Chaplain cuts raise ire across spectrum
OTTAWA A decision to cut loose about 50 part-time minority faith chaplains serving federal inmates across the country was met with widespread criticism Friday, both inside and outside the House of Commons.
Opposition MPs accused the government of attacking religious freedom in direct contravention of the charter, while Jewish, Muslim and Sikh clerics involved in the prison program called it a misguided move that’s unlikely to save money or souls.
Meanwhile, Canada’s prison watchdog and the interfaith committee on chaplaincy tasked with advising the government on spiritual issues involving inmates suggest they were left out of the decision-making process and are trying to ascertain the impact.
“This is not a costly program. The minister has no justification for cutting it,” NDP foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar said during Friday’s question period.
Given the government’s commitment to religious freedom abroad — it even announced with great fanfare the creation of an Office of Religious Freedom — Dewar accused the Conservatives of being “hypocritical.”
Liberal justice critic Irwin Cotler said requiring inmates of other faiths to seek religious guidance from Christian chaplains was “clearly discriminatory” and contrary to the government’s promise not to give some religions preferential treatment.
“The Conservatives must recognize this contradiction, reinstate funding for chaplains of all faiths and uphold the values of freedom of conscience and religion and equality before the law, as enshrined in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” he said.
Candice Bergen, parliamentary secretary to Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, defended the plan, noting the government continues to support religions freedom and that convicts will still have “reasonable access” to religious counselling and services.
“The government does fund fulltime chaplains. In addition to serving members of their own faith, these chaplains also make themselves available on a by-request basis to provide spiritual advice to the general population,” she said.
“The Canadian Forces have used this type of chaplaincy program for years. If it’s good enough for our Armed Forces, then it is good enough for inmates in our federal penitentiaries.”
The prison chaplain program is said to cost about $6.4 million, $1.3 million of which covers the parttime chaplains. Figures obtained by Postmedia News suggest there are 49 part-time chaplains, 18 of them nonChristian.
There are about 80 full-time chaplains serving inmates at federal penitentiaries. Besides one imam serving Ontario, the rest are either Roman Catholic or Protestant.
There are also about 2,500 volunteers providing religious services to inmates, something the government promises will continue. Spiritual services for aboriginal inmates, which are explicitly provided for in the Correctional and Conditional Release Act, are also unaffected by the policy change.
University of Ottawa associate law professor Carissima Mathen said Toews is “on shaky ground” with this decision and he could face a charter challenge over it in court.
Corrections figures suggest 36 per cent of inmates have identified with Catholicism. Eighteen per cent said they were Protestant, five per cent Muslim, four per cent native spiritual, two per cent Buddhist, one per cent Jewish and one per cent Sikh.