Thousands of pro-life advocates gathered on Parliament Hill in Ottawa last week for the annual March for Life following controversy over a new government policy that barred pro-life organizations from receiving summer job grants.
According to The Daily Caller, at least 15,000 people were present at the March for Life last week despite the threat of a storm. The protesters were reportedly joined by several Members of Parliament from the Conservative Party.
Campaign Life Coalition spokesman Matthew Wojciechowski said that more people attended the event this year compared to last year due to the new Canada Summer Jobs policy.
The Canada Press reported that the policy required organizations to sign an attestation to support the "right to reproductive choice," including access to abortion, before they could be deemed eligible for the summer jobs program.
The youth-based program is part of the government's efforts to encourage young people to get hands-on training to prepare them for full-time jobs.
In late March, Employment Minister Patty Hajdu told a coalition of Christian, Jewish and Muslim groups in Ottawa that there would be no compromise in the implementation of the policy, at least for this year, The National Post Reported.
At least 1,559 applicants out 42,708 were rejected for the program this year because of their refusal to check off the attestation in the application form.
In contrast, only 126 out of more than 40,000 applicants were rejected in 2017, when there was no such attestation.
Participants of the march argued that businesses and groups applying for grants should not be excluded because of their religious views.
"Everybody has to conform to the belief system that Justin Trudeau or the current government has in order to be a citizen and receive grants that other citizens receive. It doesn't make any sense," said rally participant Sharon Siderius, according to The Canada Press.
One of the featured speakers at the event was Catherine Glenn Foster, who serves as the president and CEO of Americans United for Life. She contended that the policy of denying funding to pro-life groups is "unbelievable. It's like the government dictating what you believe," The Daily Caller reported.
Foster suggested that the pro-life movement in Canada could follow the example of those in the U.S., where pro-life measures have been introduced incrementally. She pointed to a new legislation in Wyoming that allowed mothers to see an ultrasound image of unborn children. She stressed that the measure was the state's "first pro-life legislation in 28 years."
