"This has been put to tender because there is a need. The requirement of these services is on-going. It has been used in the past."

"Religious freedom is a paramount value in Canadian society. However, the government is not convinced all services offered through the chaplaincy program reflect an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars."

Meredith Kimber, 35, is Wiccan priestess from Nanaimo, BC. She said:

"Wiccan is so hush-hush, people hear the word witch and they freak out. There must be a high enough number within the inmates for this to be necessary."

Sam Wagar, 55, is a Wiccan priest who founded the Congregationalist Wiccan Association of B.C. He said:

"Wiccans are human beings. Some human beings screw up and end up in jail. They may still need the same kind of spiritual care as people from other religions who end up in jail. ... Everybody who isn’t a Christian differs from the mainstream. Big whoopee, get over it. We have a way of being spiritual, a way of connecting to the gods, a set of ethics, and beliefs and they help us to live our lives better." ₅

"After that date, penitentiary inmates of minority faiths, from Buddhists to Wiccans, will have to rely on full-time Christian chaplains for interfaith services, religious counsel and spiritual guidance.

'I could never pretend to be Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and Sikh and tend to the spiritual needs of all these different people,' says the Rev. David Price, an Anglican priest in Agassiz, B.C., who spent many years as a prison chaplain in the west. In his view, prison chaplains are essential and cost-effective 'midwives' who help offenders give birth to new selves and new lives before they are released back into society.

The cancellation comes after Toews, whose office oversees federal correctional institutions, said last month that he was not convinced part-time minority-faith chaplains were an appropriate use of taxpayer money and ordered a halt to the tendering of new contracts.

Julie Carmichael, a spokesperson for Toews said that while the minister strongly supports freedom of religion for all Canadians, including prisoners, 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 … [Christian] chaplains employed by Corrections Canada must provide services to inmates of all faiths'." ₆

An article about this event in the Globe and Mail received 200 comments -- an unusually high number in Canada. Some gems were:

Vlad The Inhaler: "Isn't this the government that just opened the Office Of Religious Freedom? I guess it only applies to OTHER countries. What hypocrites!"

Tim Bryson: "The meanspiritedness of Toews never ceases to amaze me."

mikes4: "Someone got the idea that they could fly a broom over the wall."

Mannlickher: "From creating an Office of Religious Freedom inside the foreign affairs portfolio to this in only six months. You have freedom of religion, apparently, as long as it's of the approved type. What a pack o' hypocrites."

Lthoth: "... if the concern is the use of taxpayers' money for this type of Corrections service, as the director of communications stated, why is the funding being withheld for only one religion? I'm afraid that religious bigotry has reared its ugly head. I don't believe that the Canadian people will let this stand."

Tewtree: "In the UK, most prison services have regular visits from Pagan & Wiccan chaplains. I met the local Anglican prison chaplain at an interfaith event recently, and he said that they regularly have visits from a Pagan priestess for their Pagan inmates. This has been happening for about 20 years, I think. Of course, right-wing papers sound off about it from time to time (and about Pagans in the military, and Paganism being taught in schools - to promote religious tolerance, obviously) but it's getting better."

RobM7: "You're either with the christians or you're with the pedophiles." ₆

2013-MAR-19, British Columbia: The West Coast Prison Justice Society, seven Inmates in federal prisons in British Columbia (BC), and one prisoner who was recently transferred from BC to New Brunswick are suing the federal government over its decision to terminate the contracts of part time prison chaplains. The inmates follow the Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim Sikh, and Wiccan faiths. Their lawsuit against federal Attorney General Rob Nicholson and Public Safety Minister Vic Toews claims that only two non-Christian chaplains remain in all of Canada as of the beginning of 2013-MAR. There are none in in British Columbia. The lawsuit claims that: "Prisoners do not lose their right to freely express their religious and spiritual beliefs by virtue of their incarceration ..."

Julie Carmichael, a spokesperson for Vic Toews, said in an email:

"I can say that the Government of Canada strongly supports the freedom of religion of all Canadians. The government funds full-time spiritual advisers to provide services of any faith. Additionally, there are over 2,500 individuals who provide spiritual services to prisoners of many faiths on a voluntary basis. This approach supports the freedom of religion of prisoners while ensuring that taxpayer dollars are used wisely and appropriately."

The federal Government seems to be assuming that Christian chaplains can adequately counsel inmates of all religions. But many chaplains are from conservative Christian denominations, some of whom regard other religions as being led or influenced by Satan which are guaranteed to have the individual believers spend eternity being tortured in Hell. It is difficult to see how such a chaplain can remain objective about a non-Christian faith. ₇

^{Page Translator:}

This page translator works on Firefox,
Opera, Chrome, and Safari browsers only

After translating, click on the "show
original" button at the top of this
page to restore page to English.