Religious Neutrality Day: Celebrating separation of church and state after years of unconstitutional prayers in municipal council meetings

A decade ago, prayers in political settings were deemed illegal by Supreme Court of Canada, but B.C. only declared officially prayer-free eight months ago

Two elections ago when Chilliwack Mayor Ken Popove, three incumbent city councillors, and three new ones were sworn in on Nov. 6, 2018 at city hall, there was a ceremony.

Justice Thomas Crabtree did the statutory declarations and oaths of office for the new city council. Avianna, Madalyn, and Jack Clempson sang the national anthem.

And then something took place that was illegal. Salvation Army Pastor Angus Haggarty read an invocation of the holy spirit or some other Christian prayer of some kind.

In fairness to Haggarty, the new city council, and senior staff, they likely didn't know it was unconstitutional and they were far from the only municipality to mix church and state in violation of a Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) decision in 2015.

There were still at least 26 municipalities to begin their inaugural council meetings with a prayer in 2018, despite the unanimous ruling by the SCC in the case of  Mouvement laïque québécois v. Saguenay (City).

Tuesday (April 15, 2025), marks 10 years since the Saguenay decision that found that prayers in municipal council meetings violated the state's duty of religious neutrality. April 15 is Religious Neutrality Day.

In the unanimous ruling, the SCC found that the state has a "duty of religious neutrality" that was being violated by beginning a session of council with a prayer. Writing for the majority, Justice Gascon also called this duty of religious neutrality "a democratic imperative" as city councils need to be "neutral public space that is free of discrimination and in which true freedom to believe or not to believe is enjoyed by everyone equally."

After the 2015 decision, many municipalities rightfully opted to end prayers in council meetings altogether. In British Columbia, however, these 23 chose to continue, according to a November 2020 report by the BC Humanist Association (BCHA):

Earlier in 2020, the BCHA took on The Saguenay Project, a research-driven advocacy campaign for secularism in municipal council meetings. After publishing their findings, they lobbied municipal staff, generated publicity, and encouraged grassroots advocacy. As a result, only seven B.C. municipalities included prayers in their 2022 inaugural meetings.

Following the publication of The Duty of Neutrality Beyond Saguenay in 2020, the BHCA lobbied the 23 municipalities identified as having prayers in their 2018 inaugural meetings to end the practice. Only one of those communities, Parksville, continued to have prayers in 2022.

"We also identified three additional communities that had prayers in 2018 that we'd previously missed (Belcarra, Delta and West Kelowna) who continued the practice in 2022," according to the BCHA.

From direct correspondence and freedom of information requests, the BCHA showed how many of these communities directly responded to their advocacy. Unfortunately, they did not communicate with municipalities that didn't have prayers in 2018, and three (Colwood, Tumbler Ridge and Vancouver) restarted the practice in 2022, underlining the importance of continued secular advocacy.

By auditing their practices, the BCHA is encouraging local governments to make their meetings more accessible and welcoming to people of all beliefs and none.

By July 2024, the BCHA declared success with Parksville agreeing to not include one in the next inaugural council meeting in 2026.

“Nine years after the Saguenay ruling, we’re thrilled to be able to declare B.C.’s municipal council meetings prayer-free," said BCHA executive director Ian Bushfield.

"We will remain vigilant as we continue playing whac-a-mole with local politicians who privilege religion over non-religion in the public sphere. We strongly encourage anyone considering bringing prayers back to look closely at the responses we received from municipalities ranging from Belcarra to Vancouver.”

While all municipalities have now agreed to stop because of the non-constitutionality of prayer at council meetings and abolish the anachronistic and illegal practice, when hundreds of people wrote to city councils to proclaim April 15 "Religious Neutrality Day," most ignored or dismissed the requests (including ones that proclaimed December as Christian Heritage Month).

But they did get a positive response from the City of Vancouver.

More on MLQ v Sageunay

Join the BC Humanist Association on April 15, 2025 for a discussion on YouTube on the 10th anniversary of the Supreme Court of Canada's ruling in MLQ v Saguenay, which found prayers at municipal council meetings violated the state's constitutional duty of religious neutrality.

The meeting will be hosted by Ian Bushfield, executive director of the BCHA, and Teale Phelps Bondaroff, PhD, research co-ordinator of the BC Humanist Association.

Together, they will take you through the decision, its implications and how the BCHA has worked for several years to audit and lobby for compliance among municipalities across Canada. And they'll discuss the BCHA's latest report confirming the state of BC municipalities.

Watch here:

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Paul J. Henderson
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