Aralt Mac Giolla Chainnigh

Aralt Mac Giolla Chainnigh CD (formerly Harold Kenny) is a captain in the Canadian Forces, an associate professor of physics at the Royal Military College of Canada [http://www.rmc.ca/academic/physics/MacGiollaChainnigh/index_e.html National Defence: Department of Physics: Capt. Aralt Mac Giolla Chainnigh] ] and President of the North American Association for Celtic Language Teachers. [ [http://www.naaclt.org/topic_entry.php?RECORD_KEY(entry_topic)=entry_id,topic_id&entry_id(entry_topic)=32&topic_id(entry_topic)=2&PHPSESSID=61568b11da1b7324f3c924691ccd834b North American Association for Celtic Language Teachers: 2007 conference dates and locations] ] A 1982 graduate of Royal Roads Military College and the Royal Military College of Canada, Dr. Mac Giolla Chainnigh researches the circumstellar morphology in symbiotic star systems. He is also a fluent Irish-speaker and a leading member of "Cumann na Gaeltachta", organizers of the "Gaeltacht Bhaile na hÉireann" (Erinsville "Gaeltacht") in Tamworth, Ontario, the first designated Irish-speaking area outside of Ireland. [ [http://www.gaelport.com/index.php?page=clippings&id=1661&viewby=date First Gaeltacht abroad planned for Canada; 23ú Eanáir 2007] ] [ [http://gaeltacht.ca/ North American Gaeltacht Web site] ] [ [http://www.independent.ie/world-news/north-america/bualadh-bos----gaeltacht-goes-global-43921.html McKittrick, David; "Independent": Bualadh bos ... Gaeltacht goes global; April 18, 2007] ]

In 2000 Captain Mac Giolla Chainnigh petitioned to be personally excused from having display loyalty to the Canadian sovereign as head of state and Commander-in-Chief, alledging that Canadian Forces requirements to salute the Union Flag and sing "God Save the Queen" - the Canadian Royal Anthem - violated his constitutional rights. [http://www.cfgb-cgfc.gc.ca/english/csViewer.asp?x=1#tphp Canadian Forces Grievance Board: Case Summaries; ID: HAR-7088-3119; August 28, 2006] ] On advice of the Canadian Forces Grievance Board, which stated (and was later reiterated by the Supreme Court of Canada) that Mac Giolla Chainnigh's description of the toast to the Queen as "royalist symbolism" was "a reflection of his fundamental lack of understanding of the governance structures of Canada." [ [http://cas-ncr-nter03.cas-satj.gc.ca/rss/T180906Decision.pdf T-1809-06 IN THE MATTER OF ARALT MAC GIOLLA CHAINNIGH v. THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF CANADA; January 21, 2008] ] [ [http://www.canada.com/globaltv/regina/news/story.html?id=6bf06735-7f2c-4de2-a471-9c58197cc821&k=79047 McGregor, Glen; CanWestNews Service: "Officer wages war against allegiance to Queen"] ]

General Rick Hillier, Chief of the Defence Staff, denied the petition after five years of deliberation, ruling that members of the Canadian Forces are legally obliged to "pay respect to the Queen as the Head of State of Canada." Mac Giolla Chainnigh had asked the Federal Court of Canada to review the decision, which was dismissed with costs payable to the respondant, on the January 21, 2008, stating that "whether Capt. Mac Giolla Chainnigh likes it or not, the fact is that the Queen is his Commander-in-Chief and Canada's Head of State. A refusal to display loyalty and respect to the Queen where required by Canadian Forces’ policy would not only be an expression of profound disrespect and rudeness but it would also represent an unwillingness to adhere to hierarchical and lawful command structures that are fundamental to good discipline. It follows from this that, within Canada's existing constitutional arrangements, the CDS' decision was the only rational response to Capt. Mac Giolla Chainnigh’s grievance," and that "the Queen is more than a foreign monarch, she is the Queen of Canada." [ [http://cas-ncr-nter03.cas-satj.gc.ca/rss/T180906Decision.pdf T-1809-06 IN THE MATTER OF ARALT MAC GIOLLA CHAINNIGH v. THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF CANADA; January 21, 2008] ]

ee also

* Commander-in-Chief of the Canadian Forces
* Debate on the monarchy in Canada

References