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Members of the coalition came away from the meetings convinced they have created an option that parliamentarians and government officials find administratively feasible. "This may seem like a small victory, but it's an important one," says Chris Derksen Hiebert of Mennonite Central Committee. "The proposals we put forward in the past were seen by government officials as too cumbersome and directive."
If passed, this latest proposal would allow COs to register with the government on their tax returns. The military portion of their taxes would be placed in a special account to be used for any non-military purpose chosen by the government. The government would report each year to Parliament the number of registered COs and the total amount of military taxes involved, and would certify that none of that money was used for military purposes.
Coalition delegates (Don Woodside, Religious Society of Friends-Quakers; Bruna Nota, Conscience Canada; Dominique Boisvert, Nos impots pour la paix; Doug Pritchard, Conference of Mennonites in Canada; Chris Derksen Hiebert, Mennonite Central Committee Canada) met with 10 Members of Parliament from all political parties, as well as officials from the Treasury Board and Finance Departments.
"The general feeling out of these meetings was clearly a very positive one," said Dominique Boisvert. "Most MPs we met were sympathetic to the proposal, ranging from fully supportive and agreeing to co-sponsor the Bill, to in favour of the Bill should it come to a vote. . . .that seems to be the main hurdle now is the political will to accept the workable solution that we proposed. We hope to meet with Paul Martin soon, so that we can put our case to him directly."
A primary concern of lawmakers is that bowing to this request might encourage objections to all sorts of government policies justified on grounds of conscience.
"Our main answer to that fear is the long historical precedent," said Doug Pritchard. "In the past, recognition of conscientious objections to military service, militia taxes and war bonds did not cause a flood of similar requests from other fields."
A second argument from legislators reluctant to support such a bill flows from the international peacekeeping and civil protection role the Canadian military frequently plays. For example, how can COs oppose the role the military played in helping the people of Quebec and Ontario during the recent ice storms, or protecting humanitarian aid in Somalia?
"COs cannot support an organization whose primary goal, training and equipment is for fighting wars," said Pritchard. "If one looks at what happened in the Gulf War or Somalia, it seems pretty obvious that the military's peacekeeping role isn't always as peaceful as one would think. And perhaps disaster relief could be performed as well and more cheaply by a non-military agency."
The coalition's challenge now is to build public and government support for this option and for a private member's bill (C-272) that would implement it, introduced recently in the House of Commons by MP Svend Robinson, said Derksen Hiebert. "We need to draw attention to a dilemma a lot of Canadians face--to violate the law of their conscience by paying taxes which they know are used for the military, or to violate the current tax laws."
MCC Canada news release
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