Conservatives Decry Military Prayer Ban Ahead of Remembrance Day

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre rises during question period in the House of Commons on Oct. 23, 2024. The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld

Ahead of Remembrance Day, the Conservatives have criticized the military’s policy prohibiting chaplains from reciting a prayer at official public functions.

“Canadians should be free to practise their faith alongside fellow Canadians as we commemorate those who made the ultimate sacrifices for our freedoms,” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said on social media platform X on Nov. 8.

The previous day, The Epoch Times reported that the ban on prayer during military functions initiated in October 2023 is still in effect.

Conservative MPs also took to social media to criticize the prayer prohibition. “The woke agenda of the Liberals dishonors our Armed Forces members,” said ethics critic Michael Barrett, who is a veteran himself. “Revoke this appalling ban.”

The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) first imposed the ban before Remembrance Day last year, but backtracked following protests from inside and outside the ranks. Chaplain General Brig.-Gen. Guy Belisle responded by allowing a one-time exception for Remembrance Day ceremonies that year, in line with the previous policy that had been in place since 2013.

The old policy specifically allows prayers with faith-specific language to be recited by military chaplains during official ceremonies, so long as they are preceded by a preamble inviting those who hold different beliefs to reflect or pray according to their own convictions.

Senior chaplains told their subordinates this week that an exemption to allow prayer would not be permitted for this year’s Remembrance Day ceremonies, according to internal emails seen by The Epoch Times.

Defence Minister Bill Blair criticized the Conservatives for their comments, calling them “complete nonsense.”

“Any suggestion that our Chaplain General banned prayer is disrespectful to the excellent work that our chaplains do in tending to the spiritual wellbeing of all members of the Canadian Armed Forces,” Blair wrote on X.

Prayer in voluntary settings is still allowed, but not during official functions.

The 2023 directive from the Chaplain General replaced the act of saying a prayer during public military functions with “spiritual reflections.” It says such a change was necessary to reflect the evolving legal and social contexts in Canada, such as the need to respect state neutrality as well as diversity and inclusion principles.

“Chaplains shall endeavour to ensure that all feel included and able to participate in the reflection with a clear conscience, no matter their beliefs (religious, spiritual, agnostic, atheist),” the directive says.

The directive quotes a 2015 Supreme Court decision against the city of Saguenay, Que. The city council’s practice of saying a prayer before meetings had been challenged in court.

“The evolution of Canadian society has given rise to a concept of neutrality according to which the state must not interfere in religion and beliefs,” says the ruling in the Mouvement laïque québécois v. Saguenay case. The Chaplain General’s directive says it has a “legal obligation” to abide by the religious neutrality of the state.

The new directive also replaced the respective religious symbols on the chaplains’ scarves with the logo of the Royal Canadian Chaplain Service. “Chaplains must consider the potential that some items or symbols may cause discomfort or traumatic feelings when choosing the dress they wear during public occasions,” it says.

Bishop Scott McCaig, who is outside the military chain of command but oversees Catholic chaplains in the military, said last year that the new policy was causing a “vocational crisis” in the ranks.

This year, McCaig told The Epoch Times in an interview that his main concern is ensuring chaplains are able to serve the spiritual faith traditions represented in the military.

Regarding the policy on prayer, he said the CAF is trying to avoid “religious coercion in mandatory” military events. McCaig raised concerns about eliminating all religion from these events.

“Forbidding all religious expression in public mandatory events does favour non-religion over religion,” he said about the argument on the neutrality of the state.

The bishop also said there are inconsistencies in the policy, with chaplains who attend non-mandatory ceremonies organized by the Legion also being prohibited from reciting a prayer.

The Legion did not confirm this to The Epoch Times, but said the Legion itself has not told chaplains they can’t recite prayers at its events.

“While military chaplains are required to modify their language, that decision does not eliminate the inclusion of prayer to God or a higher power by other spiritual representatives at Legion ceremonies,” Legion spokesperson Nujma Bond said in an email.