Sandra Dunham
Many of you shared your outrage at last month’s report of the Canadian Armed Forces’ taxpayer funded church parade, and asked what you could do about it. CFIC has been wondering the same thing, and we have investigated.
The Canadian Armed Forces’ (CAF) official position is that spiritual care should be inclusive of people of all faiths, as well as people who identify as humanists, atheists or agnostics. Officially, Christian prayers are being replaced by secular reflections.
There are other indications of progress. In 2022, the CAF introduced their first ever humanist chaplain. In May 2025, Colonel Lisa Pacarynuk was appointed Chaplain General. In its media release about the appointment, the CAF acknowledges the need of the chaplaincy to serve the “spiritual and morale needs of an increasingly diverse makeup of CAF members.”
In reality, there is much of the Christian heritage of the CAF alive and well including the church parade you read about last month.
So CFIC asked the question “What would it take for the CAF to truly become secular?” In a nutshell, the answer is time and perseverance.
We have been advised that those of us who are outside of the CAF can affect very little change. The change must come from within. It must come from CAF members who are currently serving in the forces and have personally had the experience of being “forced” to attend a religious ceremony. There are safe ways for people in service to “request a redress of grievances.”
If you know of someone who is currently serving and has been “forced” to participate in religious services and ceremonies, please suggest that they make an internal complaint. If they are unsure how to do this, CFIC would be pleased to put them in touch with people within the military who can assist.
CFIC will continue to monitor this situation and look for other ways to support change within the CAF.
In theory, the Chaplain General of the Canadian Armed Forces is duty-bound to support military personnel whose religion is different from their own. Presumably, that means that chaplains are not to use their positions of influence to indoctrinate military personnel with their own religion. While it’s great that the new Chaplain General is Humanist, they would still be honor-bound to respect the religious beliefs of their flock.