Question Period Note: Military chaplains

The recommendations of the Advisory Panel on Systemic Racism and Discrimination are discriminatory. Will the Minister reject these recommendations that will adversely affect Canadian Armed Forces members?

• National Defence is committed to ensuring the wellbeing of our Canadian Armed Forces Members and their families.

• The Royal Canadian Chaplain Service supports this effort by fostering the spiritual, religious, and pastoral care of members and their families from a wide range of faith traditions.

• To further support diversity, we are also broadening the entry-standards for chaplains to facilitate entry from a greater number of faith traditions.

• We have also established advisor positions, including an Indigenous Advisor and LGBTQ+ Advisor, to the Chaplain General to raise awareness, educate, and innovate.

• Adhering to Canadian Armed Forces values and the principle of Care for All is paramount.

• Canadian Armed Forces continues to make positive steps to ensure that it represent Canadian society and supports the needs of its broader membership.

If pressed on next steps:

• Work is underway to assess the implications of the Advisory Panel’s recommendations, including those on the Canadian Armed Forces chaplaincy.

• The Director General External Review Implementation Secretariat is coordinating the analysis of the recommendations and advice will be provided in due course.

Quick Facts

Canadian Armed Forces Chaplains

• The Royal Canadian Chaplain Service’s primary goal is the care of all our members and their families, without exceptions.

• The Chaplain Service serves an ever-growing number of faith traditions represented among serving chaplains in the Regular and Reserve Forces and increasing number of chaplains who come from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

• The Royal Canadian Chaplain Service has also created several advisory positions to further promote diversity and inclusion within the Chaplain Service.

• Chaplains must be a credentialed leader of a nationally registered Faith Tradition and have a Graduate-level professional degree in Faith tradition formation and be a member in good standing with a national Faith Tradition Governing Authority.

• They also must refer members and their families to other helping professionals, such as social workers, psychologists, or medical personnel, as required.

Background

Royal Canadian Chaplain’s Service

• Canada’s Defence Policy, Secure, Strong, Engaged, recognizes that spirituality and resilience are important factors in the wellbeing of Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members.

• CAF chaplains have a responsibility to welcome all members of the Defence Team who seek guidance and/or support without judgment, regardless of whether or not they practice a spiritual/religious belief. Chaplains provide a “safe place” for members to be themselves.

• The Royal Canadian Chaplain Service’s primary goal is the care of all our members and their families. CAF chaplains work for the person in front of them at any given moment. They care for all without exception.

• The CAF has an ever-growing number of faith traditions, including Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh, and Humanist are represented among serving chaplains in both the Regular and Reserve Forces and chaplains in-training. An increasing number of chaplains who come from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds enables the Chaplaincy to better reflect Canadian society and to address complex challenges.

• To further promote diversity and inclusion, the Royal Canadian Chaplain Service has instituted several advisor positions (Indigenous Advisor, LGBTQ2+ Advisor, Anti-Racism and Anti-Discrimination Advisor, GENAD, CPCC) in an effort to raise awareness, educate, and innovate.

• CAF chaplains have dual accountability to faith traditions and military authorities. As faith tradition leaders, chaplains come under the jurisdiction of their faith groups. As commissioned officers, they are subject to the Canadian Armed Forces Code of Service Discipline and are responsible to their military superiors.

• Chaplains in both the Regular and Reserve Force are subject to the National Defence Act, the Code of Service Discipline, and their respective chains of command at all times. However, chaplains, unlike other officers, do not themselves possess “command authority,” meaning they cannot issue orders, nor is any member of the CAF under the authority of a chaplain.

Anti-Racism Report

• The Minster’s Advisory Panel on Systemic Racism and Discrimination released its report in April and had the following recommendations related to the Canadian Armed Forces Chaplaincy:

  • Do not employ Chaplains who are affiliated with religious groups whose values are not aligned with the Defence Team;

  • Select Chaplains representative of many faiths including forms of spiritually beyond Abrahamic faiths;

  • Review the selection process for Chaplains to ensure that, in addition to listening skills, empathy, emotional intelligence, there is an intrinsic appreciation for diversity and a willingness to challenge one’s beliefs;

  • Find ways to grant educational equivalencies, for example, to knowledge keepers, rather than strictly adhering to the prerequisite that all chaplains must have a master’s degree.

• Recommendations 6.2, 6.3, and 6.4 of the Anti-Racism Panel Report highlighted important progress areas which have been engaged previously by work undertaken by the Royal Canadian Chaplain Service through the broadening entry-standards for CAF chaplains facilitating the entry of chaplains from a greater number of faith traditions, as contained in the updated Royal Canadian Chaplain Service Manual in the spring of 2022. This facilitated the mandating of the CAF’s first Humanist chaplain in June 2022. There has also been the establishment of advisor positions to the Chaplain General to raise awareness, educate, and innovate. These advisor position include: Indigenous Advisor, 2SLGBTQI+ Advisor, Anti-Racism and Anti-Discrimination Advisor, and GENAD Advisor.

Responsible Principals: Chief Professional Conduct and Culture, Military Personnel Command