wfn.org | New Canadian policy for COs in military

[JDL@MennoniteCC.ca]

July 23, 1996
Mennonite Central Committee Canada
John Longhurst, MCCC Communications
(204) 261-6381
JDL@Mennonitecc.ca

NEW CANADIAN POLICY FOR COs IN MILITARY

OTTAWA, Ont. -- Shortly after joining the Canadian military in
1987, Brian Palmer became a conscientious objector.  He asked for
a discharge, but couldn't get one--unlike many other western
nations, Canada had no provision for personnel who developed a
conscientious objection to war.  Despite numerous appeals, Palmer
was forced to fulfil his three-year term of service, although he
succeeded in obtaining non-combatant status.
     Today a new policy developed by the Canadian Forces means that
conscientious objectors in the military won't have to repeat
Palmer's experience.  According to the policy, members who have a
"sincere objection to participation in war in general or to the
bearing and use of arms as a requirement of military service may
apply for release as a conscientious objector."  
     The new policy is the result of Palmer's experience and the
work of people such as William Janzen and Chris Derksen Hiebert, of
the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Canada Ottawa Office, and
Doug Pritchard, a member of the Mennonite Conference of Eastern
Canada Peace Justice and Social Concerns Commission.
     In 1991 Palmer, Janzen, Pritchard and Chris Derksen Hiebert,
then with MCC Ontario, met representatives from the Department of
National Defence to try to persuade the government to reinstate the
provision, which had been allowed to lapse in 1952.  At the meeting
the Department indicated that it was willing to study the issue;
the new policy is the result.
     Reached at his parent's home in Sarnia, Ont., Palmer was happy
to hear the news.  "I'm happy to see the change.  It's excellent,"
he says.  
     When he joined the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry
Battalion in Calgary, Palmer didn't see a conflict between his
faith and being a soldier.  But reading about Anabaptist peace
theology convinced him that he could no longer fulfil his duties as
a soldier.  After being discharged with a 5 "C" release--"which
means honourable, but we don't want you back" Palmer said in a 1992
interview--he went to Ontario Theological Seminary and Eastern
Mennonite Seminary, where he graduated with a Masters of Divinity
degree this spring.  He is currently looking for pastoral work.
     "I'm quite pleased with the turn of events," says Palmer, a
member of the New Covenant Christian Fellowship (Mennonite
Brethren) in Toronto.  He notes that it isn't often that
individuals get to play a role in shaping government policies like
this.
     According to Karol Wenek, who directs Personnel Policy for the
Department of National Defence, the new policy "is important in
terms of having a position from a human rights perspective."  He
notes that the number of people who will utilize it will likely be
very small, "but it will protect the rights of those few."
     According to the policy, the objection must be based on
"religious or moral study and belief" and not limited to
participation in a particular conflict or operation.  As well, the
claimant must provide evidence to back up the claim.  Evidence
would include membership in a religious group which opposes war and
the claimant's "adherence to such tenets."
     William Janzen, who directs the MCC Canada Ottawa Office,
welcomes the new policy.  "Brian's case showed that there was a
problem," he says.  "Given that many other nations accept the
rights of conscientious objectors in the military, it wasn't
unreasonable to think that Canada would do the same."
     The policy was developed in consultation with a number of
agencies, including MCC Canada.  Janzen was also surprised and
gratified to learn that one of the sources used by the Department
of National Defence to do research for the policy was his book
Limits on Liberty: The Experience of Mennonite, Hutterite and
Doukhabour Communities in Canada.  One part of the book deals with
exemptions from military service during the two world wars.

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John Longhurst, MCC Communications
JDL@MennoniteCC.CA
Visit our World Wide Web site at http://www.mennonitecc.ca/mcc