Canada News

Prisoners won’t be forced to use Christian ministers

October 10, 2012 | Jewish Tribune

Vic Toes, Minister of Public Safety

TORONTO - Inmates in Canadian prisons will not be forced to seek spiritual guidance solely from Christian ministers.

“B’nai Brith Canada has received assurances from Minister of Public Safety Vic Toews that inmates of all faith traditions will continue to be ministered to by chaplains representing their own religion,” said Frank Dimant, CEO, B’nai Brith Canada.

In addition, Toews issued an open letter in which he stated, “As you may know, I recently undertook a review of the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC)’s delivery model for spiritual services for offenders incarcerated in the federal correctional system to ensure taxpayer dollars are being used wisely and appropriately. The media have inaccurately reported on the changes resulting from this review and I want to take the opportunity to reassure you that our government strongly supports the freedom of religion of all Canadians.”

The volunteer chaplain and full-time chaplaincy programs within Canadian prisons will continue.

A spokesperson for Toews told B’nai Brith that, in fact, about 2,500 volunteer prison chaplains of all faiths will continue their good work nationwide. The only program that will be eliminated is the one which employs part-time, paid chaplains. This will affect employees of all faiths.

Although there are no full-time Jewish chaplains working within Canada’s prison system at present, there are a number of volunteer Jewish chaplains, the spokesperson said. Full-time chaplains of Muslim and other faiths are currently employed within the federal correctional system.

Tags: chaplan Chrisitian current inmates Jewish prison prisoners Vic Toes

Barukh

What’s still not clear about Minister Toews’ clarification is that he’s said nothing about the full-time chaplains – not even if there are any. I for one would be concerned if the only paid full-time chaplains in the federal prison system were all to be Christians, with no paid part-time chaplains for everyone else.. One could argue that having only paid full-time Christian chaplains would be proper (if indeed it is true), because most prisoners are indeed Christians. The various denominations would also have to come into focus, but at least they’d be all Christians.

Then (again if my premise is correct), I’d argue that the other religions, given the much smaller number of inmates adhering to them, should properly have paid part-time chaplains for their help – because that would be the fair and equitable thing to do. In other words, just because there are enough Christian prisoners to warrant employing full-time Christian chaplains, should not mean that part-time non-Christian chaplains shouldn’t be employed as well. To do otherwise would be discriminatory and inequitable. If part-time is all that’s needed, then hire and pay the part-time chaplains who are ministering to the smaller number of non-Christian inmates.

Having said all that, without (I hope) confusing the issues, I recall that the late Rav Feyval Rozenzweig (z”l), of Kitchener was the paid part-time Jewish chaplain to Jewish prisoners in the Ontario Corerectional Centre (the orld “O.R.”) on the outskirts of Guelph. My wife was a part-time social worker there and used Rav Feyval’s services many time for the Jewish guys in proison. He was a wonderful rabbi and a mensch. His son, Avram, is the founder and head of the terrific Jewish humanitarian and relief organization, Ve’ahavta (see http://www.veahavta.org).
Ted Glass

You’re over-complicating this, Barukh. Toews’s decision is simple: He cut all part-time chaplains and kept the full-time ones. There are 75 full-time chaplains and 69 part-time. Of the 75 full-time chaplains, 37 are Roman Catholic, 36 are Protestant, and two are Muslim. The religious breakdown of the part-time chaplains is not known, but reports have said about 20 are non-Christian. For the Jewish community, this means Ottawa will no longer pay for Jewish chaplains in federal prisons, leaving the community to foot the bill, or chaplains would offer their services on a voluntary basis. At last count, there were about 75 Jews in federal prisons.
Don’t you find it odd that B’nai Brith does not find this troublesome and discriminatory, and seems to go out of its way to defend Toews?

Barukh

I thought I might be doing that and even hinted at it ) Thanks so much for clarifying the situation with exact nos. YES, I do find it exceedingly odd that B’nai Brith and indeed Frank Dimant himself have not come down on this situation like a ton of latkes at Hannuka! But we understand, do we not? After all, it’s the Cons who have done the cutting, so whatever discriminatory aspects it might have, it’s been done by the great friends of the Jewish community in Canada and therefore it must be right and decent. *said with my finger laid on the side of my nose…)

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Canada News

Prisoners won’t be forced to use Christian ministers

October 10, 2012 | Jewish TribunecloseAuthor: Jewish Tribune Name: Jewish Tribune Site: About: no bio enterdedSee Authors Posts (6955)

October 10, 2012 | Jewish Tribune