Decision to cut prison chaplains has little to do with money

Prime Minister Stephen Harper won’t take on abortion, but he’ll quietly make sure the federal government isn’t funding witchcraft in prison or gay pride parades.

By Stephen Maher, Postmedia News

Last month, Corrections Canada put out requests for proposals for chaplains to provide part-time spiritual guidance to Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh and Wiccan prisoners in British Columbia, part of the federal prison service’s national chaplain program.

The Canadian Press did a light story on the Wiccan proposal, and interviewed Priestess Meredith Campbell, who said the Wiccan chaplain would conduct ceremonies that involve casting spells with a pentacle.

It took Public Safety Minister Vic Toews just an hour to respond, declaring that the government would review the decision to hire a witch to work in prisons.

On Thursday, Toews told CBC that he would get rid of all 49 part-time chaplains in Canadian prisons, 18 of whom are non-Christian. All but one of the remaining full-time chaplains are Christians, which means that the federal government will now pay for the spiritual care of Christians, while other faiths will have to rely on volunteers.

Heaven forbid, though, that anyone think that the government is supporting Christianity.

“The minister strongly supports the freedom of religion for all Canadians, including prisoners,” Toews’s office said in an email to CBC. “However, the government … is not in the business of picking and choosing which religions will be given preferential status through government funding. The minister has concluded … chaplains employed by Corrections Canada must provide services to inmates of all faiths.”

Hard to imagine a Catholic priest presiding over a ceremony involving a pentacle, isn’t it?

In the House of Commons on Friday, Toews’ parliamentary secretary, Candice Bergen (who recently changed her name from Candice Hoeppner), said that the decision was made to save money.

“Upon reviewing the program, it was determined that changes were necessary so that this program supports the freedom of religion of inmates while respecting taxpayers’ dollars,” she said.

If you believe that, you might be naive enough to believe that chanting spells over a pentacle will improve the harvest.

The government will save $1.3 million by firing all the part-time chaplains, which is not much, and certainly not as much as it would cost to defend a challenge under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Toews’s decision fits the pattern of this government regarding groups of people whom devout religious elements of their electoral base dislike.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will not give way on abortion, which is the holy grail for religious conservatives, but he will quietly make sure that the federal government doesn’t fund witches in prisons or gay pride parades.

There are two message tracks: one for the general public – about caution with taxpayers’ dollars; and another for devout religious supporters – communicated quietly and carefully.

In 2009, Diane Ablonczy, then minister of state for tourism, was stripped of responsibility for a tourism event fund after she gave $400,000 to the Toronto Pride Parade.

Saskatchewan MP Brad Trost told LifeSiteNews that she lost control of the fund as punishment for giving money to the homosexual event, but the government denied that. Since then, however, the government has not funded any pride events, although they are big tourist draws.

Hmm.

We can conclude that this government doesn’t like witches and it doesn’t like homosexuals parading in chaps.

Now, in the great scheme of things, this does not amount to persecution. We ought to be thankful that in this country groups that the government has a hard time with are not persecuted, and Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird has recently started an admirable effort to engage other countries that persecute homosexuals.

But it is fair to draw attention to the careful hypocrisy of the Conservatives’ approach to these difficult (for them) issues, and note the limits to their rhetoric.

A lot of devout Christians – like Toews, perhaps – think Wiccans are not just harmless spell casters, but devil worshippers.

That is similar to the way people in some other countries view religious minorities that we consider mainstream, and every year too many people around the world are butchered by mobs for their religious beliefs.

In the election campaign last year, the Conservatives announced that they would set up a $5-million Office of Religious Freedom, an admirable idea that might do a lot to help vulnerable people far away.

When the government held consultations last year, though, the official list of speakers included representatives of the Christian, Jewish and Bahai faiths, but not Muslims or Wiccans, minority groups that face obstacles to acceptance here in Canada.

The office is expected to open soon, and it will be interesting to see what kind of tone it takes. There is reason to fear that it will be used as a cudgel to beat countries we don’t like while ignoring the transgressions of countries we consider our friends.

If we are to go around lecturing people in far-off countries about respecting their religious minorities, we ought to start by making sure that we respect our own, especially when we find it difficult to do so.

smaher@postmedia.com

Tags: Brad Trost, Candice Bergen, Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Corrections Canada, Diane Ablonczy, Prisons, Stephen Harper, Vic Toews, Wicca

Lilly says:

October 10, 2012 at 9:28 am

Who does Harper think he’s kidding?
But a note to Sephen Maher about his article, you may want to brush up on your facts about “witchcraft”. It is a very broadly used word to describe a vast number of different pagan views. Many have nothing to do with chanting spells or hocus pokus stuff. I would know. I have been a practicing “witch” for most of my life and I don’t do anything like that and neither does anyone else I know. Most serious belief paths are centred around nature and respect for the natural cycles of life. As for “spells”, most witches would tell you that its just verbalizing what you want to see happen. Like self actualization. Kinda of like a prayer.

Stu says:

October 9, 2012 at 7:47 pm

pretty obvious Harper doesn’t understand Canada, much less BC.

Jimmy says:

October 8, 2012 at 8:24 pm

Regions have been practiced without the benefit of clergy under the worst of conditions many times through the course of history and the devote have managed to survive and believe. If the faith is true it does not need a paid visitor to support it. I am so tired of inmates whining about their violated rights. It’s jail and they are there for violating societies rights. Suck it up.

Bob says:

October 8, 2012 at 3:02 pm

If they saved that much from getting rid of the part time chaplains they should get rid of all government paid chaplains.

Providing that service is the job of individual religious communities and can easily be met in this age of webcams, visits and so forth. Religion has no place in government programs.