From 2020 to 2022, Quebec Minister of Justice Simon Jolin-Barrette and Minister responsible for the Status of Women Isabelle Charest donated $81,750 and $26,000 respectively to the Knights of Columbus. This organization affiliated with the Catholic Church is nevertheless open only to men and is officially opposed to abortion.
Data obtained from the Quebec Ministry of Education, compiled and analyzed by The duty, reveal that 98 of the 125 deputies who sit in the National Assembly granted sums from their discretionary envelope to dozens of regional councils of the Knights of Columbus between 1er April 2020 and July 21, 2022.
All the parties, except Québec solidaire, contributed funds to this organization during this period. The majority of donor MPs are representatives of the Coalition avenir Québec. These amounts were allocated under the Support for Volunteer Action program, which allows each MNA to fund local community organizations.
Quebec MPs thus granted a total of $639,568 to various councils of the Knights of Columbus over a period of two years and four months.
Minister Charest’s press attaché, Alice Bergeron, affirms by email that the CAQ government is “totally and completely pro-choice”. “The Knights of Columbus acted as a food bank during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is in this context in particular that several deputies from different political parties have contributed to the mission of the Knights of Columbus. »
Asked whether the Minister responsible for the Status of Women is comfortable with funding an organization that only accepts Catholic men, her press officer did not give an answer.
No response either from Minister Jolin-Barrette’s office on these two questions despite our repeated requests. A few days earlier, the minister’s press attaché, Elisabeth Gosselin-Bienvenue, had however confirmed the criteria that a project must meet in order to be eligible to receive funding from the minister: “Any project relating to community , recreation, sports, physical activities, infrastructure or the purchase of light equipment is eligible. »
Openly anti-choice
The Knights of Columbus organization was founded in the 19e century in the United States. On the organization’s global site, there is an entire French-speaking section devoted to the fight against abortion. Named “Our Pro-Life Efforts”, the interface suggests to Internet users different ways to get involved in the fight against abortion, in particular by participating in demonstrations or by getting involved with “pro-life” pregnancy centers. , that is, centers that encourage women to continue their pregnancies rather than abort.
“The knight supports a culture of life,” it reads. “We can change the hearts and minds of the public about abortion by showing that we love mother and child, before and after birth. »
In Sherbrooke, this position, among other things, could cause the Knights of Columbus to lose the funding that the City has granted them so far . “They do not meet three criteria of our policy [d’admissibilité des organismes, établie en octobre 2020]and if they do not comply before October 2023, they will lose $600 per year and free access to City premises,” said Mayor Évelyne Beaudin in a telephone interview.
Indeed, the organization does not meet the criteria of accessibility without discrimination (only Catholic men can be members), political neutrality and religious neutrality. “Their political neutrality is questionable – for example, for cases of positioning in relation to abortion”, advances the mayor. The organization is also not incorporated under the Not-for-Profit Corporations Act, she notes. “We did not take any action to cut off supplies,” adds the elected official. “We established objective criteria and we passed all the organizations through the filter. »
The member for Sherbrooke, Christine Labrie, for her part, has never given to the Knights of Columbus, just like all of her supportive colleagues. “We don’t have a directive from Québec solidaire on how to use our discretionary funds, and I don’t remember having received a request for funding from them,” she says.
In Quebec, the mission of the Knights of Columbus is to “come to the aid of the less fortunate,” assures the organization’s communications director, Pierre Thomas, in an interview. He adds that if only Catholic men can be members, women are nevertheless admitted as volunteers; the brotherhood’s Quebec website also includes a section called “Women’s Activities”. Mr. Thomas adds that the organization has 475 local councils in Quebec, for a total of more than 78,000 members.
Asked what the position of the Knights of Columbus is on abortion, Mr. Thomas dodges the question and provides the following answer: “Whatever the position of the Knights of Columbus and the woman on this subject, the decision to take belongs to him. »
Links
These comments, however, contradict certain links that unite the Catholic organization to the Quebec anti-abortion movement.
Brian Jenkins, vice-president of Campagne Québec-Vie, the province’s best-known anti-abortion organization, is also grand knight of Laurentian Council 6497 of the Knights of Columbus. “Since my arrival at Campagne Québec-Vie, I have tried to involve the Knights of Columbus in our activities,” he explains, adding that he would like to see more of them answer the call. “The kind of militancy that I do goes against the current in Quebec,” admits the man.
“There is no networking that is done with the Knights of Columbus,” he says, however. “The knights who offer their support, it comes from them individually. He says, however, that every year, each member donates “an amount of $1 or $2” to the Knights of Columbus Culture of Life fund. The organization’s communications manager in Quebec did not comment on this information despite a request from the To have to.
The organization’s global website explains that the fund is used to uphold “the sanctity of human life.” A call for donations appeals to Internet users: “From our ultrasound projects to our support for marches for life in North America, your donation helps create the new culture of life that will transform the world! »
In 2014, a research report signed in particular by UQAM researchers Audrey Gonin and Mélissa Blais looked at anti-choice resources in Quebec and noted the involvement of the Knights of Columbus in the movement.
“This international Catholic organization established in Quebec, although having a broader vocation, is engaged in an active opposition to the voluntary interruption of pregnancy and imposes on all of its members a contribution for the development of a culture of life,” reads the report. The researchers also designate the organization as being one of the “two main players”, along with Campagne Québec-Vie, which are challenging “the broad consensus [québécois] concerning the freedom to choose to terminate a pregnancy”.
The Knights of Columbus has also funded, in recent years, at least one anti-choice pregnancy center, that is, a center that dissuades women from having abortions despite claims of neutrality on the issue. A magazine survey Urbania (signed by the author of these lines) revealed last February the anti-choice allegiances of the Drummondville Pregnancy Center. The Knights of Columbus was among the center’s donors, according to the center’s 2016 and 2019 annual reports; the amount of their contribution was not mentioned.
Catholic values
On the Quebec website of the Knights of Columbus, the group defines itself as “a non-profit organization that works within the community”.
The coordinator at the Center for Resources and Observation of Religious Innovation at Laval University, Alain Bouchard, notes that the Knights of Columbus devotes itself in particular to charitable works. “At several times during the year, they raise funds and they give to the less fortunate by distributing food,” he notes. They have already helped families in need who were not Catholic, to help handicapped children, for example. »
However, he recognizes that the organization positions itself against abortion. “They are the working arm of the Catholic Church, so they advocate all Catholic values. They may be a little less militant than in the United States, but they are definitely pro-life. »
On the Parti Québécois (PQ) side, the parliamentary leader and deputy for the Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Joël Arseneau, affirms: “I have not received a request or granted funds to the organization of the Knights of Columbus, who is still quite active in my community. »
He explains that his PQ colleagues have financed the organization above all for social projects: “We can assume that the activities are carried out for the benefit of the community, and that it is from this angle that projects can have been supported, appreciating the impact that it can have locally in social and community activities. »
Louis Rousseau, professor emeritus in the Department of Religious Studies at UQAM, suggests that the influence of the Knights of Columbus can extend beyond the community environment. “It’s an organization that has funds, and the networks of influence that are created manage to weigh in so that certain decisions are made or not made,” he said. “As they have members present in all kinds of circles, they can make their influence felt in decisions. »
He adds that the male members of this body know that “they have access to the leaders of the Church and that they have access to the politicians implicitly”.
At the Liberal Party of Quebec, communications advisor Maxime Doyon-Laliberté explains why several MPs have funded the organization: “The amounts distributed to the Knights of Columbus have made it possible to contribute to projects that help the most vulnerable citizens, such as buying winter coats for Ukrainian refugees. »
At the Conservative Party of Quebec, it is indicated that the “criteria for membership” and the “Catholic convictions” of the group are “not a problem”. “The group does not act as a pressure group, but rather as an apolitical charity respected by Quebecers that has been helping families in the community for generations,” adds the president of the communications commission, Véronique Gagnon, by email. .
Data visualization by Lauriane Croteau