Dave Addison is the executive director of Toronto City Mission, an EFC affiliate organization that serves the poor and marginalized in Toronto. “Through God’s transformational power, we build loving relationships to bring hope to children and families impacted by poverty,” is the mission statement of Toronto City Mission.
One of the ways it accomplishes this mission is by providing seven solid weeks of summer camp in four priority communities across the city. Parents count on this free programming to meet their child care needs, and know that their children are in a safe and healthy environment during the summer months.
Toronto City Mission is one of the thousands of church- and parachurch organizations that have been impacted by the recent changes to the Canada Summer Jobs grant. Their mandate has nothing to do with abortion or issues of sexuality, but they have already received an initial rejection from the program because of their inability to check off the newly required attestation on these issues.
Addison recalls feeling surprised when he first heard of the attestation – a surprise that deepened to disbelief when he realized that the situation was not going to change and that the requirement to check off the attestation would remain.
In an EFC audio podcast released yesterday, Addison shares the latest developments with Toronto City Mission, how the Christian community is stepping up and what the next steps are for the Toronto City Mission.
Subscribe in a reader
Toronto City Mission and Addison have also been featured on several news stories, both locally and nationally, as the entire country tried to understand the rationale and the impact of the changes to the CSJ program. Here are two still available online.
View a list of all our
EFC podcasts.