A new directive from Chaplain Brigadier General Guy Bélisle contains new instructions for military chaplains at public events.
The directive has been controversial, with critics saying that it will prevent prayer at Remembrance Day Services.
Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre tweeted last month that “Our veterans don’t have a prayer under Trudeau.”
“Now his government is banning Muslim, Jewish and Christian military chaplains from praying at Remembrance Day ceremonies,” Poilievre continued. “I will reverse this insanity when I am Prime Minister.”
In the House of Commons, Conservative Member of Parliament Blake Richards made a similar charge, describing it as a “ban on prayer.”
But the directive does not prevent chaplains from praying on Remembrance Day “or any other time,” says Derek Abma, Senior Communications Advisor for the Department of National Defence.
Rather, it “seeks to ensure that public addresses reflect the spiritual and religious diversity of Canadians.” In this directive, the word “public” is used to refer to mandatory military ceremonies, Abma explained.
In such ceremonies, chaplains — who are military officers responsible for the spiritual care of CAF members and their families — should not use the word “God” or other references to a higher power such as “Heavenly Father,” he said. “This is to ensure that all feel included and able to participate in reflection, no matter their beliefs.”
In civic Remembrance Day ceremonies, where the faith stance of participants is unknown or likely to include people of no expressed faith, chaplains are to “avoid faith-specific and exclusive language, and instead speak words that will help participants remember those who have offered their lives in the service of Canada,” he added.
In settings where there is a clear uniformity of faith expression, such as being invited to pray at a church, mosque, synagogue or other place of worship, chaplains are free to use the religious language used within that community.
“This directive is about expanding participation in the reflections of military chaplains and not about limiting it,” he said.
In the directive itself, the Chaplain General noted that while prayer is significant for some members of the military, “we do not all pray in the same way. For some, prayer does not play a role in their lives. Therefore, it is essential for chaplains to adopt a sensitive and inclusive approach when publicly addressing military members.”
Religious neutrality by the state
The directive was issued, Abma added, as a follow-up to a ruling of the Supreme Court of Canada in a 2015 case, Mouvement laïque québécois v. Saguenay. In the unanimous decision, the Court ruled that city councilors in that Quebec community could not recite a Catholic prayer before the start of open public meetings.
That ruling “set a strict standard for religious neutrality by the state, which military chaplains have a legal obligation to abide by,” Chaplain General Bélisle states on the government’s website. He added that chaplains must be careful not to “favour nor hinder any particular belief, and the same holds true for non-belief.”
When praying or speaking, chaplains are to be inclusive “and respectful of the religious and spiritual diversity of Canada,” Bélisle said. They should seek to ensure “all feel included and able to participate in the reflection with a clear conscience, no matter their beliefs (religious, spiritual, agnostic, atheist).”
The directive is supported by a 2008 study of the Canadian Armed Forces, titled “Between 9/11 and Kandahar: Attitudes of Canadian Forces Officers in Transition.” (Cited in “Of Gods And Guns: Assessing The Impropriety Of Institutional Religion In The Canadian Armed Forces,” by Major C.G. Richard.)
The study found that 51 per cent of military personnel were uncomfortable with prayer in public schools; that only 26 per cent believed “Canadian society would have fewer problems if people took God’s will more seriously;” that only eight percent said religion provided them with a great deal of guidance in their lives (29 per cent said it provided no guidance); and only nine per cent said they attended religious services at least weekly. Thirty-four per cent never attended.
Richards concluded that while religious interests continue to exist in the CAF, it is in a more “individualized and subjective manner than via adherence to formal, organized religion.
The trend, he said, continues to be away from ‘the church’ toward unaffiliated spirituality, a variety of non-Christian denominations, and increasing atheism. Departments across the Government of Canada have become completely secular, and it is time for the Canadian Armed Forces to follow suit.”
