It may seem wrong to kick a Christian group when they are down, especially on Christmas Eve but in reality, I’m not kicking, just pointing out some facts. If truth is the first casualty of war, this must be a war of some kind.
Kairos Canada is an ecumenical group supported by Canada's major Christian churches, at the end of November they were informed that they had been turned down for funding by CIDA, Canadian International Development Agency. For the last month Kairos has been engaged in a public battle to "restore" their funding while the government has given two competing reasons for cutting the funding. First they said Kairos did not meet new criteria, then there was a claim the government viewed Kairos as anti-Semitic.
Fact 1 – There is no funding to restore
There is a campaign, by politicians and supporters of Kairos in the non-profit world to restore government funding to Kairos. The simple fact is that there is no funding to restore. As was explained by Kairos executive director Mary Corkery at their early December news conference the group, which has received funding for years from CIDA, was turned down on a request for government funding of a four-year project. They did not lose core funding that has put them on the brink of bankruptcy or closing up shop as the NDP claimed, they simply were turned down on a project proposal, this is something many groups, businesses, consultants face everyday. The difference here is that Kairos is able to mount a public relations campaign using all three opposition parties and a willing media to try and get back funding they never lost.
Fact 2 – The anti-Semitism charge
There have been several news reports claiming that Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, while giving a speech to the Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism in Jerusalem, said that the government of Canada had cut ties to Kairos because they are anti-Semitic. Kenney, in a letter to the Toronto Star says this is false, so what did he say? “We have defunded organizations, most recently, like KAIROS, who are taking a leadership role in the boycott, divestment and sanctions against (Israel)."
Kairos denies they are anti-Semitic or engaged in calling for a boycott of Israel and Kenney denies he called the group anti-Semitic, both claims are the sort that are true and false at the same time depending on how you slice it. Kenney’s statement on Kairos came at a point in his speech where he was describing what the government is doing to combat anti-Semitism. He listed the government’s decision to cut off the Canadian Arab Federation and the Canadian Islamic Congress as two anti-Semitic groups immediately before that single sentence on Kairos. So no, Kenney did not explicitly call Kairos anti-Semitic but the flow of the speech definitely leads you to that conclusion.
So, are the charges correct? Rosie DiManno of The Toronto Star lays out her argument that Kairos fits the charge in her Monday column. DiManno points to much of the same material I so easily found on the Kairos website, a claim that they do not support a boycott but then a 29 page paper on ways churches can divest themselves of shares in Israeli companies, companies that make money selling supplies that might support Israeli settlements and of course ways to engage in targeted boycotts of Israeli products.
Blogger Ezra Levant notes that Kairos, after having some light shone on the views of its partners and supporters is scrubbing its website clean of links to groups or material that is fully anti-Semitic or anti-Israel.
Over the years, Kairos has made the right noises about supporting the State of Israel’s right to exist and defend itself while also supporting all the fashionable causes of the left that are at the fore of the new anti-Semitism. I think the group remains shy of taking the full step into anti-Israeli crackpottery, I also think that Kenney overplayed his hand a touch while trying to play to the crowd in Jerusalem.
So why was Kairos turned down for funding?
Despite the attempts to turn this into another proxy war over the Middle East and Canada’s policy there, it is most likely that Kairos lost its funding because they didn’t fit the goals the government laid out. There is no entitlement to funding. Kairos made a pitch and they were turned down. Consider also that this is an old-fashioned left wing group, supportive of Marxist ideas like Liberation Theology, asking a Conservative government to fund it.
When the Harper government sought out a free-trade agreement with Columbia, Kairos was there, with government money, to oppose it. Kairos sees plenty to be concerned about when it comes to human rights in Columbia and wants the Harper government to shun that country. Venezuela on the other hand is seen in a positive light. The message from Kairos, engagement is appropriate when a shady country is run by socialists, anything to the right deserves to be shunned.
The project that Kairos submitted, and the government rejected, was a four-year plan that would have cost $9 million dollars, of which, $7 million was to come from government. That is a remarkably high level of government money, more than 75% of total costs, going into projects that claim to have the support of Canada’s largest churches. When I asked Mary Corkery at what point Kairos ceases to be a Christian aid group and merely an arm of the government aid agency, she deflected and pointed to other funding from the churches for other projects. If Corkery truly believes her group to be on the side of the angels here, she might want to test the theory and seek the lost funds by passing the plate through the pews a few more times.
Brian Lilley is the Ottawa Bureau Chief for radio stations Newstalk 1010 in Toronto and CJAD 800 in Montreal. Follow Brian on Twitter to get the latest as it happens.
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Comments
Thanks, and Amen to that!
Since KAIROS isn't accountable to individual Christians for its support, only government, what did they expect? Perhaps they should apply to Hugo Chavez for funding? Or George Soros?
And as Ezra Levant has pointed out, the KAIROS head doesn't actually believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ, so it's pretty clear this group is more about Karl than Christ.
LOL Ezra Levant hahahahhahahahahahaha whats that ugly little toad doing getting quoted in Canadian Newspapers... he should be shipped on the 1st train back to Tel Aviv where the average Israeli citizen would likely find his views repulsive views ugly and intolerant. Luckily for him, here in Canada we are no allowed to shut out people who attempt to inflame ethnic and religious conflict.
Why should we (the taxpayer) fund any religion, isn't that what the collection plate is for? Guess Dad was right when he said he prefers to listen to sermons on the radio, as the collection plate can't get to him through the TV!
The suggestion that liberation theology is more influenced by Marxist thought than Christian theology is itself an old-fashioned leftover from the cold war. Liberation theology is simply the acknowledgement that the most prominent ethical issue in the Bible is the question of poverty. Are all people who care about the poor Marxist? Give me a break!
I read the 29 page article from Kairos referred to in this column, and it is a nuanced look at economic measures that might be taken to promote peace in the Middle East. The description of it in the article is highly biased. Click on the link and read it for yourself.
Also, CIDA has long matched funding from NGOs three to one because it has recognized that NGOs are more effective in addressing poverty than government to government aid. The Kairos funding is no different from any other NGO funding in that respect.
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