Organizations on the budgetary chopping block

The federal government may not have finished its pre-budget consultations, but it's already begun to cut funding to some non-governmental organizations.

Late last year, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) told the ecumenical organization KAIROS that it was ending its three decades of financial support of that agency.

Its executive director, Mary Corkery, can already list off the projects that won't go ahead, such as one in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"We had just agreed to fund, in the next proposal, a legal clinic for women who are victims of assault, including rape as a weapon of war. And it's something that would have made a huge difference to the people on the ground in the Congo. So we're very distressed about that," she said.

During her initial phone call, Corkery wasn't given a reason for why Ottawa was suddenly ending its funding of the group. Later, a government official suggested it was because Kairos didn't fit CIDA's new guidelines -- guidelines that are not finished yet.

Then she got calls from the media, after a speech by Immigration Minister Jason Kenney. In Israel, he accused KAIROS of being anti-Semitic, because the organization was leading a boycott against that country. An accusation Corkery says is completely untrue.

"There was information on the Internet that I found the night before just by accident, and my husband and I said 'it's a hoax,'" she recalled.

Corkery admits KAIROS was critical of Israel, after the Israel Defence Forces bombed a health clinic they had set up in a poor area of Gaza City. But Corkery believes that criticism doesn't amount to anti-Semitism.

"Is that a political comment? Why would that be a bad coment? Why would it be bad to say that there are some things that are not helping the people we are working with?" she asked.

KAIROS isn't the only aid organization that's come under fire for its work in the Middle East.

Rights & Democracy (also called the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development) is an arms-length organization created by the Mulroney government.

A year ago, it gave ten thousand dollars to two sister agencies -- one Israeli, one Palestinian -- to help pay for their human rights work in the region. Both groups have been critical of governments on ALL sides in the conflict.

But three new appointees to its board, all with close ties to the Conservative government, objected, and eventually rescinded the grants.

Two board members resigned in protest, including Payam Akavan, a law professor and human rights specialist at McGill University in Montreal.

"The board was increasingly being run like a one party state, where one was either in an inner circle and one pursued a very specific ideology and agenda, or one was systematically excluded," he said.

The entire staff at Rights & Democracy also signed a letter demanding the three board members resign.

The chair of the board could not be reached for comment this week.

But in an opinion piece in a national newspaper, Aurel Braun wrote that the Palestinian group that received the money had ties to a group listed as a terrorist organization in Canada. And he is trying to be more accountable for how the organization spends taxpayers dollars.

But Akavan says the board shouldn't turn human rights into a political issue.

"If someone is tortured, it doesn't matter if the government that tortures him is a right-wing government or a left-wing government, or a democracy or a dictatorship for that matter. And that's the bottom line with respect to human rights. Human rights have to be preserved as a neutral space which really transcends politics.  So when we approach it in a highly politicized and ideological fashion, especially with an independent arms length organization, then we undermine its very foundation and legitimacy," he said.

It's not just aid groups that find themselves battling with the government over funding.

The Canadian Council for Learning found out this month that Ottawa will not renew its five-year, $85 million grant.

The council is a non-profit organization that researches various aspects of learning, from kindergarten to university.

The federal government's grant makes up 95 per cent of the council's budget, so a board member, Benoit Bouchard, describes the loss as "devastating."

Bouchard doesn't believe the council lost its funding because it was created by the Liberals, but as a former cabinet minister in Brian Mulroney's government, he does think ideology had a role to play.

"I believe that, at least traditionally, the Liberals are more involved in that kind of human sciences approach, and the Conservatives are more concerned and more directed to the economy and to the management of the financial side of the country," he said.

And now, Bouchard is worried that as the government struggles to deal with a $56 billion deficit, other social groups may see their funding cut this year too.  Especially since this is not the first time Ottawa has cut funding to these types of advocacy groups.

In 2006, the Harper government cut funding to the court challenges program, Status of Women Canada, and the Canadian Policy Research Network.

Tom Flanagan wrote about this idea in his book on Prime Minister Stephen Harper's rise to power.  He's a professor of political science at the University of Calgary. But he also used to be part of the prime minister's inner circle.

In his book, Flanagan writes that once in power, the Conservatives needed to defund groups that were set up by the Liberals.

"A long-term ambition for a Conservative government would be to try to get the government out of the business of promoting points of view," Flanagan said from Calgary.

Flanagan went even further, saying the government should get out of funding any point of view, through any non governmental organization.

"It's better for these groups to be raising their own money. They will never really be independent of government if they are dependent on government money. They may kid themselves that they are. But they won't actually be. The government will always find a way to influence them and it's healthier for everybody if groups that promote policy objectives and promote different ideologies and world views are required to raise their own money," he said.  

Until that happens, aid groups like Corkery's that still rely on government dollars will continue to worry.

"It is a silencing impact. I have had people in other organizations say 'well you know it really matters to all of us, and the reason we're reacting so strongly is because if they can cut an organization of seven of the largest churches in Canada, they can cut anybody. And we're next," Corkery said.

Gerry Barr is the president of the Canadian Council for International Co-operation.

For him, this isn't just about money for KAIROS, but about how the entire aid budget at CIDA gets divied up.

"In the event that sharply partisan or politicial reasons are substituted for ordinary standards and legitimate standards for judging the value and merit of aid programs and proposals, we are in serious trouble. Once this begins to seep in to the decisional matrix, as the fundamental set of reasons for determining who does and who does not get chosen as vehicle for funding aid abroad, I think you can honestly say goodbye to aid effectiveness, you can say goodbye to accountability," Barr said.

And Barr argues that good government needs critical voices, even if it is from groups funded by taxpayers dollars.

"If you shut down those voices, if you say to people who have these positions who feel called to express them that they cannot express them and if they do it will be at the cost of the loss of the resources for the work they cherish and prize, you are doing a major disservice to democratic process."

For now, groups like KAIROS are demanding to meet with the minister responsible for CIDA, Bev Oda, to talk about funding.

So they can at least say in private, what many are increasingly afraid to say in public.
 

Listen to Susan Lunn's feature for The House: