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“I have concerns about my ability to do my job effectively and in a way that promotes the vision of corrections and promotes public safety,” said Dwyer.

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“There have been a slew of changes that have had a major effect on the quality of chaplaincy care and the quality of pastoring,” he said. “Not only with Muslim offenders but also non-Muslim offenders.

“The tough-on-crime agenda, while important from a rhetorical point of view, needs to be balanced,” he added. “Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime. There needs to be an integrated approach to promoting public safety.”

The vast majority of Canada’s Muslim inmates are in Ontario prisons and while Protestant and Catholic programs are entrenched in the system, religious and spiritual programs specifically for Muslims are relatively new — developed by Dwyer and close colleagues.

Dwyer says he is especially concerned about the prison system’s ability to deal with “counter radicalization.”

“The phenomenon of radicalization is real, it is current, and the Muslim community has to be accountable and has to take responsibility,” he said.

“Chaplains are the front-line workers,” he said. “Real investment must be given to this work because it is important, timely and relevant — and effective.”

Then-public safety minister Vic Toews announced two years ago that his government was cutting about 50 part-time, mostly non-Christian chaplains, and handing a $2-million privatization contract to a company called Kairos Pneuma Chaplaincy Inc.