The District of Clearwater may find itself in court if it proceeds with tonight's planned invocation by a local Pastor, warns the BC Humanist Association.
The District's first meeting begins at 6:00 PM tonight and follows the recent municipal elections. It will see the newly elected mayor and councillors take their oaths of office. First, however, New Life Church Pastor Doug Lancaster is set to deliver an "invocation" according to the meeting's agenda.
In 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled unanimously that opening a council meeting with a prayer was an unconstitutional violation of the state's duty of religious neutrality. Since then the BCHA has been auditing municipalities across Canada the The Saguenay Project and advocating for the end of religious exercises in government meetings.
BCHA Executive Director Ian Bushfield warned the District by email earlier today that proceeding with an unconstitutional religious invocation could result in legal action by the BCHA. The District CAO Byron Johnson replied: "The speaker in question is aware of the Supreme Court ruling and will not be praying at the council meeting."
"You don't open a municipal council meeting with a Christian invocation if you're serious about following the law," said Bushfield. "This creates a preferential space for some residents to the exclusion of the majority of the Clearwater community."
The District last included a religious invocation in its inaugural council meeting in 2018. In 2022, the District included an invocation on the agenda, but according to outgoing Mayor Merlin Blackwell, "no inaugural prayer happened."
Following the 2022 inaugural meetings, the BCHA sought commitments that the 2026 inaugural meetings would be secular across the province. They further followed up with all municipalities last month to remind them of their obligations under the Saguenay decision.
Despite these repeated warnings, the BCHA is aware of at least two other municipalities in BC that opened their recent inaugural meetings with religious invocations. BCHA intends to bring challenges against those communities soon.
Image adapted from Wikimedia/Wpcpey CC BY-SA 4.0