OTTAWA, April 24, 2020 - The federal government is forcing businesses, not-for-profits and registered charities applying for an emergency interest-free loan to help them through the coronavirus lockdown to "confirm" that they do not "discriminate" on the basis of "gender," "sexual orientation," and "religion," among other things, in order to receive financial help.


Borrowers who do not wish to confirm the "non-discrimination" clause are excluded from the government-run program. This exclusion follows a similar format that excluded churches from making use of partial federal hiring grants for summer students in 2018, if the churches would not endorse abortion. The Trudeau government is currently being sued by the Justice Center for Constitutional Freedoms over funding denied under that program.


The 2020 interest-free loan - known as CEBA - is part of the federal relief package that Parliament passed in March for Canadians suffering hardship because of coronavirus pandemic shutdowns. It provides a loan of $40,000, $10,000 of which is forgiven by recipients at the end of the term, making it a partial grant.


Without federal support, Christians groups will be on their own to make up all the revenues lost during the period of COVID-19 closure.


(With files from LifeSiteNews.com)