Federal Overreach: The Attestation Controversy and the Canada Summer Jobs Program, 2017-2019

Abstract

Our paper investigates the impacts of the 2018 attestation requirement of the Canada Student Jobs program (CSJ) compared to that of the no-attestation version of 2017, and that of the revised CSJ attestation box of 2019. We found:

(1) Christian groups (mostly Catholic and various evangelical Christian denominations) collectively received less than half the funds they received in 2017, and lost just over 3,000 jobs in 2018, or just under half the jobs secured 2017. In 2019 religious-based groups regained about 2,700 jobs.

(2) what jobs the religious groups lost in 2018 were picked up by non-religious applicants. The latter received a modest increase in funding in 2018 over the previous year, and another increase in 2019.