The BC Humanist Association (BCHA) is asking BC municipalities to confirm that this year's inaugural council meetings will be secular.
The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in 2015 that the practice of opening a municipal council meeting with a prayer was unconstitutional as it violated the state's duty of religious neutrality.
In 2020, the BCHA found that 23 municipalities in the province included religious prayers or invocations in their 2018 inaugural council meetings. Four of those communities later changed their policies or otherwise confirmed that their 2022 inaugural meetings would not include a prayer.
Today, the BCHA wrote to those 19 municipalities that we have not heard from and asked again whether they would change their policy.
Local elections were held on October 15 and most councils will hold their inaugural meetings in the first week of November (Peachland holds its meeting on October 25). These first meetings are often ceremonial in nature.
The 23 municipalities that included prayers in their 2018 inaugural meeting were (communities struck out have confirmed that they will not include a prayer in the 2022 inaugural meeting):
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
We will continue to update this list as we hear back from the remaining municipalities.