Conscientious Objection Registry
Conscientious Objection in Canada
What is the Conscientious Objector Registry?
Conscientious Objector Registration is an informal way of recording one’s commitments to peace and to a position of conscientious objection to participation in war. It began in the early 1990s in response to the Gulf War as a joint initiative of Conscience Canada, ACT for Disarmament, the Canadian Friends Service Committee and Mennonite Central Committee Canada. These materials were revised in 2006 for re-distribution by MCC Canada.
There is no immediate threat of military conscription in Canada. Nevertheless, Canada’s recent shift toward a more offensive military posture, such as our involvement in Afghanistan, provides a “teachable moment” for Christians and others to reflect on their position on war, peace and military service.
Here are some reasons for participating in The Conscientious Objector Registry:
- It provides an opportunity for you to think consciously about where you stand on the question of participation in war and military service. Peacemaking includes more than the question of war, but it cannot include less than that.
- It helps to deepen your understanding of and commitment to peace, and to discern whether that call comes from a faith or moral/ethical basis.
- It encourages you to engage in dialogue and exploration with others, and therefore to strengthen your ability to build peace in your community.
- If military conscription is ever considered in Canada, a written statement of your position on conscientious objection will help in establishing an official CO claim.
- There is an ongoing campaign to allow COs to designate the portion of their tax that is used for military purposes to a Peace Fund (see consciencecanada.ca). If this campaign is successful, a record of conscientious objection again may be helpful in establishing your CO claim and your right to designate taxes toward this Peace Fund.
Here are some other things to consider:
- You should complete your written statement only after prayer, study and dialogue with others. See Resources and Suggestions for Congregations
- The legal value of participating in the CO Registry is not certain. However, in the case of conscription, an ability to document that one’s convictions were held prior to conscription would be helpful.
- Participating in the CO Registry does not necessarily imply that you intend to cooperate with any system of conscription.
- If you believe that war or lethal force is justified in limited instances then you would be considered a "selective objector." You should know that the government has never recognized the right of selective objection.
