Daily Herald Contributor
A new report from the BC Humanist Association (BCHA) says multiple Saskatchewan municipalities continue to include prayers in their council meetings, despite a 2015 Supreme Court of Canada ruling that deemed the practice unconstitutional.
The report, An Impossible Task: Unconstitutional Prayers in Saskatchewan Municipal Council Meetings, is the sixth in the BCHA’s ongoing Saguenay Project, which audits and promotes compliance with the 2015 Mouvement laïque québécois v. Saguenay decision.
“Almost a decade after the Supreme Court’s ruling in Saguenay, it is disappointing to see municipalities continuing to violate their duty of religious neutrality in Saskatchewan,” said Teale Phelps Bondaroff, Research Coordinator at the BCHA. “Including prayer in municipal council meetings not only violates the municipality’s duty of religious neutrality but creates an environment in municipal council chambers where some residents are made to feel less welcome than others.”
The release of the report comes as Saskatchewan voters are set to go to the polls in November to elect new local governments.
“Prayers turn council meetings into a preferential space for believers and tell atheists they are less welcome in their community,” said Ian Bushfield, Executive Director of the BCHA in the release. “With the publication of this report, we’re hoping Saskatchewan is the first province to have completely secular inaugural council meetings later this fall.”
The report identified Prince Albert and Pinehouse as including prayers at the start of every regular council meeting. Additionally, at least Three — Moose Jaw, North Battleford and Pinehouse — included prayers in their 2020 inaugural meetings.
“It is important for municipalities, more fundamentally, to fix that (and) to be inclusive of the different world views and perspectives of the constituents to make our city halls inclusive spaces for people of all beliefs to come together and participate in their local democracy,” Bushfield said.
Prince Albert’s prayer is typically red by the clerk before each regular council meeting. The text reads: ‘O God, let us each in our own way ask your wisdom and guidance in our deliberations. Help us to incorporate into all our decisions, those values which will enable us to fulfill our mission, to act as responsible stewards, and to respect and value the cultural and spiritual traditions of all citizens of the City of Prince Albert. For this we pray, amen.”
Mayor Greg Dionne said the City has no intentions of changing its policy at this time because it’s a generic prayer that does not favour one group over another.
“If you look at the ones that were challenged, they look more like a Roman Catholic prayer,” Dionne said. “They had a cross with Jesus on it in the chamber … where we have none of that. We start our meetings with a generic prayer, and I don’t have any issue with that. If our prayer offends you, come to the meeting after it is done. At this point we have no plans to change our policy.”
