Religious groups meet to discuss concerns over abortion clause in summer jobs grant application

MISSISSAUGA, ONT. — On a wintry Tuesday afternoon, in a small conference room at the back of a Pentecostal office building in the Toronto suburbs, 60 people representing Muslim, Jewish, Sikh, Christian and other faiths spent two hours debating whether the government is violating their religious freedoms — and if so, what to do about it.
The concern arises out of the Canada Summer Jobs program, which this year comes with a new “attestation” box that all applicants mus