Twenty-nine Christian organizations, including relief groups and denominations, have signed a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney expressing “deep concern” over his government’s focus on militarization and military spending.
The letter, sent Oct. 26, was initiated by Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Canada. It notes that the federal government’s spending on weapons comes “at the cost of conflict prevention, care for creation, and support for poverty reduction across the world.”
Canada faces daunting challenges, the letter says. But the government’s focus on increased military spending “does not reflect our values or priorities as communities of faith.”
Those values are encapsulated by a core Christian belief that “we are called to love our neighbours, at home and globally, especially those who are vulnerable or marginalized,” the letter says.
“Our hearts break considering all of those impacted by global conflict, and those who will continue to be impacted as conflicts increase.”
‘Destruction’
The letter was written before the federal government released its latest budget on Nov. 5. The budget says Ottawa plans to spend over $303 billion in defence over the next five years.
“We need to be investing in the underlying conditions that make for peaceful coexistence between people and nations,” said Kiegan Irish, the advocacy officer for Development & Peace—Caritas Canada, one of the groups that signed the letter. Prioritizing the military “will only deepen conflict and make it more intractable.”
The solution “is not to invest in more guns,” he said. “Instead, we should be investing in the dignity of all people, resisting the impulse to violence.”
In the letter, the organizations urge Carney to “move away from a dependence on weapons of destruction and policies of self-interest only for Canadians and towards actions that are based on the mutual flourishing of all.”
Those actions, the letter states, include diplomacy, peacebuilding and foreign aid, along with a focus on health, affordability, food security and the impacts of climate change in Canada.
The letter also asks the prime minister to hold a national conversation with Canadians about national security priorities that “reflect care for our global neighbours and hope for our shared future.”
But the authors of the letter also want individual Christians to reflect on their actions.
Anna Vogt, co-director of MCC Canada’s Ottawa office, says the letter was a way to show the federal government that many Canadian Christians are concerned about rising military spending and reductions in foreign aid.
Another goal is to prompt Christians to ask themselves what it means to “follow the teachings of Jesus in this moment,” she said.
‘Alternative action’
Promoting peace internationally will also benefit Canadians, says Peter Timmerman, executive director of World Renew Canada, a Christian international humanitarian organization that signed the letter.
“Our argument has always been that the better the world is for everybody, the better it is for Canada,” he said.
Timmerman said he is not “arguing against the need for defence, but we’re arguing that it has to be complemented with diplomacy, development and with other international co-operation, which has always historically been a really important part of Canada’s presence in the world.”
Walter Dorn, a professor of defence studies at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston and the Canadian Forces College in Toronto, said the letter adds “an important voice to the debate over military spending. It’s an inspiring call to alternative action.”
The letter encourages the government to “think globally and compassionately, instead of with a narrow focus on defence,” said Dorn, whose teaching focuses on peace operations and disarmament.
“It looks at the world through the prism of a shared humanity, more about human security than just national security.”
