There are few if any military occasions as connected to spirituality and religion as Remembrance Day. While we gather to mark all of those who served, the playing of the Last Post reminds us that our most solemn thoughts are reserved for those who made the ultimate sacrifice and did not return.
We honour the dead. And, for many, we honour the dead in part through prayer. The Canadian Armed Forces has a chaplain program, where, in their own words, chaplains “are responsible for fostering the spiritual, religious, and pastoral care of CAF members.”
The directive, signed by Chaplain General Brigadier-General Guy Belisle, says that “spiritual reflection” ought to be “inclusive in nature, and respectful of the religious and spiritual diversity of Canada.” It also says chaplains need to be “mindful of the Gender Based Analysis (GBA+).” If you’re wondering what the latter means, the feds describe it as “an analytical process used to assess how different women, men and gender diverse people may experience policies.”
In addition to this language code, the directive does away with traditional scarves worn by chaplains at these events. These scarves have crests which denote the religions of the chaplain, whether they be Christian, Jewish, or Muslim.
What’s the problem here? Have chaplains previously been failing to be sensitive or inclusive? And what does it mean for a sectarian chaplain to be inclusive? The whole reason you have a variety of chaplains is for them to be able to collectively cover a diverse array of spiritual needs.
Unless there’s something the CAF isn’t making clear, this looks like a solution in search of a problem. It also looks like yet another woke move by an institution that has been criticized in the past for being too politically correct. This is something Retired Lieutenant-General Michel Maisonneuve has become increasingly public about, including during a speech at the recent Conservative Party of Canada convention.
The impulse for this no doubt stems from the idea that the military has a recruitment problem and wants to look like an attractive place for people of all races and religions to join. They also want everyone to feel welcome at public events, such as Remembrance Day.
But are we to believe that people automatically don’t feel welcome if, at a solemn occasion, there is a short prayer from a religion different from their own? These days, we’re all accustomed to multicultural and multi-faith events in Canada.
Now it could be that there are a few events where some chaplains have been overdoing it with the religious aspects. Then just tell those individual chaplains to tone it down. Not everything requires a heavy-handed, nationwide policy.
You’ve also got to wonder if the sort of poetry typically recited at Remembrance Day ceremonies will also be curtailed as too religious. The federal government’s own Remembrance Day website recommends the reading of Officer John Magee’s “High Flight,” which concludes with the following lines of verse: “And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod / The high untrespassed sanctity of space, / Put out my hand and touched the face of God.”
The public honouring of the dead has always involved religious figures such as chaplains. These are spiritual matters, after all, and we don’t attempt to hide this fact.
As the Canadian War Museum website explains, when Remembrance Day was originally known as Armistice Day, many of the observances took place inside churches.
The CAF likely hopes to attract more people with these policies. Instead, they could end up driving people away.
