US conscientious objectors Jeremy Hinzman, Nga Nguyen, and son Liam are pictured with Charlie Diamond (CFSC representative to the War Resisters Support Campaign) and Anne Mitchell (Clerk, Canadian Yearly Meeting).
The pacifistic witness of Friends goes back to our earliest days in England, when George Fox refused to accept a commission in the military in 1651 saying that he “lived in the virtue of that life and power that took away the occasion of all wars” and that he had “come into the covenant of peace which was before wars and strifes were.”
The Friends’ emergent refusal to participate in war, or to fund war and militarism through taxes, broadened in the 20th century. We came to a fuller recognition that, as all are endowed with conscience, anyone – regardless of faith, or no faith at all – could develop a conscientious objection to war, including those serving in the military who come to this conclusion through the experience of war and preparation for war itself.
Vietnam
Friends provided much assistance to American men and women seeking refuge in Canada during the Vietnam War, when the USA still practiced conscription. Those arriving were both “draft dodgers” and “deserters”, the latter developing their conviction to refuse to fight out of the experience of war.
Iraq War and securing rights of conscience
In 2004, Friends again began offering help to American men and women, this time all soldiers and their families, who were refusing to to participate in the Iraq War. CFSC works in partnership with the War Resisters Support Campaign on helping the US War Resisters stay in Canada.
CFSC has taken particular interest in advancing the understanding and legal recognition of conscientious objection as an expression of rights of conscience, which has included providing letters of support as court cases move forward, preparing a brief for intervention with MCC Canada for the Federal Court of Appeal in the case of Jeremy Hinzman (2009), presenting a brief to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration in 2006 (which then approved a motion to let conscientious objectors to be able to stay in Canada, later approved in Parliament, and ignored by Government), etc. With church partners, such as The United Church of Canada and Mennonite Central Committee Canada, CFSC has spoken publicly and communicated to government our shared concern for the US War Resisters and our request that they be able to stay in Canada.
Canadian policy on conscientious objection
In the 1990s, with Mennonite Central Committee Canada, CFSC pressed the Department of National Defence to put into place a process for conscientious objection for Canadian military personnel who developed a conscientious objection to war. Though imperfect, a policy and procedure was put in to place in 2004.
In addition, MCC Canada, CFSC and others developed a CO registry for Canadians to record their conscientious objection to war; it was developed in the wake of the First Gulf War (1991) for youth in the event of any possible reintroduction of conscription in Canada. This registry is maintained by MCC Canada.
In the 2000s, CFSC began moderate work in addressing youth and militarism issues, producing a popular brochure used by local groups involved in counter-recruitment. Our approach has been to encourage reflection and critical thinking for those considering such a choice.
Conscientious objection to military taxation (“peace tax”)
8.9% of our federal taxes support the work of the Department of National Defence (excluding veteran benefits), including the war in Afghanistan and other military action. Canadian Yearly Meeting supports conscientious objection to military taxation as a personal witness of Friends and enables it employees to withhold such taxes on request.
People with a conscientious objection to having their taxes used for military purposes can register their objection by completing a Peace Tax Return at tax time each year. The Return is available from Conscience Canada (CC) at www.consciencecanada.ca. Conscience Canada was founded by Friends (Edith Adamson in particular) and others in 1978 in Victoria, BC and individual Friends continue to serve on its Board. CYM itself has an Ad-Hoc Committee on War Tax Concerns which liaises with CFSC and with Conscience Canada.
Conscience Canada’s DVD “Work for Peace: Stop Paying for War” (funded by CFSC) is available from CFSC and CC.
Resources
Below, find a few key resources developed by CFSC and its partners on conscientious objection.
- International Standards on Conscientious Objection to Military Service (2011, booklet), by Rachel Brett of the Quaker UN Office – Geneva.
- Considering Joining the Military? counter-recruitment brochure (2011, 2nd printing). Print copies can be ordered from CFSC by emailing info[at]quakerservice.ca
- CFSC intervention brief (joint with MCC Canada) to the Federal Court of Appeal (Hinzman case) in 2009-2010. The Court received the brief but dismissed our request for intervenor status. The Court’s decision reflects some of the arguments raised in the brief.
- CFSC’s presentation to the House of Common’s Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration in December 2007 provides a good overview of how domestic and international law recognise conscientious objection.
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