Brandon Sun - PRINT EDITION
“It’s not always about religion, but helping soldiers stay focused so they can do their job.”
— Padre Harry Crawford, formerly stationed at CFB Shilo
Last week, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews decided to end federal government contracts nationwide with minority-faith chaplains who had been working part-time in Canada’s federal prisons.
While these part-time advisers (apparently both Christian and non-Christian) have been given their walking papers, full-time, almost exclusively Christian chaplains will now be expected to provide spiritual guidance to inmates of all faiths.
The comments coming out of the minister’s office suggest that Canadians are supposed to believe that the federal government is showing no favouritism toward any one religion with the change.
“The minister strongly supports the freedom of religion for all Canadians, including prisoners,” Toews’ spokeswoman, Julie Carmichael, told the National Post on Thursday. “However, the government of Canada is not in the business of picking and choosing which religions will be given preferential status through government funding. The minister has concluded his review and has decided that chaplains employed by (the Correctional Service of Canada) must provide services to inmates of all faiths.”
With all due respect to Minister Toews, it’s very difficult to see this action as anything but giving preferential status to one particular faith — namely Christian.
Apparently, the prison chaplain system first came under Toews’ scrutiny last month when he cancelled a Corrections Canada contract for a Wiccan priest who had been hired to provide spiritual guidance for a prisoner in B.C., reports the Toronto Star.
“The government isn’t convinced that paying the salary of a witchcraft practitioner is an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars,” Toews’ office stated at the time.
Frankly, if we want to follow that line of logic, why in the world is any Canadian government funding religious belief of any sort? Should not the two remain separate?
Offering spiritual guidance for inmates at what amounts to a relatively low cost — about $1.3 million for the part-time contracts out of a $6.4 million chaplaincy budget according to Toews’ office — provides what Interfaith Committee on Chaplaincy president Monique Marchand called a “calming effect” in prisons.
“The return on investment is amazing for very little money,” she said.
Corrections Canada statistics suggest that about 36 per cent of inmates are Catholic and 18 per cent are Protestant. Muslim, native spiritual, Buddhist, Jewish, Sikh, non-religious and so-called “other” religious groups make up the rest — about 46 per cent.
Toews’ parliamentary secretary, Tory MP Candice Bergen, defended the minister’s actions in the House of Commons by using The Canadian Forces example, saying that “if it is good enough for our armed forces, then it is good enough for inmates in our federal penitentiaries.”
But comparing an inmate to a soldier is foolish. They have very different needs. The soldiers have a job to do and sometimes need spiritual encouragement, even though Crawford says most of the soldiers aren’t religious.
Inmates are incarcerated for a reason. If a little spiritual guidance can help them chart a new path, whatever the religion, why not provide it?
At best, Minister Toews has not provided a good enough reason to cut these contracts. At worst, it smacks of right-wing religious favouritism.
Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition October 9, 2012
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“It’s not always about religion, but helping soldiers stay focused so they can do their job.”
— Padre Harry Crawford, formerly stationed at CFB Shilo
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“It’s not always about religion, but helping soldiers stay focused so they can do their job.”
— Padre Harry Crawford, formerly stationed at CFB Shilo
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