Vancouver concedes 2022 prayers breached duty of neutrality
Publisher: In-Sight Publishing
Publisher Founding: September 1, 2014
Publisher Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada
Publication: Freethought Newswire
Original Link: https://www.bchumanist.ca/vancouver_concedes_2022_prayers
Publication Date: June 3, 2024
Organization: British Columbia Humanist Association
Organization Description: The British Columbia Humanist Association has been providing a community and voice for Humanists, atheists, agnostics, and the non-religious of Metro Vancouver and British Columbia since 1982. We support the growth of Humanist communities across BC, provide Humanist ceremonies, and campaign for progressive and secular values.
The City of Vancouver has said that prayers at its most recent inauguration ceremony were “a breach of the duty of religious neutrality.” A lawyer for the City made the concession in response to the threat of legal action from the BC Humanist Association (BCHA).
In light of the City’s acknowledgement, the BCHA has dropped its planned lawsuit and will closely follow the plans for the next inaugural ceremony.
Ian Bushfield, Executive Director:
We’re feeling vindicated today that the City of Vancouver recognized the issue we and others had with the prayers delivered at its inaugural meeting. In the words of the Supreme Court of Canada, a neutral public space protects every person’s freedom and dignity.
We will continue to work to ensure all our public institutions are secular and inclusive.
In 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that prayers at municipal council meetings were unconstitutional as they breached the state’s duty of religious neutrality.
Last year, the BCHA identified Vancouver as one of seven municipalities in BC that included religious content in their 2022 inaugural council meetings in We Yelled at Them Until They Stopped. After publishing the report, the BCHA sought commitments from each of these municipalities that future meetings would be secular.
Dr Teale Phelps Bondaroff, Research Coordinator:
I am pleased to see that Vancouver has recognized that the inclusion of prayer in its 2022 inaugural meeting constituted a violation of its duty of religious neutrality. It is important that everyone feels welcome at municipal council meetings. When a municipality opens a meeting with prayer, it elevates some religions over others and sends the message that religion is more important than non-religion.
The newly elected Mayor and Councillors were sworn in on November 7, 2022. The ceremony featured greetings delivered by representatives from five religious groups: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver, Canadian Memorial United Church, Temple Shalom, Khalsa Diwan Society and BC Muslim Association. Together they delivered a collective prayer. Emails obtained by the BCHA through an FOI request showed that then mayor-elect Ken Sim requested the representatives be invited.
The City wrote to the BCHA’s counsel on May 15 stating, “the City of Vancouver will comply with its constitutional obligations as set out in Saguenay and subsequent decisions.” After seeking further clarification, the City wrote on Friday:
The City acknowledges that hosting prayers at the City of Vancouver’s November 7, 2022 inauguration ceremony was a breach of the duty of religious neutrality as set out in Mouvement laique Québecois v Saguenay 2015 SCC 16.
Read the May 15, 2024 letter from the City of Vancouver
Read the May 31, 2024 letter from the City of Vancouver
License
In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.
Copyright
© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.
In-Sight Publishing 