake clinics that report government funding.

Many report smallish grants from regional or municipal governments. I don't much care about those. If the good people of Whereverville know about and are cool with their hard-earned tax dollars supporting these liars, fine by me. (As long as it's not MY region or municipality.)

What concerns me is federal and provincial money going to these outfits.

And one really stands out in that regard: the Haldimand Pregnancy Care Centre.

For the past five years, HPCC has reported federal funding every year.

2015: $7298
2014: $3762
2013: $3953
2012: $4069
2011: $3983

There are no further details on which federal programs this gang could possibly qualify for.

Let's take a closer look at 2015.

Its total revenue was $376,345, which is pretty rich for these operations.




Oddly, all of its expenses ($350,592) were listed as "other," with nothing for "charitable program" or fundraising.



It reported $215,803 spent on compensation and $66,889 on occupancy cost.



It boasts two locations. One in Dunnville (population as of 2011: 5,789), the other in Caledonia (2011 population: 9,999). For comparison purposes, Hinton, AB, with a population of 9,640, has a fake clinic with 2015 revenue of just under $120K.

Haldimand Pregnancy Care seems to suck up a lot of peculiarly accounted-for money.

And oh yeah, it is Christian. Its mission is “Building Families Through The Love Of Christ”.

As blogging is often a collaborative effort, we invite any interested and/or knowledgeable readers to help us identify what federal programs these liars are getting dough from. And what kind of political clout they might have.

Alberta Fake Clinics Sponging Public Money, Part 2, Medicine Hat

To continue our investigation into Alberta fake clinics sucking off the public tit (Part 1 on Central Alberta Fake Clinic here), let's look at the Medicine Hat Pregnancy Support Society.

It doesn't seem to have its own website and does not belong to Canadian Association of Pregnancy Support Services, the organization that the Ontario Trillium Foundation had a problem with.

It does have a Facebook page, which consists mainly of announcements of holidays on which they'll be unavailable to help any crisis pregnancies. For fun, here's its very goddy newsletter.

Things get interesting however, when we look at its finances. A site named CHIMP gets its information from the same place we do, the CRA.

This pie chart is fascinating, though. WTF does that mean?

But Chimp reports the 2013 data correctly. In 2013, Medicine Hat Haters spent 90% of their dough on management and administration, with 3% going to the "charitable program."

Note that they report 0% "government funding."

Now have a look at their filing for 2012. Then, they spent 95% on the charitable program and 5% on management, again reporting no government funding.

In 2011, again 95% went to the charitable program with no government funding.

Now, go back to the Alberta Lottery Fund and nose around a bit, you'll find that Medicine Hat scored government/pubic money as follows:

2012/13: $4500
2011/12: $6300
2010/11: $9300
2009/10: 0
2008/09: $4500
(figures are rounded to nearest hundred)

Two questions here:
1. Why are they not reporting government funding?

2. How the hell did they go from spending 5% on admin to spending 90%?

Honest mistake?

No flags were raised?

We will continue to ask questions.




h/t to Niles in the comments for the FB, CHIMP, and newsletter links.

Defunding Anti-Choice: A How-To

After DJ!'s involvement in the rescinding of a grant of public funds to a crisis pregnancy centre, aka fake clinic, we've been asked how to go about it.

First thing to know -- it's not difficult.

Second thing -- the ferreting part is tedious.

Third thing -- it's immensely gratifying. And FUN!

While we at DJ! despise crisis pregnancy centres, we don't deny their right to exist. What we do want to deny is access to public funds.

We chose Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF), which distributes gaming proceeds to Ontario communities and groups, because it is a huge granting organization. We're not aware of other public granting bodies in Ontario. There may be some in other parts of Canada.

So, gaming/lottery-related organizations seem a good place to start.

Outside of Ontario, there seems to be two main lottery gangs: Western Canada Lottery Corporation and Atlantic Lottery Corporation. Atlantic Lottery Corporation seems to fund only events, but that may bear more investigation.

(I'm leaving Quebec out, because it's highly unlikely any similar granting body there would have any truck with forced birthers.)

Provinces seem to run their own grant programs with different criteria.

British Columbia

Alberta

Saskatchewan

Manitoba

Kathy Dawson, @blueskies366, did a little investigation in Alberta and found this.

So, in Alberta at least, pubic money is going to the lying liars at crisis pregnancy centres.

In Nova Scotia, all proceeds seem to go to "problem gambling." But again, this needs more looking into.

Here's the tedious part. Get into the databases. It's public money -- they have to account for it, if not for their fucked-up justifications.

Nose around. Key words: crisis pregnancy centres, pregnancy centres, pregnancy resource centres, pregnancy options, choices, alternatives, life.

Crisis pregnancy centres have become so notorious for lying and manipulation, they're rebranding themselves, using other words in their titles.

A very large nation-wide franchise (?) is called Birthright.

Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada has done a lot of work on fake clinics. For example, here's a PDF on "Exposing Crisis Pregnancy Centres in British Columbia". Visit ARCC's website for more help.

The granting organizations make a big deal out of getting credit for their largesse. Searching local newspapers and media outlets for the name of the foundation might be useful.

Similarly, the grantees must acknowledge funding. So check their websites. Also check local news -- they like to brag when they've scored public money. (Although that might change [*snerk*].)

If you find something, write to the granting gang to ask their rationale for the award.

DJ! blogged and tweeted about our discovery at this point. We don't do Facebook, but some pals posted the story there too. Public organizations are getting more and more sensitive about their social media presence.

If you don't blog, DJ! will help.

We were lucky or blessed with an unusually responsible granting foundation. Our story stops here. OTF replied (see top link) and rescinded the problem grant.

Your mileage. . .

What follows is speculation, not experience.

Local media generally like stories about unresponsive bureaucracies. They also love a whiff of impropriety in public funding.

Women's organizations probably have connections and networks to help put pressure on the foundation or to solicit media attention.

In short, get out the activist toolbox and rummage around.

Again, DJ! would be pleased to help.

It's estimated that there are about 200 fake clinics in Canada. Let's make their lives a little more difficult, shall we?


UPDATE: In the comments, Joyce Arthur offers wannabe defunders ARCC's list of 178 CPCs. Email for a copy: joyce at arcc-cdac.ca