About the Centre

The Canadian Campus Chaplaincy Centre is a resource for people working in religious and spiritual advisory services in postsecondary institutions in Canada and elsewhere. It was established in 2008 to respond to a need.

For many years, Canadian campus ministers have tried to support each other without the benefit of a national organization. Denominational networks exist; but the creation of a national professional association has not been possible due to limited resources, large geography and small population. There are few university-supported University Chaplains in Canada; and Campus Ministers (those supported by off-campus religious groups) have very little time or money to do much more than their own very demanding individual ministries. Ecumenical Chaplains have the added responsibility of being accountable to multiple church bodies.

There is another factor: many campus ministers are not full-time in the role. When the last national gathering of a Canadian Association of Campus Chaplains was attempted in 2002 at the University of Western Ontario, 22 of the 44 campus chaplains in attendance were part-time.

And yet Canadians hosted the first global conference of campus chaplains, Phoenix Rising in Vancouver, 2000.  Canadians have been an energetic contingent at all the subsequent global conferences: Dreaming Landscapes in Brisbane, 2004; Reflecting Light in Tampere, 2008; Mosaics in Motion at Yale University in 2012; and Digging/Dialogue/Diversity at La Trobe University in Bendigo Australia in July 2016.  Canadians contributed to the process that established the global association, the International Association of Chaplains in Higher Education (IACHE) in 2008.

There is still no national, ecumenical or interfaith association for Canadians in campus chaplaincy, but there are denominational and informal networks. In this context, the CCCC serves as a resource and a means of communication.