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“We are coming from a different perspective because we’re a resolutely pro-choice organization and have been speaking up for reproductive rights for decades,” said Paterson.

In fact, Paterson said they had actually signed the attestation themselves, and are expecting to hire a summer student through the program.

“We didn’t have a problem because it goes along with our beliefs,” he said. “But we don’t think others should have been forced to sign it.”

The attestation requires applicants to declare that both the job and organization’s “core mandate” respect reproductive rights, as well as other “values underlying the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”

The application period first opened on Dec. 19, 2017. Some religious groups, primarily Catholic and evangelical Christians, immediately protested that their core mandate includes their beliefs and values about abortion, and they couldn’t sign such an attestation. The Toronto Right to Life Association filed the Federal Court challenge on Jan. 4, 2018.

On Jan. 23, the government posted supplementary information that sought to clarify the wording. It said “core mandate” only referred to primary activities, and “respect” meant that the activities were not seeking to remove or actively undermine these existing rights.

Paterson said the supplementary information only made things worse, from his point of view.

“To us, that is an after-the-fact, nonsensical creation that doesn’t comport with what the meaning of those words are,” he said. “The later statement as to what the words mean, I can see why that would not provide any comfort to religious organizations that, for reasons of conscience, are opposed to abortion.”